Buy data    Donate

Updates: 

"Geopolitical Entities, Names, and Codes, Edition 2" (GENC), a U.S. standard that's supposed to correspond to ISO 3166-2, was issued on 2014-03-31. It gives Socotra the code YE-SU. ISO issued an update on 2015-11-27, so that GENC and ISO now agree.

Paraskevas Renesis notified me that Socotra governorate has been split from Hadramawt. I calculated the population of the two governorates by adding their constituent districts; the area is approximate. He also informed me of a plan to reorganize Yemen into a federal state comprising six regions and a federal city. The change may not happen, and there is certainly no schedule for it as yet. If it does, the new regions would stack up as in this table, based on the data in the main table below.

Region	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Aden	2,216,494	33,860	13,060	Aden
Al-Janad	4,525,286	15,360	5,930	Taiz
Azal	3,822,142	41,710	16,110	Sana'a
Hadramawt	1,587,785	273,590	105,640	al-Mukla
Sana'a	1,747,834	380	150	Sana'a
Sheba	1,259,688	66,220	25,570	Marib
Tahamah	4,526,125	23,880	9,220	al-Hodeida
Region: except for Sana'a, which would be a federal city. Population: 2004-12 census, final results (source [2]).

 

Newsletter II-2, an update to the ISO 3166-2 standard, is dated 2010-06-30. It assigns an ISO code to Raymah governorate, which was created in 2004.

The latest version of the FIPS standard is called "Geopolitical Entities and Codes" (GEC), published in 2010-04. It provides codes for two subdivisions that were missing them. GEC Update 17, dated 2014-09-30, shows a code for the new Socotra governorate. The new codes are shown in the main table below.

ISO 3166-2 has come out in a second edition, dated 2007-12-15. It gives a code for San`a' city, as shown below.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-4, dated 2002-12-10, lists the new governorates Al Dali' and Amran. FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 9, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, dated 2004-10-01, assigns FIPS codes to the two new governorates. It also changes the FIPS codes of the old governorates from which the new ones were formed.

Country overview: 

Short name	YEMEN
ISO code	YE
FIPS code	YM
Language	Arabic (ar)
Time zone	+3
Capital	Sanaa

 

In 1900, modern Yemen consisted of the Turkish vilayet of Yemen along the Red Sea, and a collection of territories on the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea which were in the British sphere. The border between them was delimited starting in 1902. This border remained in place through several changes in government, until 1990, when the two countries merged.

Other names of country: 

1. Arabic: al-Jamhuriya al-Yamaniya (formal)
2. Danish: Yemen
3. Dutch: Jemen, Republiek Jemen (formal)
4. English: Republic of Yemen (formal)
5. Finnish: Jemen
6. French: Yémen m
7. German: Jemen m
8. Icelandic: Jemen
9. Italian: Yemen m
10. Norwegian: Jemen, Republikken Jemen (formal)
11. Portuguese: Iémen, Iémene, Iêmen m (Brazil), Yémen, República f do Iémen m (formal)
12. Russian: Йемен, Йеменская Республика (formal)
13. Spanish: Yemen, República f Árabe del Yemen m (formal)
14. Swedish: Jemen, Yemen
15. Turkish: Yemen Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

from Arabic for right-hand, its position relative to Mecca as seen from Africa

Primary subdivisions: 

Yemen is divided into twenty-one governorates and one municipality.

