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Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, north of Ethiopia. Slightly larger than Pennsylvania.
A thirty year struggle from the early 1960s ended in 1991, followed by a referendum in Eritrea in 1993 overwhelmingly approving independence.
Figures unless otherwise stated are from the CIA Factbook.
Factbook: "Since independence from Ethiopia in 1993, Eritrea has faced the economic problems of a small, desperately poor country, accentuated by the recent implementation of restrictive economic policies. Eritrea has a command economy under the control of the sole political party, the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ). Like the economies of many African nations, the economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture, with 80% of the population involved in farming and herding."
Estimated per capita GDP:
2008 $700
2007 $700
2006 $700
Deaths: 9.15, down from 13.53 in 2005. Births: 33.62, down from 38.62 in 2005.
Estimated for July 2008: 5.028 million, up from 4.57 million in 2005: Growth rate estimated for 2008: 2.447 percent per year.
Infant mortality estimated for 2008: 44.22, down from 45.24 in 2007 (deaths before the age of one year, per 1,000 live births).
Average life expectancy at birth estimated for 2008: 60.05, up from 59.55 in 2007
Living with HIV/AIDS, ages 15 to 49: 2.7 percent (2003 estimate).
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
Copyright © 2008 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.