Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

National name: Ityop'iya Federalawi Demokrasiyawi Ripeblik

President: Girma Woldegiorgis (2001)

Prime Minister: Meles Zenawi (1995)

Land area: 432,310 sq mi (1,119,683 sq km); total area: 435,186 sq mi (1,127,127 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 74,777,981 (growth rate: 2.3%); birth rate: 38.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 93.6/1000; life expectancy: 49.0; density per sq mi: 173

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Addis Ababa, 2,716,200

Monetary unit: Birr

Languages: Amharic, Tigrigna, Orominga, Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic, English, over 70 others

Ethnicity/race: Oromo 40%, Amhara and Tigrean 32%, Sidamo 9%, Shankella 6%, Somali 6%, Afar 4%, Gurage 2%, other 1%

Religions: Islam 45%–50%, Ethiopian Orthodox 35%–40%, animist 12%, other 3%–8%

Literacy rate: 43% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $60.34 billion; per capita $800. Real growth rate: 7%. Inflation: 6%. Unemployment: n.a. Arable land: 11%. Agriculture: cereals, pulses, coffee, oilseed, cotton, sugarcane, potatoes, qat, cut flowers; hides, cattle, sheep, goats; fish. Labor force: n.a.; agriculture and animal husbandry 80%, government and services 12%, industry and construction 8% (1985). Industries: food processing, beverages, textiles, leather, chemicals, metals processing, cement. Natural resources: small reserves of gold, platinum, copper, potash, natural gas, hydropower. Exports: $612 million f.o.b. (2005 est.): coffee, qat, gold, leather products, live animals, oilseeds. Imports: $2.722 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): food and live animals, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles, cereals, textiles. Major trading partners: Djibouti, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, U.S., UK, Italy, China (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 435,000 (2003); mobile cellular: 97,800 (2003). Radio broadcast stations: AM 8, FM 0, shortwave 1 (2001). Television broadcast stations: 1 plus 24 repeaters (2002). Internet hosts: 9 (2003). Internet users: 75,000 (2003).

Transportation: Railways: total: 681 km (Ethiopian segment of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railroad) (2004). Highways: total: 33,297 km; paved: 3,996 km; unpaved: 29,301 km (2002). Ports and harbors: Ethiopia is landlocked and has used ports of Assab and Massawa in Eritrea and port of Djibouti. Airports: 83 (2004 est.).

International disputes: 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.


 

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