My World Factbook
(Learn more about the new, improved World Factbook)
Note: Most information adapted from the popular World Factbook is distributed between the websites GeoWorld (geography, people, communications & transportation), Politix (government) and Great Depression II (economy).
Geography
Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan
15 00 N, 39 00 E
Area: 
total: 117,600 sq km
country comparison to the world: 
100
land: 101,000 sq km
water: 16,600 sq km
slightly larger than Pennsylvania
total: 1,626 km
border countries: Djibouti 109 km, Ethiopia 912 km, Sudan 605 km
2,234 km (mainland on Red Sea 1,151 km, islands in Red Sea 1,083 km)
territorial sea: 12 nm
Current Weather
hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually, heaviest June to September); semiarid in western hills and lowlands
dominated by extension of Ethiopian north-south trending highlands, descending on the east to a coastal desert plain, on the northwest to hilly terrain and on the southwest to flat-to-rolling plains
lowest point: near Kulul within the Danakil Depression -75 m
highest point: Soira 3,018 m
gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and natural gas, fish
arable land: 4.78%
permanent crops: 0.03%
other: 95.19% (2005)
210 sq km (2003)
6.3 cu km (2001)
total: 0.3 cu km/yr (3%/0%/97%)
per capita: 68 cu m/yr (2000)
frequent droughts; locust swarms
volcanism: Dubbi (elev. 1,625 m, 5,331 ft), which last erupted in 1861, is the country’s only historically active volcano
deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing; loss of infrastructure from civil warfare
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
strategic geopolitical position along world’s busiest shipping lanes; Eritrea retained the entire coastline of Ethiopia along the Red Sea upon de jure independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - 
