Map of Ethiopia | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: The area that is modern-day Ethiopia is rich in cultural and religious diversity with more than 80 ethnic groups. The oldest hominid yet found comes from Ethiopia, and Ethiopia was the second country to officially adopt Christianity in the 4th century A.D. A series of monarchies ruled the area that is now Ethiopia from 980 B.C. to 1855, when the Amhara kingdoms of northern Ethiopia united in an empire under Tewodros II. Many Ethiopians still speak reverently about the Battle of Adwa in 1896, when they defeated Italian forces and won their freedom from colonial rule. Emperor Haile SELASSIE became an internationally renowned figure in 1935, when he unsuccessfully appealed to the League of Nations to prevent Italy from occupying Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941. SELASSIE survived an attempted coup in 1960, annexed modern-day Eritrea in 1962, and played a leading role in establishing the Organization of African Unity in 1963. However, in 1974, a military junta called the Derg deposed him and established a socialist state. Torn by bloody coups, uprisings, drought, and massive displacement, the Derg regime was toppled in 1991 by a coalition of opposing forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The EPRDF became an ethno-federalist political coalition that ruled Ethiopia from 1991 until its dissolution in 2019. Ethiopia adopted its constitution in 1994 and held its first multiparty elections in 1995. A two-and-a-half-year border war with Eritrea in the late 1990s ended with a peace treaty in 2000. Ethiopia subsequently rejected the 2007 Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission demarcation. This resulted in more than a decade of a tense “no peace, no war” stalemate between the two countries. In 2012, longtime Prime Minister MELES Zenawi died in office and was replaced by his Deputy Prime Minister HAILEMARIAM Desalegn, marking the first peaceful transition of power in decades. Following a wave of popular dissent and anti-government protest that began in 2015, HAILEMARIAM resigned in 2018, and ABIY Ahmed Ali took office the same year as Ethiopia's first ethnic Oromo prime minister. In 2018, ABIY promoted a rapprochement between Ethiopia and Eritrea that was marked with a peace agreement and a reopening of their shared border. In 2019, Ethiopia's nearly 30-year ethnic-based ruling coalition, the EPRDF, merged into a single unity party called the Prosperity Party; however, the lead coalition party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), declined to join. In 2020, a military conflict erupted between forces aligned with the TPLF and the Ethiopian military. The conflict -- which was marked by atrocities committed by all parties -- ended in 2022 with a cessation of hostilities agreement between the TPLF and the Ethiopian Government. However, Ethiopia continues to experience ethnic-based violence as other groups -- including the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and Amhara militia Fano -- seek concessions from the Ethiopian Government.


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area
Total: 1,104,300 km²
Land: 1,096,570 km²
Water: 7,730 km²
Note: area numbers are approximate since a large portion of the Ethiopia-Somalia border is undefined
Comparative: slightly less than twice the size of Texas

Land boundaries
Total: 5,925 km
Border countries (6): (6) Djibouti 342 km; Eritrea 1,033 km; Kenya 867 km; Somalia 1,640 km; South Sudan 1,299 km; Sudan 744 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

Climate: tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variation

Terrain: high plateau with central mountain range divided by Great Rift Valley

Elevation
Highest point: Ras Dejen 4,550 m
Lowest point: Danakil Depression -125 m
Mean elevation: 1,330 m

Natural resources

Land use
Agricultural land: 34.1% (2023 est.)
Arable land: 14.5% (2023 est.)
Permanent crops: 1.8% (2023 est.)
Permanent pasture: 17.7% (2023 est.)
Forest: 23.7% (2023 est.)
Other: 42.2% (2023 est.)

