Country Summary: Ethiopia (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia)

Country Name: Ethiopia (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia)

Capital: Addis Ababa

Government Type: federal parliamentary republic

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 thus retained 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, 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 December 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 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. 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 November 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 November 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 November 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.

Continent: Africa

Population: 116,462,712 (2023 est.)

Ethnic Groups: 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.)

Languages: Oromo (official working language of Oromia Regional State) 33.8%, Amharic (official national language) 29.3%, Somali (official working language of Somali Regional State) 6.2%, Tigrigna (Tigrinya) (official working language of Tigray Regional State) 5.9%, Sidamo 4%, Wolaytta 2.2%, Gurage 2%, Afar (official working language of Afar Regional State) 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.)

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

Economic Overview: growing Horn of Africa construction- and services-based economy; port access via Djibouti and Eritrea; widespread but declining poverty; COVID-19, locust invasion, and Tigray crisis disruptions; public investment increases; second largest African labor force

Currency: Ethiopian Birr (ETB)

Reserves of Foreign Exchange & Gold: $3.046 billion (2020 est.) note: holdings of gold (year-end prices)/foreign exchange/special drawing rights in current dollars

Real GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $293.788 billion (2022 est.) note: data in 2017 dollars

Real GDP Growth Rate: 5.32% (2022 est.) note: annual GDP % growth based on constant local currency

Real GDP per Capita: $2,400 (2022 est.) note: data in 2017 dollars

Exports: 

• $10.971 billion (2022 est.) note: balance of payments - exports of goods and services in current dollars

• Comparison Ranking: 109

Export Commodities: coffee, gold, sesame seeds, vegetables, cut flowers, aircraft parts (2021)

Export Partners: China 17%, United States 16%, United Arab Emirates 8%, Saudi Arabia 6%, South Korea 5%, Germany 5% (2019)

Imports: 

• $24.187 billion (2022 est.) note: balance of payments - imports of goods and services in current dollars

• Comparison Ranking: 88

Import Commodities: aircraft, gas turbines, packaged medicines, electric filament, cars (2019)

Import Partners: China 27%, India 9%, United Arab Emirates 9%, France 9%, United Kingdom 7% (2019)

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

Agricultural Products: maize, cereals, wheat, sorghum, milk, barley, sweet potatoes, roots/tubers nes, sugar cane, millet

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

Industrial Production Growth Rate: 

• 4.9% (2022 est.) note: annual % change in industrial value added based on constant local currency

• Comparison Ranking: 65

Labor Force: 59.752 million (2022 est.)

Unemployment Rate: 3.42% (2022 est.) note: % of labor force seeking employment

Natural Hazards: Geography:

• Total: 1,104,300 sq km

• Land: 1,096,570 sq km

• Water: 7,730 sq km

(Country Summary, The World Factbook, CIA.gov)

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