Governorate	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Cd	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital	Proposed
Abyan	YE.AB	AB	YM01	12	433,819	16,450	6,350	Zinjibar	Aden
`Adan	YE.AD	AD	YM02	24	589,419	760	290	Aden	Aden
Al Bayda'	YE.BA	BA	YM20	14	577,369	9,270	3,580	Al Bayda	Sheba
Al Dali'	YE.DL	DA	YM18	30	470,564	4,000	1,540	Al Dali'	Aden
Al Hudaydah	YE.HU	HU	YM08	18	2,157,552	13,250	5,120	Al Hudaydah	Tahamah
Al Jawf	YE.JA	JA	YM21	16	443,797	39,500	15,250	Al Hazm Al Jawf	Sheba
Al Mahrah	YE.MR	MR	YM03	28	88,594	67,310	25,990	Al Ghaydah	Hadramawt
Al Mahwit	YE.MW	MW	YM10	27	494,557	2,330	900	Al Mahwit	Tahamah
Amran	YE.AM	AM	YM19	29	877,786	7,900	3,050	Amran	Azal
Dhamar	YE.DH	DH	YM11	20	1,330,108	7,590	2,930	Dhamar	Azal
Hadramawt	YE.HA	HD	YM04	19	984,436	163,680	63,200	Al Mukalla	Hadramawt
Hajjah	YE.HJ	HJ	YM22	17	1,479,568	8,300	3,200	Hajjah	Tahamah
Ibb	YE.IB	IB	YM23	11	2,131,861	5,350	2,070	Ibb	Al-Janad
Lahij	YE.LA	LA	YM24	25	722,692	12,650	4,880	Lahij	Aden
Ma'rib	YE.MA	MA	YM14	26	238,522	17,450	6,740	Ma'rib	Sheba
Raymah	YE.RM	RA	YM27	31	394,448			Jabin	Tahamah
Sa`dah	YE.SD	SD	YM15	22	695,033	12,370	4,780	Sa`dah	Azal
San`a'	YE.NA	SN	YM16	23	919,215	13,850	5,350	San`a'	Azal
San`a' [City]	YE.SA	SA	YM26	13	1,747,834	380	150	San`a'	Sana'a
Shabwah	YE.SH	SH	YM05	21	470,635	39,000	15,060	`Ataq	Hadramawt
Socotra	YE.SO	SU	YM28	19	44,120	3,600	1,390	Hadibo	Hadramawt
Ta`izz	YE.TA	TA	YM25	15	2,393,425	10,010	3,860	Ta`izz	Al-Janad
22 divisions					19,684,603	455,000	175,680
Governorate: except for San`a' [City], which is a municipality. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: "Geopolitical Entities and Codes." Cd: Governorate code from MOPHP. Population: 2004-12 census, final results (source [2]). Area: Area of Raymah is included in San`a'. Proposed: Possible future region.

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Yemen page.

The governorates are subdivided into 333 districts, which are subdivided into 2,210 sub-districts, and then into 38,284 villages (as of 2001).

Territorial extent: 

Yemen includes the islands of Socotra in the Arabian Sea, along with its neighbors, `Abd al Kuri and The Brothers (Samha and Darsa); in the Red Sea, Kamaran, the Hanish Islands, and others; and Perim in the strait of Bab el Mandeb. The Arabian Sea islands constitute Socotra governorate. Kamaran is in Al Hudaydah. When there were two Yemens, Kamaran and Perim belonged to South Yemen, but they have apparently been reassigned since then.

The UN LOCODE page  for Yemen lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

1. Aden: probably from Akkadian edinnu: plain
2. Hadramawt: possibly from Hebrew Hatsarmawet, Biblical person (Genesis 10:26)

Change history: 

In 1900, North Yemen was the vilayet of Yemen in the Ottoman Empire. Aden was a British possession, administered from Bombay. The rest of South Yemen, including Socotra, Perim, and Kamaran islands, was loosely under British protection in various forms.

1. 1918-11: Yemen vilayet became independent as the Imamate of Yemen.
2. 1932: Aden province split from Bombay presidency of India.
3. 1934: Yemen and Saudi Arabia concluded Treaty of Taif, delimiting some of Yemen's northern boundary and assigning some disputed territory to Asir in Saudi Arabia.
4. 1937-04-01: Aden split from India as a crown colony. The crown colony itself was only about 195 sq. km. Socotra, Perim, and Karaman were administered from Aden. The rest of the mainland was divided into the Eastern Aden Protectorate and the Western Aden Protectorate.
5. 1958-03-08: Imamate of Yemen joined a loose federation with Egypt and Syria, which had recently merged as the United Arab Republic. The federation was called the United Arab States. Yemen pulled out in 1961.
6. 1959-02-11: Federation of Arab Amirates formed from some of the sheikhdoms of Aden Protectorate.
7. 1962: Following a coup, Imamate of Yemen became Yemen Arab Republic. At about this time, its divisions were Al Hudaydah, Hajjah, Ibb, Rida', Sa`dah, San`a', and Ta`izz governorates.
8. 1963-01: Name of Federation of Arab Amirates, now including more sheikhdoms (mostly from the Western Aden Protectorate) and Aden itself, changed to Federation of South Arabia. The remaining part of the Aden Protectorate became the South Arabian Protectorate.
9. 1967-11-30: Britain pulled out of Aden. Kuriya Muriya Islands were transferred to Oman. People's Republic of Southern Yemen formed by merging Aden State and Protectorate of South Arabia. Its capital was Madinat ash Sha'b. It was divided into six governorates, identified by Roman numerals from I to VI, increasing from west to east. Roughly, governorate I corresponded to present-day `Adan and part of Lahij; governorate II to the rest of Lahij; III to Abyan; IV to Shabwah; V to Hadramawt; and VI to Al Mahrah. There was also a governorate named Thamud, adjacent to Hadramawt.
10. ~1968: Capital of Southern Yemen moved from Madinat ash Sha'b to Aden. Twenty-two directorates were established as secondary subdivisions, under the six governorates.
11. 1970-12-01: Name of People's Republic of Southern Yemen changed to People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. To avoid confusion, this was commonly known as South Yemen, and the Yemen Arab Republic as North Yemen. At about this time, North Yemen was divided into eight liwa (provinces), according to source [13].

