GoKawiilBlogger disputes widely cited 555,000 sq km figure for Yemen's land area
A content creator investigated Yemen's commonly cited land area of 555,000 sq km, found via Google and Wikipedia, and discovered that manually tracing the country's borders on Google Maps produced only about 456,000 sq km, even including islands like Socotra. Tracing the figure to a 1991 Yemeni statistical yearbook, the creator found the discrepancy stemmed from a northern border drawn to the 20th latitude, beyond Yemen's actual border with Saudi Arabia at the 19th latitude. Other major sources, including the CIA World Factbook, World Bank, and United Nations, instead list Yemen's area as 527,968 sq km.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The discrepancy illustrates how outdated or politically motivated figures can persist in widely used references like Wikipedia long after more accurate data becomes available. The creator suggests the inflated 1991 figure may have originated from pre-2000 border ambiguity with Saudi Arabia, possibly for propaganda purposes, though this is presented as speculation rather than confirmed fact. The case highlights the importance of cross-checking geographic statistics against multiple authoritative sources such as the CIA World Factbook or UN data.
- Wikipedia and Google list Yemen's area as 555,000 sq km, but manual border tracing yields around 456,000 sq km.
- The inflated figure traces back to a 1991 Yemeni statistical yearbook that extended the northern border beyond its actual location.
- More authoritative sources like the CIA World Factbook, World Bank, and UN cite Yemen's area as 527,968 sq km.
Source: theborys.substack.com, 2026-09-27
Published there as: “What is the size of Yemen? (2024)”
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