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

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)

Independence:

• oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world - at least 2,000 years

Government Type:

• Federal Republic

Executive Branch:

• chief of state: President Mulatu Teshome Wirtu (since 7 October 2013)
• head of government: Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn (since 21 September 2012); Deputy Prime Ministers Aster Mamo, Debretsion Gebre-Michael, Demeke Mekonnen Hassen
• cabinet: Council of Ministers ministers selected by the prime minister and approved by the House of People's Representatives
• elections: president elected by both chambers of Parliament for a six-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 7 October 2013 (next to be held in October 2019)

Legislative Branch:

• structure: bicameral Parliament consists of the House of Federation and the House of People's Representatives

Judicial Branch:

• structure: Federal Supreme Court

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Population:

• 96,633,458 (global rank: 14)
• growth rate: 2.89% (global rank: 14)

Nationality:

• noun: Ethiopian(s)
• adjective: Ethiopian

Major Cities:

• Addis Ababa (capital): 2.979 million

Ethnic Groups:

• 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%

Religions:

• Orthodox 43.5%, Muslim 33.9%, Protestant 18.5%, traditional 2.7%, Catholic 0.7%, other 0.6%

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

Life Expectancy at Birth:

• total population: 60.75 years (global rank: 193)
• male: 58.43 years
• female: 63.15 years

Infant Mortality:

• total population: 55.77 deaths/1,000 live births (global rank: 29)
• male: 63.77 deaths/1,000 live births
• female: 47.53 deaths/1,000 live births

HIV/AIDS:

• adult prevalence rate: 1.3% (2012 est.) (global rank: 34)
• people living with AIDS: 758,600 (2012 est.) (global rank: 14)
  

Literacy:

• definition: age 15 and over can read and write
• total population: 39%
• male: 49.1%
• female: 28.9%

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Overview: 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. The five-year economic plan has achieved high single-digit growth rates through government-led infrastructure expansion and commercial agriculture development. Ethiopia in 2014 will continue construction of its Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile – a controversial five billion dollar effort to develop electricity for domestic consumption and export.

Gross Domestic Product:

• GDP (PPP): $118.2 billion (global rank: 69)
• GDP per capita (PPP): $1,300 (global rank: 211)
• real growth rate: 7% (global rank: 24)
• composition by sector: agriculture: 47%, industry: 10.8%, services: 42.2%

Currency:

• currency: Birr (ETB)
• exchange rate (per US Dollar): 19.92

Poverty:

• population below poverty line: 39%
• unemployment rate: 17.5%

Agricultural Products:

• cereals, pulses, coffee, oilseed, cotton, sugarcane, potatoes, khat, cut flowers; hides, cattle, sheep, goats; fish

Industries:

• food processing, beverages, textiles, leather, chemicals, metals processing, cement

Exports Commodities:

• coffee, khat, gold, leather products, live animals, oilseeds

Imports Commodities:

• food and live animals, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles, cereals, textiles

Location:

• Eastern Africa, west of Somalia

Area:

• total:1,104,300 sq km (global rank: 45)
• land: 1 million sq km
• water: 104,300 sq km
• comparative: slightly less than twice the size of Texas

Climate:

• tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variation

Land Use:

• arable land: 13.19%
• permanent crops: 1.01%
• other: 85.8%

Natural Resources:

• small reserves of gold, platinum, copper, potash, natural gas, hydropower

Current Environmental Issues:

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

• international disputes: Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by the 2002 Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation decision, but neither party responded to the revised line detailed in the November 2006 EEBC Demarcation Statement; the undemarcated former British administrative line has little meaning as a political separation to rival clans within Ethiopia's Ogaden and southern Somalia's Oromo region; Ethiopian forces invaded southern Somalia and routed Islamist Courts from Mogadishu in January 2007; "Somaliland" secessionists provide port facilities in Berbera and trade ties to landlocked Ethiopia; civil unrest in eastern Sudan has hampered efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia
• refugees (country of origin): 244,956 (Somalia); 191,303 (South Sudan); 84,271 (Eritrea); 40,781 (Sudan)
• internally displaced persons: 316,000 (border war with Eritrea from 1998-2000; ethnic clashes; and ongoing fighting between the Ethiopian military and separatist rebel groups in the Sumale and Oromiya regions; natural disasters; most IDPs live in Sumale state)
• illicit drugs: transit hub for heroin originating in Southwest and Southeast Asia and destined for Europe, as well as cocaine destined for markets in southern Africa; cultivates qat (khat) for local use and regional export, principally to Djibouti and Somalia (legal in all three countries); the lack of a well-developed financial system limits the country's utility as a money laundering center