Democracy and Governance in Yemen
The Development Challenge: Following the unification of Marxist South Yemen and North Yemen in 1990, the new Republic of Yemen Government (ROYG) made impressive progress with the establishment of a constitutional government, a parliamentary system with multiparty elections, and laws to strengthen non-governmental organizations. The new Government began to decentralize resource allocation decisions and local management of social services, and define development goals. The ROYG demonstrated a strong commitment to stabilization and reform through price and market liberalization, fiscal prudence, liberalization of foreign exchange and trade, and striving to cut foreign debt and increase foreign exchange reserves. Recently, economic reform has slowed, and Yemen's internal stability is threatened by a combination of forces challenging the Government's movement to increased democracy. These forces include extreme poverty, Islamic extremism, internal and international terrorism, and the alienation from the central Government by relatively independent tribal leaders in remote areas.
Despite progress made over the last decade, Yemen remains one of the least developed countries in the world and ranks 148 out of 175 countries on the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index (2003). It has a per capita gross domestic product of $460. Forty-two percent of the people live in poverty (45% in rural areas) and one in five is malnourished. Yemen's 18.5 million population, which is predominantly rural, faces enormous economic and social challenges. Among the major problems are limited access to basic services, a very high fertility rate (6.7%), high illiteracy rates especially among females (73.5%), high unemployment (40%), significant gender inequality, diminishing oil reserves, and a non-renewable water supply, which is dwindling at an alarming rate.
Thus, poverty reduction remains Yemen's most compelling challenge. To make a significant impact on poverty reduction, Yemen must increase its focus on rural communities, where 75% of the population resides. The rugged terrain, which has already been a significant challenge for agricultural development and service delivery, will present a challenge for this task as well.
(Excerpted from the 2006 Congressional Budget Justification for Yemen)
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