Eritrea

Eritrea has a land mass of 117,600km² and its coastline extends for 1,720km from Cape Kasar in the north to the Strait of Mandeb, separating the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden in the south. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, bordered by Eritrea and Djibouti to the southwest and by Yemen to the northeast, separates the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean.

The country borders Ethiopia which lost its coastline access following Eritrea’s independence in May 1993, which created an armed conflict between the two countries. On 9 July 2018, Ethiopian and Eritrean leaders agreed to end hostilities and restore economic and diplomatic ties, and opened Ethiopia’s access to the Eritrean port cities of Assab and Massawa.


Eritrea has a population of 3.6 million people, a GDP of US$2.7bn, and a public debt to GDP ratio of 135.8% in 2024 down from 167% in 2023. GDP growth was 2.8% in 2024 and projected to grow by 3% in 2025. The currency is the nafka, and it has a diverse culture with many ethnic groups including the Tigrigna, Tigre, Saho, Bilen, and Nara. The country is also home to many people of Arab, Italian, and Indian descent.

Eritrea’s long-standing problems include poor governance, a lack of commitment to structural reform, poor management of public finance, and underdeveloped legal and regulatory frameworks. Weak enforcement of property rights and fragile rule of law have driven many people into the informal sector. Businesses face the constant threat of government interference. Few sizable private businesses exist, and employment opportunities are limited. Reliable economic and labour statistics are difficult to find. Monetary stability is fragile, and the most recent available inflation rate is 7.5%.

Eritrea produces copper, gold, silver and zinc and has unexploited deposits of potash. The Bisha copper-zinc mine is situated in the Gash-Barka region, the Zara gold mine in the Anseba region, the Colluli potash project in the Northern Red Sea region, and the Asmara copper project in the Central region. In July 2020, Australian company Danakali started development of its Colluli potash mine. The first phase has a production capacity of 472,000t per year of sulphate of potash that could increase to more than 900,000t if the second phase is developed. Eritrea is Africa’s largest zinc producer and third-largest silver producer.

Sources: Who Owns Whom sector reports, CIA Factbook, African Development Bank, World Bank, Trading Economics, African Statistical Yearbook and IMF. ?>