Ethiopia: The roof of Africa •

Background information

Official name: The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Capital and largest city: Addis Ababa

Area: 1,104,300 sq km

Population: 113.6 million

Languages: Afar, Amharic, Oromo, Somali, Tigrinya

Life expectancy: 65 years (men) 68 years (women)

President: Sahle-Work Zewde (since 2018)

Prime Minister: Abiy Ahmed (since 2018)

Ethnicity/race: Oromo 35.8%, Amhara 24.1%, Somali 7.2%, Tigray 5.7%, Sidama 4.1%, Guragie 2.6%, Welaita 2.3%, Afar 2.2%, Silte 1.3%, Kefficho 1.2%, other 13.5% (2022 est.)

National Holiday: Independence Day, May 28

Religions: Islam, Christianity, traditional, other

Literacy rate: 51.8% (2017 estimate)

GDP/PPP (2020 est.): $264.05 billion; per capita $2,300

Real growth rate: 10.9%

Inflation: 15.7%

Unemployment: 3.5% (2013)

Arable land: 15.2%

Agriculture: cereals, pulses, coffee, oilseed, cotton, sugarcane, potatoes, qat, cut flowers; hides, cattle, sheep, goats; fish

Labor force: 52.82 million (2017); agriculture and animal husbandry 72.7%, government and services 19.9%, industry and construction 7.4% (2013)

Industries: food processing, beverages, textiles, leather, chemicals, metals processing, cement

Natural resources: small reserves of gold, platinum, copper, potash, natural gas, hydropower

Exports: $7.62 billion (2018 est.): coffee, qat, gold, leather products, live animals, oilseeds

Major trading partners (exports): China 17%, United States 16%, United Arab Emirates 8%, Saudi Arabia 6%, South Korea 5%, Germany 5% (2019)

Imports: $19.93 billion (2018 est.): food and live animals, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles, cereals, textiles

Major trading partners (imports): China 27%, India 9%, United Arab Emirates 9%, France 9%, United Kingdom 7% (2019)

Telephones: main lines in use: 1.252 million (2020); mobile cellular: 44.5 million (2020)

Broadcast media: 6 public TV stations broadcasting nationally and 10 public radio broadcasters; 7 private radio stations and 19 community radio stations (2017)

Internet hosts: 179 (2012). Internet users: 27,591,260 (2020)

Railways: total: 659 km (2017) (Ethiopian segment of the 756 km Addis Ababa-Djibouti railroad)

Highways: total: 120,171 km (2018)

Ports and harbors: Ethiopia is landlocked and uses the ports of Djibouti in Djibouti and Berbera in Somalia

Airports: 57 (2021)

Geography

Ethiopia is in east-central Africa, bordered on the west by the Sudan, the east by Somalia and Djibouti, the south by Kenya, and the northeast by Eritrea.

It has several high mountains, the highest of which is Ras Dashan at 15,158 ft (4,620 m).

The Blue Nile, or Abbai, rises in the northwest and flows in a great semicircle before entering the Sudan. Its chief reservoir, Lake Tana, lies in the northwest.

Summary

Ethiopia lies in a strategic location near the Middle East and its markets, making it an ideal starting point for exploring the Horn of Africa.

Ethiopia is a landlocked country that borders South Sudan, Kenya, Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan.

For the past 20 years, Ethiopia has conducted international trade out of the principal port of neighboring Djibouti. It is the second-most populous and oldest autonomous nation in Africa.

It was never colonized, with the exception of a five-year Italian occupation during the Mussolini era. Being the birthplace of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, one of the oldest Christian churches, and having experienced a monarchy that lasted until the 1974 coup, it has a distinctive cultural legacy.z

During the colonial era on the continent, it represented African independence and

Drought and civil conflict left Ethiopia in a state of turmoil under a Marxist dictatorship from the fall of the monarchy until 1991, when the long authoritarian rule of Meles Zenawi brought a degree of stability.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a campaign of political liberalisation at home, and sought to end disputes with Ethiopia’s neighbours, in particular Eritrea, after 2018.