Ethiopia

federal democratic republic of ethiopia amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ
flag emblem
anthem:  ወደፊት ገስግሺ፣ ውድ እናት ኢትዮጵያ (english: "march forward, dear mother ethiopia")
capital and largest city	addis ababa 9°1′n 38°45′e / 9°1′n 38°45′e / 9.017; 38.750
official languages	amharic[1] [2]
regional languages [3]	afar amharic gurage harari oromo tigrinya sidama somali wolaytta languages of ethiopia
foreign languages	english[4] arabic[5]
religion	christianity (62.8%) islam (33.9%) traditional faiths (2.6%) others (0.7%)[6]
demonym(s)	ethiopian*
government	federal parliamentary constitutional republic
• president	sahle-work zewde
• prime minister	abiy ahmed ali
• deputy prime minister	demeke mekonnen
• speaker of the house of peoples' representatives	tagesse chafo
• president of the federal supreme court	meaza ashenafi
legislature	federal parliamentary assembly
• upper house	house of federation
• lower house	house of peoples' representatives
formation
• dʿmt	c. 980 bce
• kingdom of aksum	c. 100 ce
• zagwe dynasty	900
• ethiopian empire	1137
• occupied & annexed into italian east africa	1936
• sovereignty restored	1941
• provisional military government of socialist ethiopia	1974
• people's democratic republic of ethiopia	1987
• secession of eritrea	1993
• current constitution	21 august 1995
area
• total	1,104,300[7] km2 (426,400 sq mi) (28th)
• water (%)	0.7
population
• 2018 estimate	109,224,414[8][9] (12th)
• 2007 census	73,750,932[10]
• density	92.7/km2 (240.1/sq mi) (123rd)
gdp (ppp)	2019 estimate
• total	$240.168 billion[11]
• per capita	$2,701[11]
gdp (nominal)	2020 estimate
• total	$103.607 billion[11]
• per capita	$1,066[11]
gini (2011)	33.6[12] medium
hdi (2018)	0.470[13] low · 173rd
currency	birr (etb)
time zone	utc+3 (eat)
driving side	right
calling code	+251
iso 3166 code	et
internet tld	.et

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ethiopia (ə/; amharic: ኢትዮጵያ, ʾĪtyōṗṗyā, listen (help·info), tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ, oromo: itoophiyaa, somali: itoobiya, afar: itiyoophiyaa), officially the federal democratic republic of ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the horn of africa. it shares borders with eritrea to the north, djibouti to the northeast, somalia to the east, kenya to the south, south sudan to the west and sudan to the northwest. with over 109 million inhabitants as of 2019,^[8][9] ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and the second-most populous nation on the african continent. the country has a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres (420,000 sq mi). its capital and largest city is addis ababa, which lies a few miles west of the east african rift that splits the country into the nubian and somali tectonic plates.^[5]

some of the oldest skeletal evidence for anatomically modern humans has been found in ethiopia.^[14] it is widely considered as the region from which modern humans first set out for the middle east and places beyond.^[15][16][17] according to linguists, the first afroasiatic-speaking populations settled in the horn region during the ensuing neolithic era.^[18] tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium bce, ethiopia's governmental system was a monarchy for most of its history. oral literature tells that the monarchy was founded by the solomonic dynasty of the queen of sheba, under its first king, menelik i.^[19] in the first centuries, the kingdom of aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region,^{[20][21][22][23]} followed by the ethiopian empire c. 1137. during the late–19th-century scramble for africa, ethiopia and liberia were the only two nations that preserved their sovereignty from long-term colonisation by a european colonial power, and many newly-independent nations on the continent subsequently adopted its flag colours. however, the country was later occupied by italy in 1936 and became italian ethiopia (part of italian east africa), until it was liberated during world war ii. ethiopia was also the first independent african member of the 20th-century league of nations and the united nations.^[24] in 1974, the ethiopian monarchy under haile selassie was overthrown by the derg, a communist military government backed by the soviet union. in 1987, the derg established the people's democratic republic of ethiopia, but it was overthrown in 1991 by the ethiopian people's revolutionary democratic front, which has been the ruling political coalition since.

ethiopia and eritrea use the ancient ge'ez script, which is one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world.^[25] they follow the ethiopian calendar, which is approximately seven years and three months behind the gregorian calendar. a majority of the population adheres to christianity (mainly the ethiopian orthodox tewahedo church and p'ent'ay), and the historical kingdom of aksum was one of the first states to officially adopt the religion, whereas around a third follows islam (primarily sunni). the country is the site of the islamic migration to abyssinia and the oldest muslim settlement in africa, at negash. a substantial population of ethiopian jews, known as bete israel, also resided in ethiopia until the 1980s.^[26][27] ethiopia is a multilingual nation, with around 80 ethnolinguistic groups, the four largest of which are the oromo, amhara, somali and tigrayans. most people in the country speak afroasiatic languages of the cushitic or semitic branches. additionally, omotic languages are spoken by ethnic minority groups inhabiting the southern regions. nilo-saharan languages are also spoken by the nation's nilotic ethnic minorities. oromo is the most populous language by native speakers, while amharic is the most populous by number of total speakers and serves as the working language in the federal government. ge'ez remains important as a liturgical language for both the ethiopian orthodox tewahedo church and the eritrean orthodox tewahedo church and for the beta israel.

the nation is a land of natural contrasts, with its vast fertile west, its forests and its numerous rivers, and the world's hottest settlement of dallol in its north. the ethiopian highlands are the largest continuous mountain ranges in africa, and the sof omar caves contains the largest cave on the continent. ethiopia also has the most unesco world heritage sites in africa.^[28] additionally, the sovereign state is a founding member of the un, the group of 24 (g-24), the non-aligned movement, the g77 and the organisation of african unity. its capital city, addis ababa, serves as the headquarters of the african union, the pan african chamber of commerce and industry, the united nations economic commission for africa, the african standby force and many of the global ngos focused on africa. in the 1970s and 1980s, ethiopia experienced civil conflicts and communist purges, which hindered its economy. the country has since recovered and as of 2010 has the largest economy (by gdp) in east africa, having the largest population in the region.^[29][30][31] despite these improvements, it remains one of the world's poorest countries.^[32] in addition to poverty, ethiopia faces hunger, corruption, weak infrastructure, and poor access to health and education (with an illiteracy rate of 51%),^[33] ranking in the lowest quartile on the human development index. the ethiopian government's respect for human rights is also said to remain poor.