Irrigated land: 1,814 km² (2020)

Major rivers: Blue Nile river source (shared with Sudan [m]) - 1,600 km
Note: [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: geologically active Great Rift Valley susceptible to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions; frequent droughts
Volcanism: volcanic activity in the Great Rift Valley; Erta Ale (613 m) is the country's most active volcano; Dabbahu became active in 2005, forcing evacuations; other historically active volcanoes include Alayta, Dalaffilla, Dallol, Dama Ali, Fentale, Kone, Manda Hararo, and Manda-Inakir

Geography
Note: the most populous landlocked country in the world; the Blue Nile, the chief headstream of the Nile by water volume, rises in T'ana Hayk (Lake Tana) in northwest Ethiopia


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Population
Total: 118,550,298 (2024 est.)
Male: 59,062,093
Female: 59,488,205
Distribution: highest density is found in the highlands of the north and middle areas of the country, particularly around the centrally located capital city of Addis Ababa; the far east and southeast are sparsely populated, as shown in this population distribution map
Growth rate: 2.37% (2024 est.)

Nationality

Ethnic groups

Languages: Oromo (official regional working language) 33.8%, Amharic (official national language) 29.3%, Somali (official regional working language) 6.2%, Tigrigna (Tigrinya) (official regional working language) 5.9%, Sidamo 4%, Wolaytta 2.2%, Gurage 2%, Afar (official regional working language) 1.7%, Hadiyya 1.7%, Gamo 1.5%, Gedeo 1.3%, Opuuo 1.2%, Kafa 1.1%, other 8.1%, English (2007 est.)
Major-language sample(s): ; Kitaaba Addunyaa Waan Qabataamaatiif - Kan Madda Odeeffannoo bu’uraawaatiif baay’ee barbaachisaa ta’e. (Oromo); የአለም እውነታ መጽሐፍ፣ ለመሠረታዊ መረጃ እጅግ አስፈላጊ የሆነ ምንጭ። (Amharic); The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.

Religions: Ethiopian Orthodox 43.8%, Muslim 31.3%, Protestant 22.8%, Catholic 0.7%, traditional 0.6%, other 0.8% (2016 est.)

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 38.7% (male 23,092,496/female 22,765,882)
15-64 years: 58% (male 34,175,328/female 34,536,238)
65 years and over: 3.4% (2024 est.) (male 1,794,269/female 2,186,085)

Dependency ratios
Total dependency ratio: 72.5 (2024 est.)
Youth dependency ratio: 66.7 (2024 est.)
Elderly dependency ratio: 5.8 (2024 est.)
Potential support ratio: 17.3 (2024 est.)

Median age
Total: 20.4 years (2024 est.)
Male: 20.2 years
Female: 20.7 years

Population growth rate: 2.37% (2024 est.)

Birth rate: 29.6 births/1,000 population (2024 est.)

Death rate: 5.8 deaths/1,000 population (2024 est.)

Net migration rate

Population distribution: highest density is found in the highlands of the north and middle areas of the country, particularly around the centrally located capital city of Addis Ababa; the far east and southeast are sparsely populated, as shown in this population distribution map

Urbanization
Urban population: 23.2% of total population (2023)
Rate of urbanization: 4.4% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Major urban areas
Population: 5.461 million ADDIS ABABA (capital) (2023)

Environment

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.82 male(s)/female
Total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2024 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio: 195 deaths/100,000 live births (2023 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 32.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2024 est.)
Male: 37.4 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 27.6 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 67.7 years (2024 est.)
Male: 65.4 years
Female: 70 years

Total fertility rate: 3.84 children born/woman (2024 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source
Urban: 16.8% of population (2022 est.)
Rural: 57.8% of population (2022 est.)
Total: 48.5% of population (2022 est.)

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access
Urban: 49.2% of population (2022 est.)
Rural: 91.8% of population (2022 est.)
Total: 82.2% of population (2022 est.)

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 21.2% (2019 est.)

Education expenditures

Literacy

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment
Rate (ages 15-24): 3.4% (2024 est.); 3.5% (2023 est.); 3.5% (2022 est.)
Rate (ages 15-24) note: % of labor force seeking employment


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Country name

Government type

Capital
Name: Addis Ababa
Geographic coordinates: 9 02 N, 38 42 E
Time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Etymology: the name in Amharic means 'new flower;' Empress TAITU gave the name to the new capital city in 1887

Administrative divisions: 12 ethnically based regional states (kililoch, singular - kilil) and 2 chartered cities* (astedader akabibiwach, singular - astedader akabibi); Adis Abeba* (Addis Ababa), Afar, Amara (Amhara), Binshangul Gumuz, Dire Dawa*, Gambela Hizboch (Gambela), Hareri Hizb (Harari), Oromia, Sidama, Sumale, Tigray, YeDebub Biheroch Bihereseboch na Hizboch (Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples), YeDebub M'irab Ityop'iya Hizboch (Southwest Ethiopia Peoples), Southern Ethiopia Peoples

Dependent areas

Independence

National holiday

Constitution

Legal system: civil law system

International law organization participation: has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

Citizenship

Suffrage

Executive branch
Chief of state: President TAYE Atske Selassie (since 7 October 2024)
Head of government: Prime Minister ABIY Ahmed Ali (since April 2018)
Cabinet: Council of Ministers selected by the prime minister and approved by the House of People's Representatives
Election/appointment process: president indirectly elected by both chambers of Parliament for a 6-year term (eligible for a second term); prime minister designated by the majority party following legislative elections
Most recent election date: 21 June 2021 and 30 September 2021 (scheduled 29 August 2020 election was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
2021: SAHLE-WORK Zewde reelected president during joint session of Parliament, vote - 659 (unanimous); ABIY confirmed Prime Minister by House of Peoples' Representatives (4 October 2021)
2018: SAHLE-WORK Zewde elected president during joint session of Parliament, vote - 659 (unanimous); snap election held on 25 October 2018 due to resignation of President MULATA Teshome

Legislative branch
Legislative structure: bicameral
Note: the House of Federation is responsible for interpreting the constitution and federal-regional issues, and the House of People's Representatives is responsible for passing legislation

Judicial branch

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of green (top), yellow, and red, with a light blue disk centered on the three bands; on the disk is a yellow pentagram with single yellow rays emanating from the angles between the points

National symbols

National anthem
Title: 'Whedefit Gesgeshi Woud Enat Ethiopia' (March Forward, Dear Mother Ethiopia)
Lyrics/music: DEREJE Melaku Mengesha/SOLOMON Lulu
History: adopted 1992

National heritage
Total World Heritage Sites: 12 (10 cultural, 2 natural)
Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela (c); Simien National Park (n); Fasil Ghebbi, Gondar Region (c); Aksum (c); Lower Valley of the Awash (c); Lower Valley of the Omo (c); Tiya (c); Harar Jugol, the Fortified Historic Town (c); Konso Cultural Landscape (c); Gedeo Cultural Landscape (c); Bale Mountains National Park (n); Melka Kunture and Balchit: Archaeological and Palaeontological Sites in the Highland Area of Ethiopia (c)


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Economy overview

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 7.3% (2024 est.); 6.6% (2023 est.); 5.3% (2022 est.)
Note: annual GDP % growth based on constant local currency

Real gdp per capita: 7.3% (2024 est.); 6.6% (2023 est.); 5.3% (2022 est.)
Note: annual GDP % growth based on constant local currency

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use
Household consumption: 80.2% (2024 est.)
Government consumption: 5.5% (2024 est.)
Investment in fixed capital: 20.5% (2024 est.)
Investment in inventories: 0% (2024 est.)
Exports of goods and services: 5.6% (2024 est.)
Imports of goods and services: -11.8% (2024 est.)
Note: figures may not total 100% due to rounding or gaps in data collection

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 34.9% (2024 est.)
Industry: 25.4% (2024 est.)
Services: 37.6% (2024 est.)
Note: figures may not total 100% due to non-allocated consumption not captured in sector-reported data

Agriculture products

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

Industrial production growth rate: 9.2% (2024 est.)
Note: annual % change in industrial value added based on constant local currency

Labor force: 54.47 million (2024 est.)
Note: number of people ages 15 or older who are employed or seeking work

