Yemen's infrastructure is relatively poor and underdeveloped. The country is serviced by a network of over 67,000 kilometers (41,634 miles) of primary and secondary roads, only 7,700 kilometers (4,785 miles) of which are paved. Southern Yemen's road system is in especially bad condition, as parts of many roads are washed away by flash floods and heavy rains. As a result, the country's road system constitutes a serious obstacle to economic development. There is no railway system.
Yemen has 5 major airports: the Sanaa, Aden, Rayyan, Taiz, and Hodeida airports. Renovation of the Sanaa and Aden airports began in 2000. Yemenia airline is the country's official airline and is largely protected against foreign competition. The carrier is slated for privatization, but the government has been reluctant to sell its 51 percent share in the airline. Yemen has 6 ports. With the exception of the Port of Aden, all ports experience delays in loading and unloading. Most domestic activity is concentrated at the Port of Hodeidah. Aden Container Terminal, which opened in March 1999 and is still being expanded, is gradually taking over as the country's main port.
Electrical power is supplied to Yemenis by the Public Electricity Corporation, which has a capacity of 400 Megawatts of power. The company can barely meet local demand; electricity reaches only 30 percent of the population. As a result of repeated blackouts and severe shortages—especially in Mukalla and Hadramawt, both
| Communications | |||||||||
| Country | Newspapers | Radios | TV Setsa | Cable subscribersa | Mobile Phonesa | Fax Machinesa | Personal Computersa | Internet Hostsb | Internet Usersb |
| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1998 | 1998 | 1998 | 1998 | 1999 | 1999 | |
| Yemen | 15 | 64 | 29 | N/A | 1 | N/A | 1.2 | 0.02 | 10 |
| United States | 215 | 2,146 | 847 | 244.3 | 256 | 78.4 | 458.6 | 1,508.77 | 74,100 |
| Saudi Arabia | 57 | 321 | 262 | N/A | 31 | N/A | 49.6 | 1.17 | 300 |
| Oman | 29 | 598 | 595 | 0.0 | 43 | 2.7 | 21.0 | 2.87 | 50 |
| aData are from International Telecommunication Union, World Telecommunication Development Report 1999 and are per 1,000 people. | |||||||||
| bData are from the Internet Software Consortium (http://www.isc.org) and are per 10,000 people. | |||||||||
| SOURCE: World Bank. World Development Indicators 2000. | |||||||||
of which are not connected to the national grid—several factories and residences either have their own generators, or are forced to operate only one shift a day. The situation is worse in rural areas, where an estimated 60 percent of households have no electricity. The government has launched a program to upgrade and extend power supplies, largely with the help of the World Bank.
Telecommunications services in Yemen are unreliable. The country had 249,515 working lines in 1998, with a capacity of 296,129 lines. Telephone service, mobile included, is often interrupted for security reasons. Internet service is available, but is both costly and unreliable. In 2000, the country had just 1 Internet service provider for its 12,000 Internet users.