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Guide to Ethiopia

Introduction

Background: Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule, with the exception of the 1936-41 Italian occupation during World War II. 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 two and a half year border war with Eritrea ended with a peace treaty on 12 December 2000. Final demarcation of the boundary is currently on hold due to Ethiopian objections to an international commission's finding requiring it to surrender sensitive territory.

Geography

Location: Eastern Africa, west of Somalia
Geographic coordinates: 8 00 N, 38 00 E
Map references: Africa
Area: total
Area - comparative: slightly less than twice the size of Texas
Land boundaries: total
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 extremes: lowest point
Natural resources: small reserves of gold, platinum, copper, potash, natural gas, hydropower
Land use: arable land
Irrigated land: 1,900 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards: geologically active Great Rift Valley susceptible to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions; frequent droughts
Environment - current issues: deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; water shortages in some areas from water-intensive farming and poor management
Environment - international agreements: party to
Geography - note: landlocked - entire coastline along the Red Sea was lost with the de jure independence of Eritrea on 24 May 1993; the Blue Nile, the chief headstream of the Nile by water volume, rises in T'ana Hayk (Lake Tana) in northwest Ethiopia; three major crops are believed to have originated in Ethiopia

People

Population: 73,053,286 note
Age structure: 0-14 years
Median age: total
Population growth rate: 2.36% (2005 est.)
Birth rate: 38.61 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Death rate: 15.06 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population note
Sex ratio: at birth
Infant mortality rate: total
Life expectancy at birth: total population
Total fertility rate: 5.33 children born/woman (2005 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 4.4% (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 1.5 million (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 120,000 (2003 est.)
Major infectious diseases: degree of risk
Nationality: noun
Ethnic groups: Oromo 40%, Amhara and Tigre 32%, Sidamo 9%, Shankella 6%, Somali 6%, Afar 4%, Gurage 2%, other 1%
Religions: Muslim 45%-50%, Ethiopian Orthodox 35%-40%, animist 12%, other 3%-8%
Languages: Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromigna, Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic, other local languages, English (major foreign language taught in schools)
Literacy: definition

Government

Country name: conventional long form
Government type: federal republic
Capital: Addis Ababa
Administrative divisions: 9 ethnically-based states (kililoch, singular - kilil) and 2 self-governing administrations* (astedaderoch, singular - astedader); Adis Abeba* (Addis Ababa), Afar, Amara (Amhara), Binshangul Gumuz, Dire Dawa*, Gambela Hizboch (Gambela Peoples), Hareri Hizb (Harari People), Oromiya (Oromia), Sumale (Somali), Tigray, Ye Debub Biheroch Bihereseboch na Hizboch (Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples)
Independence: oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world - at least 2,000 years
National holiday: National Day (defeat of MENGISTU regime), 28 May (1991)
Constitution: ratified December 1994, effective 22 August 1995
Legal system: currently transitional mix of national and regional courts
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch: chief of state
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of the House of Federation or upper chamber (108 seats; members are chosen by state assemblies to serve five-year terms) and the House of People's Representatives or lower chamber (548 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote from single-member districts to serve five-year terms) elections
Judicial branch: Federal Supreme Court (the president and vice president of the Federal Supreme Court are recommended by the prime minister and appointed by the House of People's Representatives; for other federal judges, the prime minister submits to the House of People's Representatives for appointment candidates selected by the Federal Judicial Administrative Council)
Political parties and leaders: Afar National Democratic Party or ANDP [leader NA]; Benishangul Gumuz People's Democratic Unity Front or BGPDUF [Mulualem BESSE]; Coalition for Unity and Democracy or CUD [HAILU Shawil]; Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front or EPRDF [MELES Zenawi] (an alliance of ANDM, OPDO, SEPDF, and TPLF); Gurage Nationalities' Democratic Movement or GNDM [leader NA]; United Ethopian Democratic Forces or UEDF [MERARA Gudina]; dozens of small parties
Political pressure groups and leaders: Afar Revolutionary Democratic Union Front or ARDUF [leader NA]; Council of Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia or CAFPDE [BEYANE Petros]; Southern Ethiopia People's Democratic Coalition or SEPDC [BEYANE Petros]
International organization participation: ACP, AfDB, AU, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, ONUB, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIL, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO (observer)
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission
Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of green (top), yellow, and red with a yellow pentagram and single yellow rays emanating from the angles between the points on a light blue disk centered on the three bands; Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa, and the three main colors of her flag were so often adopted by other African countries upon independence that they became known as the pan-African colors

Economy

Economy - overview: Ethiopia's poverty-stricken economy is based on agriculture, accounting for half of GDP, 60% of exports, and 80% of total employment. The agricultural sector suffers from frequent drought and poor cultivation practices. Coffee is critical to the Ethiopian economy with exports of some $156 million in 2002, but historically low prices have seen many farmers switching to qat to supplement income. The war with Eritrea in 1998-2000 and recurrent drought have buffeted the economy, in particular coffee production. In November 2001, Ethiopia qualified for debt relief from the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Under Ethiopia's land tenure system, the government owns all land and provides long-term leases to the tenants; the system continues to hamper growth in the industrial sector as entrepreneurs are unable to use land as collateral for loans. Drought struck again late in 2002, leading to a 2% decline in GDP in 2003. Normal weather patterns late in 2003 helped agricultural and GDP growth recover in 2004.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $54.89 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 11.6% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $800 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture
Labor force: NA (2001 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture and animal husbandry 80%, industry and construction 8%, government and services 12% (1985)
Unemployment rate: NA (2002)
Population below poverty line: 50% (2004 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 40 (1995)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.4% (2004 est.)
Investment (gross fixed): 17.8% of GDP (2004 est.)
Budget: revenues
Agriculture - products: cereals, pulses, coffee, oilseed, sugarcane, potatoes, qat; hides, cattle, sheep, goats
Industries: food processing, beverages, textiles, chemicals, metals processing, cement
Industrial production growth rate: 6.7% (2001 est.)
Electricity - production: 2.149 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel
Electricity - consumption: 1.998 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2002)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2002)
Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption: 23,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports: NA
Oil - imports: NA
Oil - proved reserves: 214,000 bbl (1 January 2002)
Natural gas - proved reserves: 12.46 billion cu m (1 January 2002)
Current account balance: $-464.4 million (2004 est.)
Exports: $562.8 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Exports - commodities: coffee, qat, gold, leather products, live animals, oilseeds
Exports - partners: Djibouti 13.3%, Germany 10%, Japan 8.4%, Saudi Arabia 5.6%, US 5.2%, UAE 5%, Italy 4.6% (2004)
Imports: $2.104 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Imports - commodities: food and live animals, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles, cereals, textiles
Imports - partners: Saudi Arabia 25.3%, US 15.8%, China 6.6% (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $923.1 million (2004 est.)
Debt - external: $2.9 billion (2001 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $308 million (FY00/01)
Currency (code): birr (ETB)
Currency code: ETB
Exchange rates: birr per US dollar - 8.68 (2004), 8.5997 (2003), 8.5678 (2002), 8.4575 (2001), 8.2173 (2000) note
Fiscal year: 8 July - 7 July

Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 435,000 (2003)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 97,800 (2003)
Telephone system: general assessment
Radio broadcast stations: AM 8, FM 0, shortwave 1 (2001)
Radios: 15.2 million (2002)
Television broadcast stations: 1 plus 24 repeaters (2002)
Televisions: 682,000 (2002)
Internet country code: .et
Internet hosts: 9 (2003)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (2002)
Internet users: 75,000 (2003)

Transportation

Railways: total
Highways: total
Ports and harbors: Ethiopia is landlocked and has used ports of Assab and Massawa in Eritrea and port of Djibouti
Merchant marine: total
Airports: 83 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total
Airports - with unpaved runways: total

Military

Military branches: Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF)
Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service (2001)
Manpower available for military service: males age 18-49
Manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49
Manpower reaching military service age annually: males
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $337.1 million (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 4.6% (2004)

Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by the 2002 Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation decision, but despite international intervention, mutual animosities, accusations and armed posturing prevail, preventing demarcation; Ethiopia refuses to withdraw to the delimited boundary until technical errors made by the EEBC that ignored "human geography" are addressed, including the award of Badme, the focus of the 1998-2000 war; Eritrea insists that the EEBC decision be implemented immediately without modifications; Ethiopia has only an administrative line and no international border with the Oromo region of southern Somalia where it maintains alliances with local clans in opposition to the unrecognized Somali Interim Government in Mogadishu; "Somaliland" secessionists provide port facilities and trade ties to landlocked Ethiopia; the UNHCR expects most of the remaining 23,000 Somali refugees in Ethiopia to be repatriated in 2005; efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Sudan have been delayed by civil war
Refugees and internally displaced persons: refugees (country of origin)
Illicit drugs: Transit hub for heroin originating in Southwest and Southeast Asia and destined for Europe and North America 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
Last updated: 20 October, 2005


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