Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule with the exception of a short-lived Italian occupation from 1936-41. In 1974, a military junta, the Derg, deposed Emperor Haile SELASSIE (who had ruled since 1930) and established a socialist state. Torn by bloody coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the regime was finally toppled in 1991 by a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). A constitution was adopted in 1994, and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995. A border war with Eritrea late in the 1990s ended with a peace treaty in December 2000. In November 2007, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission(EEBC) issued specific coordinates as virtually demarcating the border and pronounced its work finished. Alleging that the EEBC acted beyond its mandate in issuing the coordinates, Ethiopia has not accepted them and has not withdrawn troops from previously contested areas pronounced by the EEBC as belonging to Eritrea.

Eastern Africa, west of Somalia

slightly less than twice the size of Texas

tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variation

high plateau with central mountain range divided by Great Rift Valley

small reserves of gold, platinum, copper, potash, natural gas, hydropower

geologically active Great Rift Valley susceptible to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions; frequent droughts

deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; water shortages in some areas from water-intensive farming and poor management

landlocked - entire coastline along the Red Sea was lost with the de jure independence of Eritrea on 24 May 1993; the Blue Nile, the chief headstream of the Nile by water volume, rises in T'ana Hayk (Lake Tana) in northwest Ethiopia; three major crops are believed to have originated in Ethiopia: coffee, grain sorghum, and castor bean

Oromo 34.5%, Amara 26.9%, Somalie 6.2%, Tigraway 6.1%, Sidama 4%, Guragie 2.5%, Welaita 2.3%, Hadiya 1.7%, Affar 1.7%, Gamo 1.5%, Gedeo 1.3%, other 11.3% (2007 Census)

Oromigna (official regional) 33.8%, Amarigna (Amharic) (official) 29.3%, Somaligna 6.2%, Tigrigna (official regional) 5.9%, Sidamigna 4%, Wolayitigna 2.2%, Guaragigna 2%, Affarigna 1.7%, Hadiyigna 1.7%, Gamogna 1.5%, other 11.7%, English (official) (major foreign language taught in schools), Arabic (official) (1994 census)

Orthodox 43.5%, Muslim 33.9%, Protestant 18.6%, traditional 2.6%, Catholic 0.7%, other 0.7% (2007 Census)

91,195,675 (July 2012 est.)

42.59 births/1,000 population (2012 est.)

10.79 deaths/1,000 population (July 2012 est.)

-0.01 migrant(s)/1,000 population

ADDIS ABABA (capital) 2.863 million (2009)

350 deaths/100,000 live births (2010)

5.39 children born/woman (2012 est.)

0.022 physicians/1,000 population (2007)

0.18 beds/1,000 population (2008)

9 ethnically based states (kililoch, singular - kilil) and 2 self-governing administrations* (astedaderoch, singular - astedader); Adis Abeba* (Addis Ababa), Afar, Amara (Amhara), Binshangul Gumuz, Dire Dawa*, Gambela Hizboch (Gambela Peoples), Hareri Hizb (Harari People), Oromiya (Oromia), Sumale (Somali), Tigray, Ye Debub Biheroch Bihereseboch na Hizboch (Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples)

oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world - at least 2,000 years (may be traced to the Aksumite Kingdom, which coalesced in the first century B.C.)

National Day (defeat of MENGISTU regime), 28 May (1991)

ratified 8 December 1994, effective 22 August 1995

has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

18 years of age; universal

bicameral Parliament consists of the House of Federation (or upper chamber responsible for interpreting the constitution and federal-regional issues) (108 seats; members chosen by state assemblies to serve five-year terms) and the House of People's Representatives (or lower chamber responsible for passing legislation) (547 seats; members directly elected by popular vote from single-member districts to serve five-year terms)

Federal Supreme Court (the president and vice president of the Federal Supreme Court are recommended by the prime minister and appointed by the House of People's Representatives; for other federal judges, the prime minister submits to the House of People's Representatives for appointment candidates selected by the Federal Judicial Administrative Council)

Afar National Democratic Party or ANDP [Mohammed KEDIR]; All Ethiopian Unity Organization or AEUO [Hailu SHAWEL]; Arena Tigray [GEBRU Asrat]; Argoba People's Democratic Organization or APDO [Abdulkader MOHAMMED]; Benishangul Gumuz People's Democratic Party or BGPDP [Mulualem BESSE]; Coalition for Unity and Democratic Party or CUDP [AYELE Chamiso]; Ethiopian Democratic Party or EDP [MUSHE Semu]; Ethiopian Federal Democratic Forum or FORUM (a UDJ-led 6-party alliance established for the 2010 parliamentary elections) [Dr. Moga FRISSA]; Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front or EPRDF [HAILEMARIAM Desalegn]; Gambella Peoples Unity Democratic Movement or GPUDM; Gurage Peoples Democratic Front [GIRMA Bogale]; Harari National League or HNL [YASIN Husein]; Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement or OFDM; Oromo People's Congress or OPC [IMERERA Gudina]; Somali Democratic Alliance Forces or SODAF [BUH Hussien]; Somali People's Democratic Party or SPDP [Abdulfetah Sheck ABDULAHI]; South Ethiopian People's Democratic Union or SEPDU [TILAHUN Endeshaw]; United Ethiopian Democratic Forces or UEDF [BEYENE Petros]; Unity for Democracy and Justice or UDJ [Dr. NEGASSO Gidada]