Unemployment rate: 3.4% (2024 est.); 3.5% (2023 est.); 3.5% (2022 est.)
Note: % of labor force seeking employment

Youth unemployment
Rate (ages 15-24): 3.4% (2024 est.); 3.5% (2023 est.); 3.5% (2022 est.)
Rate (ages 15-24) note: % of labor force seeking employment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Revenues: $8.808 billion (2023 est.)
Expenditures: $12.49 billion (2023 est.)
Note: central government revenues and expenses (excluding grants/extrabudgetary units/social security funds) converted to US dollars at average official exchange rate for year indicated

Taxes and other revenues: 3.9% (of GDP) (2023 est.)
Note: central government tax revenue as a % of GDP

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $10.865 billion (2023 est.); $10.971 billion (2022 est.); $9.496 billion (2021 est.)
Note: balance of payments - exports of goods and services in current dollars
Commodities: coffee, garments, dried legumes, cut flowers, oil seeds (2023)
Commodities note: top five export commodities based on value in dollars

Imports: $22.951 billion (2023 est.); $24.187 billion (2022 est.); $20.859 billion (2021 est.)
Note: balance of payments - imports of goods and services in current dollars
Commodities: refined petroleum, fertilizers, plastics, raw sugar, cars (2023)
Commodities note: top five import commodities based on value in dollars

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates


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Electricity
Installed generating capacity: 5.69 million kW (2023 est.)
Consumption: 12.298 billion kWh (2023 est.)
Exports: 1.762 billion kWh (2023 est.)
Transmission/distribution losses: 4.194 billion kWh (2023 est.)
Access electrification - total population: 55% (2022 est.)
Access electrification - urban areas: 94%
Access electrification - rural areas: 43%
Generation sources solar: 0.2% of total installed capacity (2023 est.)
Generation sources wind: 3.1% of total installed capacity (2023 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 96.5% of total installed capacity (2023 est.)
Generation sources geothermal: 0.2% of total installed capacity (2023 est.)

Coal
Production: 456,000 metric tons (2023 est.)
Consumption: 1.653 million metric tons (2023 est.)
Exports: 1,000 metric tons (2022 est.)
Imports: 1.153 million metric tons (2023 est.)

Petroleum
Refined petroleum consumption: 102,000 bbl/day (2023 est.)
Crude oil estimated reserves: 428,000 barrels (2021 est.)

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas
Proven reserves: 24.919 billion cubic meters (2021 est.)

Carbon dioxide emissions: 18.519 million metric tonnes of CO&sub2; (2023 est.)
From coal and metallurgical coke: 3.427 million metric tonnes of CO&sub2; (2023 est.)
From petroleum and other liquids: 15.092 million metric tonnes of CO&sub2; (2023 est.)

Energy consumption per capita: 2.366 million Btu/person (2023 est.)


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Telephones
Fixed lines total subscriptions: 862,000 (2022 est.)
Fixed lines subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 1 (2022 est.) less than 1
Mobile cellular total subscriptions: 71.4 million (2022 est.)
Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 56 (2022 est.)

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet
Users percent of population: 17% (2021 est.)

Broadband fixed subscriptions
Total: 566,000 (2022 est.)
Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: (2022 est.) less than 1


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Military expenditures: 0.7% of GDP (2024 est.); 1% of GDP (2023 est.); 1.7% of GDP (2022 est.); 0.5% of GDP (2021 est.); 0.5% of GDP (2020 est.)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 58 (2025)

Heliports: 1 (2025)

Pipelines

Railways
Total: 659 km (2017) (Ethiopian segment of the 756 km Addis Ababa-Djibouti railroad)
Standard gauge: 659 km (2017) 1.435-m gauge
Note: electric railway with redundant power supplies; under joint control of Djibouti and Ethiopia and managed by a Chinese contractor

Roadways

Waterways

Merchant marine
Total: 12 (2023)
By type: general cargo 10, oil tanker 2

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs