Ethiopia is an East African country. Formerly known as Abyssinia, it is located in the Horn of Africa and has an area of 1 127 127 km2. It is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south and Sudan to the west. The most important cities are Addis-Ababa, the capital, with a population of 2,763,500 residents (2004), Dire Dawa (254,500 residents), Nazret (176,800 residents), Gonder (147,900 residents) and Harar (99,600 residents).
The climate is tropical in altitude on the plateau and in the mountains, but hot and dry in the lowlands.
Economy
Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Although some areas receive precipitation with relative abundance and frequency, others are periodically affected by severe droughts. Droughts are responsible for serious food problems that have hit the country, whose population has therefore received International Food Emergency Aid. However, large expanses of mountainous terrain make it difficult to transport food to the most severely affected areas.
The country’s economy is based on agriculture. The existing crops are maize, sugar cane, sorghum, barley, wheat, potatoes, yams, coffee and cotton. The extractive industry includes cement, salt, lime stone, gold and platinum. It is possible that there are undiscovered mineral wealth, including oil, but currently employment outside the agricultural area is limited to a small sector of building materials, footwear, tires, food products and textiles. Ethiopia’s main trading partners are Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United States of America.
Environmental indicator: the value of carbon dioxide emissions, per capita (metric tons, 1999), is 0.1.
Population
The population is 74 777 981 residents (2006), which corresponds to a population density of 58.4 residents/km2. The birth and death rates are, respectively, 37.98% and 14.86%. Average life expectancy is 49.03 years. The value of the Human Development Index (HDI) is 0.359 and the value of the Gender-adjusted Development Index (IDG) is 0.347 (2001). The official language is Amharic, but a large part of the population speaks tribal languages. The largest ethnolinguistic groups are Amhara, with 38%, and Galla, with 35%, followed by Tigrignas (9%), Guragué (3%), Ometo (3%), Sidamo (2 %), Tigréen, Afar and Somali. The most important religions are Ethiopian Orthodox (53%), Muslim (31%) and traditional beliefs (11%).
Hunger in Ethiopia is not uncommon, but in the 1980s there was the worst crisis ever. The drought hit different areas in different years. Many local economies were destroyed with the loss of crops and the death of livestock. In addition, the war affected food production by removing men from their land, and it also hampered aid operations. In mid-1985, half a million Ethiopians took refuge in Sudan. More than 250,000 people died, many of them children. A vast international aid operation was then created.
History
In the mid-1980s, alongside hunger, another problem arose. Eritrea, then under the control of Ethiopia, wanted independence. The country launched a long civil war, with guerrilla conflicts in several areas. The Ethiopian military government devoted a great financial effort to the fighting, which further worsened the critical situation of the populations. Eritrea became independent in 1993. For Ethiopia democracy and rights, please check getzipcodes.
Countryaah.com: Offers a full list of airports in the country of Ethiopia, sorted by city location and acronyms.
Abbreviationfinder.org: Provides most commonly used abbreviations and initials containing the country name of Ethiopia. Listed by popularity.
Ethiopia – Addis Ababa Map
Find a street map of the famed capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, from this University of Pennsylvania resource.
