This blog article on Ethiopia facts 2020 was conceived out of my curiosity to have a better understanding of our neighboring country here in East Africa. Ethiopia is a landlocked country made up of 1,096,570 square kilometers of land out of which 7,730 sq km is water surface. Ethiopia borders Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan and South Sudan.
The lowest point in Ethiopia is Danakil Depression which is just 125 meters above sea level. Ethiopia is well endowed with natural resources such as hydro power, gold, potash, copper, natural gas and platinum.
Forest Cover
Ethiopia has a 12.2 percent forest cover.
Population
It is estimated that by July 2020, Ethiopia will have a population of 108,113,150 people.
Languages spoken in Ethiopia
Ethiopian people speak Oromo as the official working language, Amharic as official national language, Somali, Tigrigna, Sidamo, Wolaytta, Gurage, Hadiyya, Opuuo, Gamo, Kafa, Arabic and English is also taught in schools around Ethiopia.
Religion
Ethiopian Orthodox is the dominant region with 43.5 per cent of Ethiopians practicing. Muslim is the second largest with 33.9 percent of the population practicing the religion.
Economy
According to the CIA publications, Ethiopia’s Gross Domestic Product grew from 8% to 11% for the decade up to 2016. This economic growth was associated with heavy government investment on infrastructure.
It is estimated that 70% of the country’s population are employment in the agricultural sector. However, in the recent times, the services industry has surpassed agriculture in terms of GDP contributions.
Ethiopian government is heavily involved in running the country’s economy. This is in terms of power generation, infrastructure development, industrial parks, roads and rails among others.
Ethiopian Airways is the leading exchange earner for the country. When it comes to commodities, coffee is the leading foreign exchange earner. Ethiopia exports commodities such as sesame, gold, livestock, khat, horticulture and livestock.
Land
The state owns all land in Ethiopia and only provides long-term leases to the people.
Illicit drugs
According to a CIA database, Ethiopia is a “transit hub for heroin originating in Southwest and Southeast Asia and destined for Europe.” Khat is cultivated in Ethiopia for the local market and the regional export to Somalia and Eritrea.
Ethiopian Calendar
The Ethiopian calendar is approximately 7 years 3 months behind the ordinary calendar as we know it in Kenya.
Ethiopia public budget
This is the first article in a series to come, of analyses of public budgeting in the horn of Africa nation. Our main objective is to understand how the country collects revenue and spend the same in offering services to her people.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reported that Ethiopia is the fastest growing economy in Africa.
In 2019/2020, Ethiopia is expected to spend 130 billion birr on development projects such as roads, power plants among others. It is further estimated that 140.8 billion birr will be sent to the regional authorities.
I hope you enjoyed reading Ethiopia facts.
Read More:
