Ethiopia Information & Facts

Location:  Ethiopia is in Eastern Africa, west of Somalia

Climate:  The climate is tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variation

Population:  Estimate as of July 2007 is 76,511,887.

Life Expectancy:  49.23 years.

Language:  Amarigna 32.7%, Oromigna 31.6%, Tigrigna 6.1%, Somaligna 6%, Guaragigna 3.5%, Sidamigna 3.5%, Hadiyigna 1.7%, other 14.8%, English (major foreign language taught in schools)

Government type:  Federal Republic

Capital:  Addis Ababa

Population Below Poverty Line:  38.7%

Agricultural Products:  cereals, pulses, coffee, oilseed, cotton, sugarcane, potatoes, qat, cut flowers; hides, cattle, sheep, goats; fish

Industries:  food processing, beverages, textiles, leather, chemicals, metals processing, cement

Currency:  Tanzanian shilling

Attractions & Features:  Ethiopia is an ecologically diverse country.  Lake Tana in the north is the source of the Blue Nile.  It also has a large number of endemic species, notably the Gelada Baboon, the Walia Ibex and the Ethiopian wolf (or Simien fox

The wide range of altitude has given the country a variety of ecologically distinct areas, this has helped to encourage the evolution of endemic species in ecological isolation.