Country Facts - Ethiopia

The People

Ethnic Composition

Oromo	40%
Amhara and Tigrean	32%
Sidamo	9%
Shankella	6%
Somali	6%
Afar	4%
Gurage	2%
Other African	1%

Religious Composition

Muslim	45-50%
Ethiopian Orthodox	35-40%
Animist	12%
Other	3-8%

Languages Spoken

Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromigna, Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic, and other local languages. English is a major foreign language taught in schools.

Education and Literacy

Ethiopia's overall adult literacy is around 35.5 percent. Among males it is 45.5 percent and females 25.3 percent.

Labor Force

Total: N/A

By occupation:

Agriculture and animal husbandry	80%
Government and services	12%
Industry and construction	8%

Geography

Land Mass Total

435,186 sq mi (1,127,127 sq km)

Land

432,312 sq mi (1,119,683 sq km)

Water

2,874 sq mi (7,444 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 3,310 mi (5,328 km)
Border countries: Djibouti 216 mi (349 km), Eritrea 566 mi (912 km), Kenya 535 mi (861 km), Somalia 994 mi (1,600 km), Sudan 997 mi (1,606 km)

Coastline

0 mi (0 km) Landlocked

Maritime claim

None

Climate/Weather

Tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variation.

Terrain

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

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Danakil 410 ft (125 m)
Highest: Ras Dashen Terara 15,157 ft (4,620 m)

Natural Resources

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

Land use

Arable land	10%
Permanent crops	1%
Other	89%

(1998)

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.

Geography Note

Landlocked - entire coastline along the Red Sea was lost with the de jure independence of Eritrea on May 24, 1993; the Blue Nile, the chief headstream of the Nile, rises in T'ana Hayk (Lake Tana) in northwest Ethiopia.

Demographics

Population

67,673,031 (July 2002)
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 and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected.

Age structure

0-14 years:	47.2%	Male: 16,098,191	Female: 15,879,065
15-64 years:	50%	Male: 17,005,387	Female: 16,801,536
65 years and over:	2.8%	Male: 854,023	Female: 1,034,829

Growth Rate

2.64% (2002)

Life Expectancy

44.21 years (2002)
female: 45.09 years
male: 43.36 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$700 (2001)

Infant Mortality

98.63 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.83 male(s)/female
Total population:	1.01 male(s)/female

Net migration rate

0.11 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)
Note: repatriation of Ethiopians who fled to Sudan for refuge from war and famine in earlier years is expected to continue for several years; some Sudanese and Somali refugees, who fled to Ethiopia from the fighting or famine in their own countries, continue to return to their homes.

Economy & Trade

Ethiopia's poverty-stricken economy is based on agriculture, which accounts for half of GDP, 85 percent of exports, and 80 percent of total employment. The agricultural sector suffers from frequent drought and poor cultivation practices, and as many as 4.6 million people need food assistance annually. Coffee is critical to the Ethiopian economy with exports of some $260 million in 2000. Other important exports include qat, live animals, hides, and gold. The war with Eritrea in 1999-2000 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. Despite this limitation, strong growth is expected to continue in the near term as good rainfall, the cessation of hostilities, and renewed foreign aid and debt relief push the economy forward. A continual problem is Ethiopia's lack of sufficient foreign exchange, which is especially critical towards importing oil. The government has taken measures to impose import controls, and it has sharply reduced subsidies on retail gasoline prices. This subsistence economy is, however, incapable of simultaneously supporting drought relief, ambitious infrastructure plans, defense expenditures, and oil imports without continued foreign assistance. Like the population, the government lives hand-to-mouth.

Unemployment

N/A

Inflation Rate

6.8% (2001)

Industries

Food processing, beverages, textiles, chemicals, metals processing, cement.

Exports

US$442 million (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports

US$1.54 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$46 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

Germany 18%, Japan 11%, Djibouti 11%, Saudi Arabia 8% (2000)

Top Import Partners

Saudi Arabia 25%, US 9%, Italy 7%, Russia 4% (2000)

Top Exports

Coffee, qat, gold, leather products, oilseeds

Top Imports

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

Debt - external

US$5.3 billion (2001)

Economic aid

Recipient: US$308 million (FY00/01)

Fiscal Year:

July 8 to July 7

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8a.m. to noon, and 1p.m. to 5p.m.	Closed
Retail	8a.m. to noon, and 1p.m. to 4p.m.	Some stores are open on Saturday.
Banks	Monday through Thursday, 8a.m. to noon, and 1p.m. to 5p.m. Friday 8:30a.m. to 11:30a.m., and 1p.m. to 5p.m.	Closed
Government	8a.m. to noon, and 1p.m. to 4p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Christmas Day (Orthodox, Genna)¹	January 7	January 7	January 7
Epiphany (Timkat)	January 19	January 19	January 19
Festival of Sacrifice (Eid Al Adha)²	February 12	February 2	January 21
Victory of Adwa Day	March 2	March 2	March 2
Good Friday	May 3	April 25	April 9
Easter³	April 27	April 11	April 11
Birthday of Prophet Mohammad (Mawlid an Nabi)*¹	May 14	May 2	April 21
Downfall of the Dergue	May 28	May 28	May 28
Ethiopian New Year(Enkutatash)*²	September 11	September 11	September 11
Finding the True Cross (Meskel)	September 27	September 27	September 27
Start of Ramadan*³	October 27	October 15	October 4
End of Ramadan**¹	November 26	November 14	November 3

¹	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.
²	Culmination of the Haj or Holy Pilgrimage.
³	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
*¹	The Birthday of the Prophet Mohammad is celebrated on the twelfth day in the month of Rabi'l of the Islamic calendar.
*²	Falls on September 12 during Leap Year following the Gregorian Calendar.
*³	Ramadan (the month of fasting) begins with the first appearance of the new moon in the ninth month of the lunar Islamic Hijra calendar, and lasts 30 days. Dates for the start of Ramadan will vary from country to country, depending on the first appearance of the moon.
**¹	Feasting that officially marks the end of Ramadan, and commonly lasts for three days.

Note: Ethiopia operates on the pre-Julian Solar calendar, which has 12 months that are 30 days, and a thirteenth month that is five or six days. Double-check dates before traveling.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press