Province	Population	Area(km.²)
Al-Bayda'	191,000	15,000
Al-Hudaydah	764,000	35,000
Hajjah	573,000	17,000
Ibb	859,000	13,000
Rida'	286,000	10,000
Sa`dah	477,000	18,000
San`a'	1,910,000	80,000
Ta`izz	668,000	12,000
8 provinces	5,728,000	200,000
Population: 1970 estimate.

1. ~1973: In North Yemen, Rida' governorate split into Al Bayda' and Dhamar. Al-Mahwit governorate formed.

Governorate	Population
Al-Bayda'	157,764
Al-Hudaydah	676,693
Al-Mahwit	174,639
Dhamar	455,132
Hajjah	396,578
Ibb	789,518
Ma'reb	40,896
Sa`dah	154,361
San`a'	807,269
Ta`izz	873,876
10 governorates	4,519,593
Population: 1975-02-01 census (source [12]).

1. 1980-03: In South Yemen, Thamud governorate merged with Hadhramawt. (The population of Thamoud Muderiat was 40,647 in the 1973 census.) The divisions of South Yemen as a result were as follows, according to source [1].

Governorate	Num	Population	Area(km.²)	Capital
Abyan	III	311,142	21,489	Zinjibar
Aden	I	291,376	6,980	Aden
al-Mahra	VI	60,876	66,350	Ghaydah
Hadhramawt	V	491,304	155,376	Mukalla
Lahej	II	273,611	12,766	Hawatah
Shibwah	IV	161,966	73,908	Ataq
6 governorates		1,590,275	336,869
Num: official designator for governorate. Population: 1973-05-14 census (source [12]). Area: approximate (desert borders undefined).

1. ~1984: In North Yemen, Al Jawf, Al Mahwit, and Ma'rib governorates split from other governorates.
2. 1990-05-22: The two Yemens merged to form Republic of Yemen.
3. ~1994: San`a' city split from San`a' governorate.
4. 1998-07-29: Amran governorate (HASC code YE.AM, ISO code YE-AM) was formed from parts of Al Mahwit, Hajjah, and San`a' governorates (sources [7-9]). Al-Dali' governorate (HASC code YE.DL, ISO code YE-DA) was formed from parts of Ibb, Lahij, and Ta`izz governorates. However, the corresponding update to the FIPS standard implies that the governorates that ceded territory were Al Bayda' (former FIPS code YM07), Al Jawf (YM09), Hajjah (YM12), Ibb (YM13), Lahij (YM06), and Ta`izz (YM17). The table below shows the subdivisions at that time.

Governorate	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Old	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Abyan	YE.AB	AB	YM01	YS03	416,271	16,450	6,350	Zinjibar
`Adan	YE.AD	AD	YM02	YS01	564,335	760	290	Aden
Al Bayda'	YE.BA	BA	YM20	YE01	505,751	9,270	3,580	Al Bayda
Al Dali'	YE.DL	DA	YM18			4,000	1,540	Al Dali'
Al Hudaydah	YE.HU	HU	YM08	YE02	1,754,493	13,250	5,120	Al Hudaydah
Al Jawf	YE.JA	JA	YM21	YE11	169,440	39,500	15,250	Al Hazm Al Jawf
Al Mahrah	YE.MR	MR	YM03	YS06	112,615	67,310	25,990	Al Ghaydah
Al Mahwit	YE.MW	MW	YM10	YE08	402,992	2,330	900	Al Mahwit
Amran	YE.AM	AM	YM19			7,900	3,050	Amran
Dhamar	YE.DH	DH	YM11	YE09	1,049,120	7,590	2,930	Dhamar
Hadramawt	YE.HD	HD	YM04	YS05	871,202	167,280	64,590	Al Mukalla
Hajjah	YE.HJ	HJ	YM22	YE03	1,265,845	8,300	3,200	Hajjah
Ibb	YE.IB	IB	YM23	YE04	1,963,975	5,350	2,070	Ibb
Lahij	YE.LA	LA	YM24	YS02	632,674	12,650	4,880	Lahij
Ma'rib	YE.MA	MA	YM14	YE10	183,053	17,450	6,740	Ma'rib
Sa`dah	YE.SD	SD	YM15	YE05	484,063	12,370	4,780	Sa`dah
San`a'	YE.SN	SN	YM16	YE06	1,907,968	13,850	5,350	San`a'
San`a' [City]	YE.SA	SA			973,548	380	150	San`a'
Shabwah	YE.SH	SH	YM05	YS04	375,541	39,000	15,060	`Ataq
Ta`izz	YE.TA	TA	YM25	YE07	2,198,871	10,010	3,860	Ta`izz
20 divisions					15,831,757	455,000	175,680
Governorate: except for San`a' [City], which is a municipality. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Old: FIPS codes used before the union of North and South Yemen. Population: 1994-12-16 census

