Why Yemen is Dying & Oman is Booming: The Economic dichotomy between two related neighbors.

[Idilinaa]

Population

Oman 4-5 million

Yemen 33-34 million

That actually shows that Yemen should have a larger pool of human capital in comparison, the economic advantage that should come with having of a bigger population.

But doesn't due to the aforementioned reasons.

 

[Omar del Sur]

Every few years i hear about police arresting some shia dawah man


I don't think that Somalis will ever become shia , 1 or 2 might convert to shirk but then thats a whole bloodline worth of shias

masha'Allah, I'm glad they prevent the Shia from spreading their poison.

 

[CABDULWALI XASAN.]

Population

Oman 4-5 million

Yemen 33-34 million

I wonder what caused such a huge difference.

 

[Step a side]

I wonder what caused such a huge difference.

Yemen was always the centre of Arabia since the ancient times. It’s much more fertile than other regions of Arabia.

 

[Idilinaa]

Somalia and Yemen are both countries that are economically and historically interlinked.

Especially Northern Somalia and Southern Yemen which historically operated much like an extension of each-other and were economically dependent on each-other. Criss-Cross relations that researchers have noted have contributed to the resilience of both communities in both countries. Connections based on trust and mutual accountability.

A united stronger more economically functioning Yemen/Somalia would be of mutual benefit. It will create more jobs, more wealth and improve livelihoods and even better food security for both nations.
Somalia and Yemen’s Cross-border Maritime Economy

Historical roots of the system
Ports, hubs and migrant communities
Somalia and Yemen’s close social and economic ties are mediated across their mari-
time borders via hubs centred on large port-cities—Bosasso (Puntland) and Berbera
(Somaliland); and Mukalla and Aden (Yemen)—as well as the many smaller ports and
landing beaches along both coasts. Historically, these port-cities and coastal settlements
have facilitated the movement of a wide variety of goods, including livestock, charcoal,
foodstuffs, fish and other maritime products, frankincense, arms and people (including
free and unfree labour).

During the late nineteenth century, Somalis were already recognized as a significant pres-
ence in Aden, which, due to its superb natural harbour, attracted traders from all over
the world. Somali businessmen used Aden as an export market for livestock, livestock
products and charcoal, particularly after it became a garrison town under British control
in the early twentieth century.3 The Berbera–Aden sea-corridor remains an important
trade and travel route today, although it has been affected by the rise of Djibouti and
Dubai—and to a lesser extent Bosasso—as important hubs in the wider maritime region.
The Bosasso–Mukalla sea-corridor to the east also has a longstanding history of trade
and mobility, linking a different set of Somali and Yemeni communities and their territo-
rial hinterlands to those of the Berbera–Aden route. East of Bosasso, the fishing sector
links a more dispersed group of smaller maritime centres, including Bargaal, Bareedo,
Tooxin and Xaabo on the Somalia side, to Mukalla and the smaller sea-ports of Al Shihir
and Qusay’ir on the Yemen coast.

The Bosasso–Mukalla corridor, including the fishing sector and supply chain, is trans-
acted through the region’s two main lineage-based communities (sometimes termed
‘tribes’ in the older academic literature). These are the Hadrami of Yemen and the Harti of
north-eastern Somalia (the latter are mainly associated with Puntland and the contested
regions of Sool and Sanaag), and their associated clans and sub-clans. The Hadrami,
primarily of the Hadramawt governorate, are the best-known migratory population from
Yemen, and have long-established diaspora communities as far away as India and South-
east Asia, as well as along the Horn and the Swahili coast.4

Somalia and yemen's cross-border maritime economy

The Harti, which includes the Warsangeli and the Mijerteen (Ismaan Mahmoud), also have a strong maritime identity and dispersed diaspora presence, including longstanding communities in Yemen.5

A local Sultan in Bosasso, in present-day Puntland, describes the Somali–Yemen relation-
ship in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century:

The countries were not as separated as they are now. People moved freely and
everyone settled wherever they wanted. Hadramawt is close to Somalia physically
and culturally … The Hadramis were coming to Somalia for centuries. They are
mainly merchants. They were running away from poverty in Hadramawt … We
were always mixing and intermingling. We received each other as guests and
fed each other. We travelled in each other’s territory without restriction.

For much of their history, the regions encompassed by present-day north-eastern Somalia
(Puntland), Somaliland and (southern) Yemen have been, in many respects, extensions
of each other. They shared a religious and cultural identity that was mutually influenced
through social and economic interactions, easing and enabling interactions even to this
day. For many Somali-speakers these ties were more significant, and welcoming, than
those held with the states and communities of the modern borderlands with Ethiopia
and Kenya. These ties were further strengthened through the incorporation into the
British (Indian Ocean) Empire in the late nineteenth century.7

From the 1990s onwards, Yemen’s fish exports have been ranked second, after oil, in
economic importance, increasing in volume by 300 per cent between 1990 and 2004.
Yemen’s development of this sector appears to have directly benefited Somali investors, traders and fishing communities, despite it being considered neglected and under-developed in recent economic sectoral analyses of Somalia.17
Not only has the better capitalized Yemeni fishing industry and market helped support struggling Somali livelihoods, it has provided additional opportunities through the movement of people and goods facilitated by the shared fishing economy. One conse-quence of this highly open economy, however, has been the creation of an enabling environment for the growth of other, less desirable, types of movements across the
Gulf, including the transit of economic migrants to the Gulf and beyond, as well as arms
and militant groups.

