Facts

Location: Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan

Area (only Total) total: 121,320 sq km

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

Population: 5,502,026

Main Language (only first): Afar

Government type: transitional government

Capital (Name): Asmara (Asmera)

Capital (Time Difference): UTC+3

Independence: 24 May 1993 (from Ethiopia)

National holiday: Independence Day, 24 May (1993)