Location: | Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan |
| Geographic coordinates: | 15 00 N, 39 00 E |
| Map references: | Africa |
| Area: | total: 121,320 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 121,320 sq km |
| Area - comparative: | slightly larger than Pennsylvania |
| Land boundaries: | total: 1,626 km
border countries: Djibouti 109 km, Ethiopia 912 km, Sudan 605 km |
| Coastline: | 2,234 km total; mainland on Red Sea 1,151 km, islands in Red Sea 1,083 km |
| Maritime claims: | territorial sea: 12 nm |
| Climate: | hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually); semiarid in western hills and lowlands; rainfall heaviest during June-September except in coastal desert |
| Terrain: | 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 |
| Elevation extremes: | lowest point: near Kulul within the Denakil depression -75 m
highest point: Soira 3,018 m |
| Natural resources: | gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and natural gas, fish |
| Land use: | arable land: 4.95%
permanent crops: 0.03%
other: 95.02% (2001) |
| Irrigated land: | 220 sq km (1998 est.) |
| Natural hazards: | frequent droughts; locust swarms |
| Environment - current issues: | deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing; loss of infrastructure from civil warfare |
| Environment - international agreements: | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
| Geography - note: | 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
Source: CIA World Factbook
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