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COUNTRY OVERVIEW
The Republic of Djibouti is located in the Horn of Africa along the Gulf of Aden, at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. Djibouti is one of the smallest countries in Africa and shares borders with Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia and covers a land area of more than 23,000 square kilometers (km2), with a coastline of 372 km. Djibouti is a highly arid country with little arable soil; nearly 90% of the country is classified as desert, with approximately 9% considered as pasture and about 1% forest. The terrain is comprised of arid lands scattered with shrubs throughout the country’s plateaus, plains, volcanic formations and mountain ranges, some reaching 2,000 meters (m) in height. Across the country, altitude varies from 155 m below sea level at Lake Assal to over 2,000 m at Mount Moussa Ali. The eastern region is dominated by high ridges and relatively deep ravines. Western zones are comprised of regularly deepening plains and depressions marked by fracturing. The coastal plains, in the north of the country, include cliffs falling directly to the sea and pebble and sandy beaches. Djibouti is considered as resource scarce and is prone to natural disasters which can be further exacerbated by water scarcity, poor water management and poor land-use planning.
The country experiences little precipitation and is largely unsuitable for agriculture and as a result, Djibouti imports nearly all of its food. Djibouti is considered a lower-middle income country and has some economic strength given its strategic location and serving as a bridge between Africa and the Middle East. The country’s port complex, among the most sophisticated in the world, is the economic driver for the country. Djibouti has received significant public-debt financed investment in infrastructure, which has supported sustained economic growth in recent years; currently the country’s debt stands at an estimated 70% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Djibouti has a population of nearly 974,000 people (2019) with an annual population growth rate of 1.5% (2019), and is projected to reach 1.1 million people by 2030 and 1.3 million people by 2050. An estimated 78% of the current population resides in urban areas, which is expected to reach 85% in 2050. The country has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $3.3 billion (2019), and has experienced relatively volatile growth rates over the past decade, with a current annual growth rate of 7.5% in 2019 (Table 1).