Eritrea Geography Profile 2002

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
land: 121,320 sq km
water: 0 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: 3.87%
permanent crops: 0.02%
other: 96.11% (1998 est.)

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

Group

All, APLAA, Sub-Saharan Africa

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