About Ethiopia (The Country)

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Source: flickr.com.

Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule with the exception of a short-lived Italian occupation from 1936-41. In 1974, a military junta, the Derg, deposed Emperor Haile SELASSIE (who had ruled since 1930) and established a socialist state. Torn by bloody coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the regime was finally toppled in 1991 by a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). A constitution was adopted in 1994, and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995. A border war with Eritrea late in the 1990s ended with a peace treaty in December 2000. In November 2007, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission (EEBC) issued specific coordinates as virtually demarcating the border and pronounced its work finished. Alleging that the EEBC acted beyond its mandate in issuing the coordinates, Ethiopia has not accepted them and has not withdrawn troops from previously contested areas pronounced by the EEBC as belonging to Eritrea. In August 2012, longtime leader 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.

Geography

Geographic coordinates

8 00 N, 38 00 E

Climate

Tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variation.

Terrain

High plateau with central mountain range divided by Great Rift Valley.

Natural Resources

Small reserves of gold, platinum, copper, potash, natural gas, hydropower

Environment - Current Issues

Deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; water shortages in some areas from water-intensive farming and poor management.

People

Population

96,633,458 Country comparison to the world: 14 Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2014 est.)

Age Structure

0-14 years: 44.2% (male 21,376,243/female 21,308,454) 15-24 years: 19.9% (male 9,557,462/female 9,692,275) 25-54 years: 29.2% (male 14,023,218/female 14,176,263) 55-64 years: 3.9% (male 1,826,602/female 1,919,212) 65 years and over: 2.8% (male 1,242,171/female 1,511,558) (2014 est.)

Median Age

Total: 17.6 years Male: 17.4 years Female: 17.7 years (2014 est.)

Population Growth

2.89% (2014 est.)

Country comparison to the world: 14

Urbanization

Urban population: 17% of total population (2011) Rate of urbanization: 3.57% annual rate of change (2010-15 est)

ADDIS ABABA (capital) 2.979 million (2011)

Sex Ratio

At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.83 male(s)/female Total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2014 est.)

Infant Mortality Rate

Total: 55.77 deaths/1,000 live births Country comparison to the world: 29 Male: 63.77 deaths/1,000 live births Female: 47.53 deaths/1,000 live births (2014 est.)

Life Expectancy at Birth

Total population: 60.75 years Country comparison to the world: 193 Male: 58.43 years Female: 63.15 years (2014 est.)

HIV/AIDS

1.3% (2012 est.) Country comparison to the world: 34

Nationality

Noun: Ethiopian(s) Adjective: Ethiopian

Oromo 34.4%, Amhara (Amara) 27%, Somali (Somalie) 6.2%, Tigray (Tigrinya) 6.1%, Sidama 4%, Gurage 2.5%, Welaita 2.3%, Hadiya 1.7%, Afar (Affar) 1.7%, Gamo 1.5%, Gedeo 1.3%, Silte 1.3%, Kefficho 1.2%, other 10.5% (2007 est.).

Religion

Ethiopian Orthodox 43.5%, Muslim 33.9%, Protestant 18.5%, traditional 2.7%, Catholic 0.7%, other 0.6% (2007 est.).

Languages

Oromo (official working language in the State of Oromiya) 33.8%, Amharic (official national language) 29.3%, Somali (official working language of the State of Sumale) 6.2%, Tigrigna (Tigrinya) (official working language of the State of Tigray) 5.9%, Sidamo 4%, Wolaytta 2.2%, Gurage 2%, Afar (official working language of the State of Afar) 1.7%, Hadiyya 1.7%, Gamo 1.5%, Gedeo 1.3%, Opuuo 1.2%, Kafa 1.1%, other 8.1%, English (major foreign language taught in schools), Arabic (2007 est.)

Literacy

Definition: Age 15 and over can read and write Total population: 39% Male: 49.1% Female: 28.9% (2007 est.)

Government

Country name

Conventional long form: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Conventional short form: Ethiopia Local long form: Ityop'iya Federalawi Demokrasiyawi Ripeblik Local short form: Ityop'iya Former: Abyssinia, Italian East Africa Abbreviation: FDRE

Capital

Addis Ababa

Time Difference

UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time).

Legal system

Civil law system

Economy

Ethiopia's economy is based on agriculture but the government is pushing to diversify into manufacturing, textiles, and energy generation.. Coffee is a major export crop. The agricultural sector suffers from poor cultivation practices and frequent drought, but recent joint efforts by the Government of Ethiopia and donors have strengthened Ethiopia's agricultural resilience, contributing to a reduction in the number of Ethiopians threatened with starvation. The banking, insurance, telecommunications, and micro-credit industries are restricted to domestic investors, but Ethiopia has attracted significant foreign investment in textiles, leather, commercial agriculture and manufacturing. Under Ethiopia's constitution, the state owns all land and provides long-term leases to the tenants; land use certificates are now being issued in some areas so that tenants have more recognizable rights to continued occupancy and hence make more concerted efforts to improve their leaseholds. While GDP growth has remained high, per capita income is among the lowest in the world. Ethiopia's economy continues on its state-led Growth and Transformation Plan under the new collective leadership that followed Prime Minister MELES’s death.

Source

Source: CIA World Factbook - Ethiopia

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