Geography of Eritrea
| Location: | Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan |
| Geographic coordinates: | 15 00 N, 39 00 E |
| Map references: | Africa |
| Area: | total: 121,320 sq km land: 121,320 sq km water: 0 sq km |
| Area - comparative: | slightly larger than Pennsylvania |
| Land boundaries: | total: 1,626 km border countries: Djibouti 109 km, Ethiopia 912 km, Sudan 605 km |
| Coastline: | 2,234 km (mainland on Red Sea 1,151 km, islands in Red Sea 1,083 km) |
| Maritime claims: | territorial sea: 12 nm |
| Climate: | hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually, heaviest June to September); semiarid in western hills and lowlands |
| Terrain: | dominated by extension of Ethiopian north-south trending highlands, descending on the east to a coastal desert plain, on the northwest to hilly terrain and on the southwest to flat-to-rolling plains |
| Elevation extremes: | lowest point: near Kulul within the Denakil depression -75 m highest point: Soira 3,018 m |
| Natural resources: | gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and natural gas, fish |
| Land use: | arable land: 4.78% permanent crops: 0.03% other: 95.19% (2005) |
| Irrigated land: | 210 sq km (2003) |
| Natural hazards: | frequent droughts; locust swarms |
| Environment - current issues: | deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing; loss of infrastructure from civil warfare |
| Environment - international agreements: | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
| Geography - note: | strategic geopolitical position along world's busiest shipping lanes; Eritrea retained the entire coastline of Ethiopia along the Red Sea upon de jure independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993 |