It includes the islands of Kamaran in the Red Sea, Perim Island , Socotra , and the Kuria Muria Islands . The N and E are desert. The predominantly Arab population is chiefly Sunnite with Shiites and some Zaidi, the Jews having mostly emigrated after 1918. There are nomadic tribes in the N and E. Economy agriculture was the basis of the economy until oil production began in 1986. Livestock are kept.
Sardine fishing is important.
The S and E have almost no industry outside Aden. Refined oil, cotton, fish products, hides, and incense are exported. The economy, which is one of the poorest in the world, relies on foreign aid and money received from the large proportion of Yemenis who work abroad, mainly in Saudi Arabia. The greater part of Yemen's large foreign debt was written off by the IMF in 1997. Aden was captured from the Turks in 1839 and occupied by the British East India Company.