Regional Distribution of the Sample

All Yemeni governorates except Al-Dhale', Al-Mahrah, and Sa'ada were covered by the survey. Both Al-Dhale' and Sa'ada were excluded from the sample due to security reasons. Al-Mahrah was excluded because it is remote and its population represents only 0.46 percent of Yemen's overall population. Survey interviews were allocated proportionally to the size of the population in each governorate. However, certain governorates that have a low population were oversampled and regional weights were subsequently applied to bring back the sample in line with population parameters. Figure 1 shows the breakdown of respondents by governorate. 

Age Distribution of Female and Male Respondents

In addition to the introduction of regional weights (by governorate), weights were also applied to bring the age distribution of the female and male samples in line with the age profile of the Yemeni population. Figure 3 shows the unweighted age distribution of respondents by gender and Figure 4 shows the weighted age distribution by gender.

Education Levels by Gender  

Figure 5 shows education levels by gender. As seen below, the incidence of illiteracy is much higher among Yemeni women (56%) than men (18%).

Marital Status by Gender

Figure 6 shows the marital status of surveyed women and Figure 7 shows the marital status of surveyed men. Interestingly, many more women (14%) than men (2%) in the sample are formerly married. Indeed, 3% of women are divorced and 11% are widowed. Two-thirds of men and women are married. One-third of men are single compared with 20% of women. Six percent of married women and 4% of married men are in polygynous unions.

Figure 8 shows respondents’ average number of children. The average number of children for currently/formerly married women is 4.13 and the average number of children for currently/formerly married men is 4.21. The higher average for married men may be a reflection of the phenomenon of polygamy in Yemen. The average number of children when divided by the total sample size is 3.2.

Household Income Levels

Each SWMENA respondent was asked to identify the income range that most closely reflects their household’s monthly income. Figure 9 shows the income profile of respondents. The data shows that 19% of respondents live in households that earn less than 20,000 Yemeni Riyals (YER) per month (USD 94), 27% are in the YER 20,000- 39,000 income range (USD 94 - 183). Twenty percent of households are in the YER 40,000-59,000 income range (USD 188 – 277) and 14% are in the YER 60,000 – 99,000 income range (USD 282 – 465). No more than 9% of respondents live in households that earn more than YER 100,000 (USD 470) per month.

Employment by Gender

Figure 10 shows data on employment by gender. There is a large gender discrepancy as measured by those who report working for pay and those who do not. Yemeni men are almost nine times as likely as women to be working for pay (62% versus 7%).

Figure 11 shows respondents’ monthly earning levels from all paid work by gender. Working women in Yemen earn less than working men. Forty-three percent of working women compared to only 14% of working men earn less than YER 20,000 per month. Men are more than three times as likely as women to earn YER 60,000 or more per month (16% and 5%, respectively).