Curated by Vinod Kumar Jain & Amit Jain · All Frontier Global · free, no login · reviewed 2026-07-05
Frankincense land of tower-house cities
Official figures, each with its source and the date it was read — the key-facts panel above is rounded and undated.
Population 41,773,878 (2025), up from 40,583,164 in 2024 — Population is one of the few Yemen indicators the World Bank keeps current through 2025 - its GDP and GNI-per-capita series for Yemen stop at 2018 (see next facts).
GDP US$21.61 billion (current US$, 2018) - the most recent figure the World Bank has published for Yemen — Down from US$26.84bn in 2017. Requesting the 2 most recent values (mrv=2) on 24 August 2026 still returns 2017/2018 as the latest years on this series - the World Bank has not published a newer Yemen GDP figure, consistent with the conflict's disruption to national accounts data.
GNI per capita US$740 (Atlas method, 2018), down from US$880 in 2017; World Bank income classification: Low income (IDA) — As with GDP, 2018 is the most recent year the World Bank has published GNI per capita for Yemen - no 2019-2025 figure exists in this series. Lending category: IDA (International Development Association).
World Bank region classification: Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan; capital Sana'a — Sana'a is the capital recorded in the World Bank's own country-metadata field; no currency field was returned by this endpoint.
Sourced notes — every figure above, with where it was read and when.
Trade agreements (2): Yemen's trade activity is severely constrained by the ongoing civil war and blockade-affected ports, with only Arab League-level cooperation in place; India has no FTA with Yemen and trade remains minimal.
Passport strength: visa-free/VOA to ~29 destinations. Severely restricted; conflict status; visa required for most destinations.
India × Yemen hub ↗ All countries factsheet
Tourist travel is not realistically viable at present given the active conflict; Indian and other passport holders would require advance visas from limited operating Yemeni missions, but travel advisories uniformly discourage any visit.
e-Visa: yes · Visa on arrival: Varies by nationality
Private hired vehicles with experienced local drivers are essentially the only safe way to move between areas, given severely limited public transport and security checkpoints.
Car vs taxi: Independent travel of any kind is inadvisable; any necessary movement should be through trusted local fixers or organizations with current on-the-ground security knowledge.
Money: The Yemeni rial is the local currency, though its value and usability vary sharply between the country's competing administrative zones; US dollars in cash are essential as cards and ATMs do not function reliably for visitors.
SIM & data: Yemen Mobile and MTN Yemen provide patchy coverage; telecommunications infrastructure has been significantly disrupted by the civil war, so expect unreliable connectivity.
Tipping: Not a strong tradition, though small tips for drivers or guides are appreciated where services operate amid the ongoing conflict.
Etiquette: Dress very conservatively, women should cover hair and much of the body, and exercise heightened sensitivity around political and tribal topics given the fractured conflict landscape.
Food: Yemeni cuisine includes saltah (a meat and vegetable stew) and mandi (spiced rice with meat), along with the country's famous Mocha coffee, though normal dining is disrupted in conflict areas.
Say hello: Arabic — “As-salamu alaykum” · thanks “Shukran” · how much? “Bikam?”
Yemen remains in active civil conflict with severe security risks nationwide; virtually all governments advise against any travel to the country under current conditions.
For nomads: Ongoing civil war makes Yemen unsuitable for any nomadic or tourist activity; infrastructure is collapsed; all travel is extremely dangerous.
Education: Education infrastructure largely non-functional due to ongoing conflict; international schools virtually unavailable.
Healthcare: Healthcare system in severe crisis; most facilities non-functional; serious care requires immediate evacuation.
Places Old City of Sanaa (Historic district) · Great Mosque of Sanaa (Mosque) · Bab al-Yemen (Landmark)
Places Shibam Old Walled City (Historic district) · Seiyun Sultan's Palace (Palace) · Tarim's Al-Mihdhar Mosque (Mosque)
Places Cairo Castle (Al-Qahira) (Fortress) · Al-Ashrafiya Mosque (Mosque) · Al-Muzaffar Mosque (Mosque)
Places Dragon Tree Forest (Natural Wonder) · Detwah Lagoon (Beach) · Socotra Museum in Hadiboh (Museum)
Places Crater District (Old Town) · Cistern Tanks of Tawila (Historic Site) · Gold Souk (Market)
City notes from Amit's own travels — the interactive travelogue holds the full record
houthi-bab-al-mandab
Yemeni Houthi Red Sea Bab al-Mandab disruption framework (October 2023+ Hamas-Israel conflict + Houthi-anti-Israel solidarity attacks · ~100+ commercial-vessels attacked since November 2023 · Suez-traffic ~50% reduction by Q1 2024 · Maersk + MSC + CMA CGM + Hapag-Lloyd Cape-of-Good-Hope rerouting · ~14-day longer voyage + ~30%+ freight-rate increase). Yemen LDC + Houthi-Saudi war 2015+ framework. AfCFTA + Arab League + GAFTA framework adjacency.
