Profile
Background and figures as recorded in the CIA World Factbook.
Eritrea won independence from Italian colonial control in 1941, but the UN only established it as an autonomous region within the Ethiopian federation in 1952, after a decade of British administrative control. Ethiopia's full annexation of Eritrea as a province 10 years later sparked a violent 30-year conflict for independence that ended in 1991 with Eritrean fighters defeating government forces. Eritreans overwhelmingly approved independence in a 1993 referendum. ISAIAS Afwerki has been Eritrea's only president since independence;
- Capital
- Asmara
- Government
- authoritarian
- Population
- 6,416,435
- Area
- 117,600 sq km
- Location
- Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan
- Climate
- hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually, heaviest…
- Natural resources
- gold; potash; zinc; copper; salt; possibly oil and natural gas…
- Languages
- Tigrinya (official); Arabic (official); English (official); Tigre…
- Religions
- Eritrean Orthodox; Roman Catholic; Evangelical Lutheran; Sunni Muslim
- Independence
- 24 May 1993 (from Ethiopia)
- Administrative divisions
- 6 regions (zobatat, singular - zoba); 'Anseba, Debub (South), Debubawi K'eyyih Bahri (Southern Red Sea), Gash-Barka, Ma'…
- Currency
- nakfa (ERN)
- Export partners
- China 67%; UAE 26%; Philippines 5%; Italy 1%…
- Import partners
- China 32%; UAE 27%; Turkey 9%; USA 7%…
Source: CIA World Factbook — a work of the US government, in the public domain