Ethiopian People's Patriotic Front or EPPF; Ogaden National Liberation Front or ONLF; Oromo Liberation Front or OLF [DAOUD Ibsa]

ACP, AfDB, AU, COMESA, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNISFA, UNMIL, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer)

three equal horizontal bands of green (top), yellow, and red, with a yellow pentagram and single yellow rays emanating from the angles between the points on a light blue disk centered on the three bands; green represents hope and the fertility of the land, yellow symbolizes justice and harmony, while red stands for sacrifice and heroism in the defense of the land; the blue of the disk symbolizes peace and the pentagram represents the unity and equality of the nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia

Ethiopia's economy is based on agriculture, which accounts for 41% of GDP and 85% of total employment. Coffee has been a major export crop. The agricultural sector suffers from poor cultivation practices and frequent drought, but recent joint efforts by the Government of Ethiopia and donors have strengthened Ethiopia's agricultural resilience, contributing to a reduction in the number of Ethiopians threatened with starvation. The five-year Growth and Transformation Plan that Ethiopia unveiled in October 2010 presents a government-led effort to achieve the country's ambitious development goals. The banking, insurance, and micro-credit industries are restricted to domestic investors, but Ethiopia has attracted significant foreign investment in textiles, leather, commercial agriculture and manufacturing. Under Ethiopia's constitution, the state owns all land and provides long-term leases to the tenants; land use certificates are now being issued in some areas so that tenants have more recognizable rights to continued occupancy and hence make more concerted efforts to improve their leaseholds. While GDP growth has remained high, per capita income is among the lowest in the world.

$96.09 billion (2011 est.)

$89.36 billion (2010 est.)

$82.74 billion (2009 est.)

$31.26 billion (2011 est.)

29.2% (FY09/10 est.)

22.9% of GDP (2011 est.)

17.1% of GDP (2011 est.)

-2% of GDP (2011 est.)

43.7% of GDP (2011 est.)

51.9% of GDP (2010 est.)

15% (31 December 2011 est.)

14.5% (31 December 2010 est.)

$6.706 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$4.684 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$11.51 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$8.211 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$11.99 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$8.652 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

cereals, pulses, coffee, oilseed, cotton, sugarcane, potatoes, khat, cut flowers; hides, cattle, sheep, goats; fish

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

-$1.656 billion (2011 est.)

-$425.4 million (2010 est.)

$2.75 billion (2011 est.)

$2.4 billion (2010 est.)

coffee, khat, gold, leather products, live animals, oilseeds

Germany 13.7%, China 11.8%, Belgium 7.5%, Saudi Arabia 6.5%, US 6%, Italy 4.9%, Sudan 4.1% (2011)

$8.25 billion (2011 est.)

$7.365 billion (2010 est.)

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

Saudi Arabia 10.2%, China 10.2%, US 7.8% (2011)

$2.665 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$2.766 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$7.989 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$7.147 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

birr (ETB) per US dollar -

4.039 billion kWh (2009 est.)

3.648 billion kWh (2009 est.)

1.18 million kW (2009 est.)

17.2% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

82.1% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

0.6% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

0 bbl/day (2011 est.)

0 bbl/day (2009 est.)

430,000 bbl (1 January 2012 est.)

0 bbl/day (2008 est.)

49,080 bbl/day (2011 est.)

0 bbl/day (2008 est.)

42,480 bbl/day (2008 est.)

113 billion cu m (1 January 2011 est.)

6.74 million Mt (2010 est.)

14.127 million (2011)

1 public TV station broadcasting nationally and 1 public radio broadcaster with stations in each of the 13 administrative districts; a few commercial radio stations and roughly a dozen community radio stations (2009)

Ethiopia is landlocked and uses ports of Djibouti in Djibouti and Berbera in Somalia

Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF): Ground Forces, Ethiopian Air Force (ETAF) (2011)

18 years of age for voluntary military service; no compulsory military service, but the military can conduct callups when necessary and compliance is compulsory (2011)

Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by the 2002 Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation decision, but neither party responded to the revised line detailed in the November 2006 EEBC Demarcation Statement; the undemarcated former British administrative line has little meaning as a political separation to rival clans within Ethiopia's Ogaden and southern Somalia's Oromo region; Ethiopian forces invaded southern Somalia and routed Islamist Courts from Mogadishu in January 2007; "Somaliland" secessionists provide port facilities in Berbera and trade ties to landlocked Ethiopia; civil unrest in eastern Sudan has hampered efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia

transit hub for heroin originating in Southwest and Southeast Asia and destined for Europe, as well as cocaine destined for markets in southern Africa; cultivates qat (khat) for local use and regional export, principally to Djibouti and Somalia (legal in all three countries); the lack of a well-developed financial system limits the country's utility as a money laundering center