Eritrea gained its independence in 1991 after a liberation war that lasted 30 years and left the country as one of the poorest nations in the world with both its infrastructure and economy in ruins. The economy of Eritrea is dominated by traditional agriculture.
Industry is still at an infant stage and needs development.
The country's over 1,000 km coastline with the Red Sea gives the country a high potential in fisheries, sea trade, tourism and salt extraction, which is at yet not developed. In May 1998, a border conflict with Ethiopia degenerated into a full blown war between the two countries. Thousands of people have died, hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced, tens of thousands were deported from Ethiopia, and many more people have been directly or indirectly affected by this war. In addition, a lot of the community support and infrastructure has been either destroyed or stopped functioning, especially in the border areas. Eritrea has a population of about 3.2 million people, there are nine 9 ethnic groups and two main religions, Islam and Christianity.