Yemenis

For a specific analysis of the population of Yemen, see Demographics of Yemen.

Yemenis

Arabic: يمنيون
Map of the Yemeni people around the world   Yemen   + 1,000,000   + 100,000   + 10,000   + 1,000
Total population
Yemen : 31,461,438[1] Yemeni diaspora : 7,000,000 Total : 38,461,438
Regions with significant populations
Saudi Arabia	1,803,469[2]
Egypt	700,000[3]
India	300,000 (incl. ancestry)[4]
United States	91,288[5]
United Arab Emirates	90,000[6]
United Kingdom	70,000-80,000[7]
Eritrea	71,000^[citation needed]
Madagascar	61,000[8]
Israel	50,000[9][10] (Number of Yemenite Jews that migrated to Israel)
Ethiopia	37,500^[citation needed]
Jordan	32,000[11]
Turkey	30,000[12]
Malaysia	20,000[13]
Canada	8,115[14]
Djibouti	5,129[15]
Pakistan	5,000[16]
Sweden	3,785[17]
Netherlands	3,777[18]
Oman	2,500[19]
Languages
Arabic: varieties of Yemeni Arabic (majority) · Standard Arabic (official) · Mehri · Socotri · Hobyot · Razihi · Judeo-Yemeni (historically)
Religion
Predominantly Islam · significant minorities of Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Other Arabs

Yemenis or Yemenites (Arabic: يمنيون) are the citizen population of Yemen.

Social hierarchy

See also: Tribes of Yemen

Yemeni tribesmen

Yemen is notable as the most tribal nation in the Arab world, largely due to the significant influence of tribal leaders and their deep integration into various aspects of the state.^[20] Estimates vary, with approximately 200 tribes in Yemen, although some reports list more than 400.^[21][22]

There is a system of social stratification in Yemen that was officially abolished at the creation of the Republic of Yemen in 1962. In practice this system has not disappeared, and Yemeni society is still organized around social hierarchies. The difference between social ranks is manifested by descent and occupation and is consolidated by marriages between people of the same ranks.

There are five status groups. At the top of the hierarchy, there are the religious elites, also called sada. These are then followed by the strata of judges (quad). The third hierarchical status is the qaba’il, who are the peasants, who belong to tribes and who live mainly from agriculture and trading. The fourth group is called the mazayanah. This group is composed of people who have no land and provide different kinds of services such as butchers and craftsmen. Finally, at the bottom of the hierarchy are the slaves (a’bid) and even further below them Al-Akhdam, which means servants.^[23]

Diaspora

Main article: Yemeni diaspora

The Yemeni diaspora is largely concentrated in the United Kingdom, where between 70,000 and 80,000 Yemenis live. Over 20,000 Yemenis reside in the United States, and an additional 2,800 live in Italy. Yemenis also reside in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, as well as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Madagascar, and the former USSR. A smaller number of modern-day Pakistanis are of Yemeni descent, their original ancestors having left Yemen for the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia over four centuries ago.^[24] Arab Indonesians are Indonesian citizens of Arab or mixed Arab-Indonesian descent, mainly Hadharem from Yemen. The census of 2005 recorded a total of 87,227 Arab Indonesians.^[25] Around 50.000 Yemenite Jews migrated to the State of Israel. In 2015, due to the conflict in Yemen, many have migrated to the northern coasts of Djibouti, Madagascar, and Somalia in Africa.

Notable Yemenis

• Abu Bakr Salem, Yemeni singer
• Amna Al-Nasiri, Yemeni plastic artist, art critic, writer
• Bakar, English singer
• Tawakkol Karman, Yemeni Nobel Laureate, journalist, politician, and human rights activist
• Anwar al-Awlaki, Yemeni-American imam
• Hind Al-Eryani, Yemeni activist and journalist
• Ali al-Jifri, Yemeni Islamic scholar
• Shoshana Damari, Yemenite Jewish-Israeli singer
• Shatha Altowai, visual artist
• Saber Bamatraf, Yemeni pianist, composer and cultural activist.
• Arwa Othman, Yemeni writer, journalist, human rights activist and former Minister of Culture
• Balqees, Yemeni singer
• Saadaldeen Talib, politician

References and notes

1. "Yemen Population (2022) - Worldometer". www.worldometers.info. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
2. "Saudi Arabia 2022 Census" (PDF). General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2024. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
3. "The Struggle Far from Home: Yemeni Refugees in Cairo". 18 December 2020.
4. "Hadhramis present a slice of Yemen in India's Hyderabad". 13 December 2018.
5. "2020 US Census Bureau: 3.5 Million Reported Middle Eastern and North African Descent in 2020".
6. "Etihad Airways introduces maiden flight to Sanaa". 2 September 2013.
7. "History of Islam in the United Kingdom". BBC. Retrieved 11 December 2008.
8. "Yemeni Arab in Madagascar".
9. "Operation Magic carpet". 24 September 2024.
10. Tudor Parfitt, The Road to Redemption: The Jews of the Yemen, 1900–1950, (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996), pages 229–245/
11. "A Precarious Refuge: Yemeni Asylum-Seekers in Jordan". 14 February 2022.
12. "Yemenis in turkey". 11 February 2022.
13. "Yemenis will be able to work legally in Malaysia soon - Ambassador". 14 September 2019.
14. "Knowledge of languages by age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions". Census Profile, 2021 Census. Statistics Canada Statistique Canada. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
15. Sémnani, Schâdi. "The road from Yemen: Part 3". IDMC - Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
16. "Brotherly ties: The city of lights now has a twin sister in Yemen". The Express Tribune. 10 January 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
17. "Befolkning efter födelseland och ursprungsland, 31 december 2024, totalt" [Foreign-born, citizenship and foreign/Swedish background]. Utrikes födda, medborgarskap och utländsk/Svensk bakgrund (in Swedish). Statistiska centralbyrån. December 2024.
18. "CBS Statline".
19. "Oman provides sanctuary for Yemenis fleeing conflict".
20. J. E. Peterson, Tribes and Politics in Yemen p.1
21. "Zaydi Islam". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
22. الجزيرة نت Archived 19 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine
23. Hall, Bogumila. “Subaltern Rightful Struggles, Comparative ethnographies of the Bedouin villagers in the Naqab, and the akhdam slum dwellers in Sana’a.” Ph.D. diss., European University Institute, 2016.
24. Yemenis in the UK
25. Suryadinata, Leo (2008). Ethnic Chinese in Contemporary Indonesia. Singapore: Chinese Heritage Centre and Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. ISBN 978-981-230-835-1.