Yemen
اليمن
Waiting for the first voice
تا مرد سخن نگفته باشد / عیب و هنرش نهفته باشد
Until a man has spoken, his faults and his gifts both stay hidden.
No advice from here yet. Know an elder from this country? Your recording could be the first: 2–3 minutes on a phone.
Did you know
Centuries-old, umbrella-shaped dragon's blood trees line the rugged peaks of Socotra. (source)
Elders in numbers
- of people are 65 or older
- 2.5%
- people aged 65 or older
- 1.1M
- will be 65 or older in 2050
- 5.2%
- is how long people live after 60, on average
- 17.5 years
- of people 65+ live alone
- 2.6%
- women 4.4%, men 1%
Sources: World Bank, 2025; World Bank projection for 2050; WHO, 2023; UN, 2023
Languages
15 languages, 6 of them endangered
- BathariSeverely endangered
- HobyótDefinitely endangered
- ShehriDefinitely endangered
- SoqotriDefinitely endangered
- Judeo-Yemeni ArabicVulnerable
- RazihiVulnerable
- Gulf Arabic
- Hadhrami Arabic
- Hijazi Saudi
- Mehri
- Najdi Arabic
- Sanʽani Arabic
Show all 15
- Standard Arabic
- Taʽizzi-Adeni Arabic
- Yemeni Sign Language
Languages and their status: Glottolog v5.3, CC BY 4.0. Names: Wikidata.
UNESCO intangible heritage
- Hadrami Dan gathering2025
- Henna: rituals, aesthetic and social practices2024
- Arts, skills and practices associated with engraving on metals (gold, silver and copper)2023
- Date palm, knowledge, skills, traditions and practices2022
- Arabic calligraphy: knowledge, skills and practices2021
- Song of Sana’a2008
List and years: ich.unesco.org
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