Eritrea

Women

Eritrea is not included in the Gender Inequality Index. Women should always be considered as a particularly vulnerable group though.

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Children

Eritrea has a Workplace Index score of 7.2, a Marketplace Index score of 5.0 and a Community and Environment Index score of 7.9 in the Children’s Rights and Business Atlas, where countries receive scores between 0 and 10. A score closer to 0 reflects a need for basic children’s rights due diligence, while a higher score reflects a need for enhanced or heightened due diligence. Children should always be considered as a particularly vulnerable group though. 

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Persons with Disabilities

Due to differences in data collection and definitions it is difficult to compare countries on disability prevalence rates. Persons with disabilities should always be considered as a particularly vulnerable group though.

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Minorities and Indigenous Peoples

According to the World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, the main minority groups in Eritrea are Tigre 16%, Afar 3.3%, Saho 3.7%, Beni Amer (Bedawi) 3.1%, Bilen 1.4%, Kunama 2.2 % and Nara 1.6%. The inhabitants of the Eritrean Plateau are very close to their Ethiopian neighbours in Tigray in language, traditions, social structure and culture. Most belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox religion and their language Tigrinya is descended from Ge’ez (ancient Ethiopic), as is Amharic. The lowland Eritreans are largely Muslim, speaking local languages such as Danakil and Saho as well as Arabic. Peoples of the far west originally descended from northern Sudan. To the north and west of the Eritrean Plateau the land gradually diminishes into the broken hill region the Rora. In this hot and arid region, Tigre (Tegre) peoples, who represent one-third of the country’s population, are dominant. Culturally and ethnically, they are related to the Beja of Sudan. Claiming Arab origin, their language, Tigre, is Semitic. Mostly Muslim, their primary occupation is cattle herding. Most are nomadic, however, some have settled by rivers such as the Barka and on state cotton plantations.

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Migrant Workers​

According to the ILO Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers, migrant workers as a proportion of all workers is 3 % in the subregion Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Persons in Armed Conflict

Eritrea ranks 17 out of 179 countries in the Fragile States Index, where a high rank equals high fragility. For monthly crisis updates, check out CrisisWatch.