I made this thread to highlight the example that Oman offers as a development model and potential for both countries.

The revolutionary trajectory that was supposed to succeed in Yemen and Somalia in the 1960-70s , is a legacy that succeeded in Oman today. Both the socialist egalitarian re-distributive reforms and the vision of a functioning decentralized local governance.

Even what i mentioned on page 1 about a unitary decentralized system was also on the table for Yemen since the 1960s not just for Somalia urged by it's population.

Decentralization in Yemen​

The chapter explores a paradox – the apparent impossibility of decentralization in a country where orography, a long history of political fragmentation, and a vulnerable central state authority would appear naturally to favor decentralized authority. Through a historical exploration of governance in different parts of Yemen since 1960, it reveals longstanding demands for decentralized governance, as well as the existence of a strong society capable of formulating and pressuring the central authority to implement decentralization reforms.

Although some failed attempts have been made. Decentralization can only happen successfully through the prerequisite of a strong united central state and devolve from there which can only be achieved through a revolution in most cases. It can never be brought forward through a weak fragmented government. Federalism also wont make sense for either of them as a decentralization option.

 

[Reformed J]

Population

Oman 4-5 million

Yemen 33-34 million

The contrast is even more stark when you filter out the 2+ million guest workers in Oman

 

[Step a side]

The contrast is even more stark when you filter out the 2+ million guest workers in Oman

This is why it’s unfair to compare the two countries. Oman is no different than Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait etc which is small population with good oil. You literally have 5+ million Yemenis in Saudi Arabia, UAE etc as expats. That’s how large the population difference is.

 

[Idilinaa]

This is why it’s unfair to compare the two countries. Oman is no different than Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait etc which is small population with good oil. You literally have 5+ million Yemenis in Saudi Arabia, UAE etc as expats. That’s how large the population difference is.

Yemen has control of the most agriculturally fertile land in Arabia and has a bigger population, at the same time it has similar gas and oil reserves as Oman does. Oman's economy is still more than 5 times that of Yemen.

Oman is nothing like the Gulf states which is built on rich foreign investments, whereas Oman isn't. Unlike Emirati and Qatar, Oman is it's own country with it's own assets.

 

[World]

This is why it’s unfair to compare the two countries. Oman is no different than Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait etc which is small population with good oil. You literally have 5+ million Yemenis in Saudi Arabia, UAE etc as expats. That’s how large the population difference is.

Yemen has 20x Bahrain's oil reserves, and 5x their gas reserves, whilst having half Bahrain's GDP.

Even tho Yemen has a much higher population, they're should still be much richer than they are.

 

[Step a side]

Yemen has 20x Bahrain's oil reserves, and 5x their gas reserves, whilst having half Bahrain's GDP.

Yeah but Bahrains native Arab population is only 700k max. Yemen literally has 41x time the population of Bahrain.

 

[World]

Yeah but Bahrains native Arab population is only 700k max. Yemen literally has 41x time the population of Bahrain.

Exactly. They have 41x more people, millions of acres of pasture and farmland, more oil and gas reserves, but still have half the GDP of Bahrain.

The average Bahraini and Omani will always be richer, but Yemen is much poorer than it should be.

Under competent leadership, Yemen would probably have similar GDP as Oman. They would obviously still be poorer due to population differences, but probably have similar GDP per capita to Egypt.

 

[Step a side]

Exactly. They have 41x more people, millions of acres of pasture and farmland, more oil and gas reserves, but still have half the GDP of Bahrain.

The average Bahraini and Omani will always be richer, but Yemen is much poorer than it should be.

Under competent leadership, Yemen would probably have similar GDP as Oman. They would obviously still be poorer due to population differences, but probably have similar GDP per capita to Egypt.

You are right there is mismanagement going on in Yemen. Have they been using their oil and gas reserves? If so then where did it all go?

 

[World]

You are right there is mismanagement going on in Yemen. Have they been using their oil and gas reserves? If so then where did it all go?

Political issues, corruption, the war, mismanagement.

Yemen's GDP shrank by more than half since 2014.

 

[GemState]

@World d @Reformed J @Step a side

The biggest difference between Oman and Yemen is literacy rates and fertility. Yemen needed to lower its fertility rates to not implode. The compounding effects of 4-5% population growth vs 1-2% every single year is no joke.

 

[Riftvalley]

@World d @Reformed J @Step a side

The biggest difference between Oman and Yemen is literacy rates and fertility. Yemen needed to lower its fertility rates to not implode. The compounding effects of 4-5% population growth vs 1-2% every single year is no joke.

Khat as well. Now they have an Iran mutation controlling half the country