| Location | Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan |
| Geographic coordinates | 15 00 N, 39 00 E |
| Map references | Africa |
| Area | total: 117,600 sq km land: 101,000 sq km water: 16,600 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Pennsylvania |
| Land boundaries | total: 1,840 km border countries (3): Djibouti 125 km, Ethiopia 1033 km, Sudan 682 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 | highest point: Soira 3,018 m lowest point: near Kulul within the Danakil Depression -75 m mean elevation: 853 m |
| Natural resources | gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and natural gas, fish |
| Land use | agricultural land: 75.1% (2018 est.) arable land: 6.8% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 0% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 68.3% (2018 est.) forest: 15.1% (2018 est.) other: 9.8% (2018 est.) |
| Irrigated land | 210 sq km (2012) |
| Total renewable water resources | 7.315 billion cubic meters (2017 est.) |
| Natural hazards | frequent droughts, rare earthquakes and volcanoes; locust swarms volcanism: Dubbi (1,625 m), which last erupted in 1861, was the country's only historically active volcano until Nabro (2,218 m) came to life on 12 June 2011 |
| 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
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