India implication: Indian-trade lanes (Mumbai-Mundra-JNPT-EU) affected by Suez-disruption + Cape-of-Good-Hope rerouting + freight-rate cycles + Indian-corporate adjacency-framework navigation.
Outlook: Yemen Houthi Bab al-Mandab disruption framework cycles persist 2026-28; Suez-traffic recovery gradual.
Yemen OIC founding-member (Rabat 1969 · 57-member organization · 2nd-largest international organization after UN · pan-Islamic framework) + Arab League founding-member 1945 + GAFTA framework + LDC framework + Houthi-Saudi war 2015+ framework + Houthi Bab al-Mandab disruption 2024+ framework cycles + Suez-traffic 50% reduction framework.
India: India accesses OIC framework dialogue via observer-status framework + bilateral cooperation cycles + Yemen LDC + Houthi framework cycles + Indo-Pacific framework adjacency.
India’s role: Indian-corporate Yemen presence reduced + bilateral humanitarian framework + Houthi Red Sea disruption affects Suez-transit trade lanes through Mumbai-Mundra-JNPT.
Yemen LDC (Least Developed Country) + Houthi-Saudi war 2015+ framework + Houthi Red Sea Bab al-Mandab disruption 2024+ (Suez transit cycles · Israel-Hamas-Hezbollah-Houthi context · Suez-traffic ~50% reduction 2024) + bilateral humanitarian framework + Indian-pulses-cluster anchor.
The World Bank's own Yemen country page states that since 2015, real GDP per capita has fallen by 58%, a decline the Bank frames as having split the economy in two. The Bank's headline nominal-GDP series corroborates a contraction already under way by the end of that window: from US$26.84 billion in 2017 to US$21.61 billion in 2018 - the last year for which the World Bank has published a Yemen GDP figure at all. The same country page records the current human scale of the crisis: around 17 million people facing food insecurity and 18 million lacking access to safe water.
India implication: No India-Yemen bilateral trade, diaspora, or remittance figure was captured this session - India's Ministry of External Affairs was explicitly out of scope for this research pass (see deferred[]), so this profile cannot currently document an India angle on Yemen's economic trajectory.
Outlook: The World Bank's own GDP series for Yemen has not been updated past 2018, so any read on the economy's current trajectory rests on the Bank's qualitative country-page framing - the 58% per-capita decline since 2015, the food-insecurity and water-access figures - rather than on a fresh quantitative GDP print. That gap is itself the most current fact this profile can source.
Sourced notes — every figure above, with where it was read and when.
Tourist travel is not realistically viable at present given the active conflict; Indian and other passport holders would require advance visas from limited operating Yemeni missions, but travel advisories uniformly discourage any visit.
Yemen uses the Yemeni rial (YER). Capital: Sana'a.
Yemen's trade activity is severely constrained by the ongoing civil war and blockade-affected ports, with only Arab League-level cooperation in place; India has no FTA with Yemen and trade remains minimal.
Yemen remains in active civil conflict with severe security risks nationwide; virtually all governments advise against any travel to the country under current conditions.
41,773,878 as of 2025, according to the World Bank - up from 40,583,164 in 2024. Population is one of the few Yemen indicators the World Bank keeps current; as the next answer explains, its GDP and income-per-capita series for the country stop at 2018.
Low income, with an IDA lending category, per the World Bank's own classification. GNI per capita (Atlas method) was last published at US$740 in 2018, down from US$880 in 2017, and total GDP fell from US$26.84 billion (2017) to US$21.61 billion (2018) - the World Bank has not issued an updated GDP or GNI-per-capita figure for Yemen since. The Bank's Yemen country page adds that real GDP per capita has fallen 58% since 2015, and that around 17 million people currently face food insecurity.
Because no official source for either could be reached or located this session, and this site ships only sourced figures - never assumed or remembered ones. No Yemeni government e-visa/immigration portal or Yemen diplomatic-mission page could be identified without a working search tool this session, and no current official Yemeni statistics-office release was reached for a cost-of-living anchor. Both gaps are marked deferred rather than filled with outdated or unsourced figures.
Sourced notes — every figure above, with where it was read and when.
Developed by Amit Jain at allfrontierglobal.com
Neighbouring profiles in the same UN M49 region.
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