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| Location | Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan | | | Geographic coordinates | 15 00 N, 39 00 E | | | Zone | Middle East | | | Area | total: 121,320 sq km
land: 121,320 sq km
water: 0 sq km | | | Land boundaries | total: 1,626 km
border countries: Djibouti 109 km, Ethiopia 912 km, Sudan 605 km | | | Coastline | 2,234 km (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, heaviest June to September); semiarid in western hills and lowlands | | | 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 | | | Irrigated land | 2,234 km (mainland on Red Sea 1,151 km, islands in Red Sea 1,083 km) | | | 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, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection
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 | |
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