1. ~2000: Socotra and neighboring islands transferred from `Adan to Hadramawt.
2. 2004-02: Raymah governorate split from San`a' (former HASC code YE.SN). (Sources [3-5]).
3. 2013-12-18: Socotra governorate split from Hadramawt (former HASC code YE.HD), under Law No. 31 of 2013. Its districts are Hidaybu (Hadibo) and Qlansiah and `Abd al Kuri (Qulensya Wa Abd Al Kuri). (Sources [10-11]).

Other names of subdivisions: 

The Arabic definite article Al is sometimes omitted at the beginning of a name.

1. `Adan: Aden (variant)
2. Al Bayda': Albaidah, Al Baidha, Al-Baydha, Al Beida, Al-Beidah, Baidaa (variant)
3. Al Dali': Ad Dali', Aldalee, Al Dhale’, al-Dhalea, Al-Dhaleh, Al-Dhalia, Dala'a, Dhala, Dhali' (variant)
4. Al Hudaydah: Al Hodeida, Al-Hodeidah, Al Hudaidah, Hodeidah, Hudaidah (variant)
5. Al Jawf: Al Jouf, Aljowf, Jawf (variant)
6. Al Mahrah: Al Ghaydah (obsolete); Al-Mahara, Almaharah, al-Mahra, Mahra (variant)
7. Al Mahwit: Almahweet, Mahweet (variant)
8. Amran: 'Amran (variant)
9. Hadramawt: Hadhramaut, Hadhramawt, Hadhramout, Hadramaut, Hadramout (variant)
10. Hajjah: Hajja (variant)
11. Lahij: Laheg, Lahej, Lahj (variant); Tuban (obsolete)
12. Ma'rib: Mareb (variant)
13. Raymah: Raima, Raimah (variant)
14. Sa`dah: Sa'ada, Saadah, Sa'da, Sada'a, Saidah (variant)
15. San`a': Sana'a (variant)
16. San`a' [City]: Saná (Spanish); Amanat al Asimah (variant)
17. Shabwah: 'Shabwa, Shibwah (variant)
18. Socotra: Arkhabīl Suquţrá (variant)
19. Ta`izz: Taez, Taiz (variant)
20. Thamud: Thamoud Muderiat (variant)

Sources: 

1. [1] Ismael, Tareq Y., and Jacqueline S. Ismael, The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen: Politics, Economics and Society. Frances Pinter, London, 1986.
2. [2] Final Results  of the 2004 census (retrieved 2008-12-01).
3. [3] Preliminary report of the 2004 census  shows a new governorate named Raymah (retrieved 2005-04-19).
4. [4] Yemen Ministry of Public Health and Population  had a shapefile that showed that Raymah had been split from San`a' (retrieved 2008-12-01).
5. [5] The Spring 2004 issue of the Yemen Economic Update, from the World Bank, said, "the Cabinet approved in January 2004, a draft law on setting up a new governorate at Al-Raima to be composed of five districts." (http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/mna/mena.nsf/Attachments/Yemen+Update-Spring2004/$File/YE-Spring2004.pdf: dead link, retrieved 2005-04-19). Other sources implied that the capital would be Jebin.
6. [6] World Bank  source for the areas of the governorates says that they were measured from topographic maps using a GIS (retrieved 2008-12-01).
7. [7] Yemen Gateway , an independent organization devoted to the study of Yemen, reported that a presidential decree was issued on 1998-07-29, creating two new governorates: Amran and Al-Dali'. The decree required the approval of parliament to take effect.
8. [8] Yemen Times Press Review 1998-08-09 .
9. [9] Yemen Times Press Review 1998-08-16 .
10. [10] Law establishing Yemen's 22nd governorate issued , Saba Net online news service (retrieved 2013-12-25).
11. [11] Yemen's Socotra granted province status , Al-Shorfa online news service (retrieved 2013-12-25).
12. [12] 1979 Demographic Yearbook , 31st Ed. Statistical Office, United Nations, New York, 1980 (retrieved 2011-12-28).
13. [13] Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition, Chicago, 1984.
14. [14] "Yemen to become federation of six regions ." BBC News (dated 2014-02-10, retrieved 2014-2-15)
15. [15] "Yemen to become six-region federation, committee approves ." Yemen News Agency (SABA) (dated 2014-02-10, retrieved 2014-2-15)
16. [16] Map of proposed regions  (retrieved 2014-2-15)