The 4-1-1 on Ethiopia

I thought I would take a few minutes and post some information about the beautiful country we adopting from. The information comes from the AWAA website and other various websites.

Ethiopia is the only African country that was not colonized as various European nations scrambled to divide and rule Africa. With the brief exception of the Italian occupation from 1936-1941, Ethiopia has remained an independent nation.

With a population of nearly 75 million people, there is an assorted collection of food, languages, customs and people groups. Ethiopia also contains a diverse landscape, including parts of the Nile River and the Great Rift Valley. As an East African landlocked country, Ethiopia is bordered by Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti.

Ethiopia, an ancient Christian nation, has deep-rooted Ethiopian Orthodox customs and practices. The Judaic-Christian roots of Ethiopia can be found in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Today, about half the population of Ethiopia is Christian.

Unfortunately, this country that is about twice the size of Texas has an estimated 4.3 million orphans. The children are primarily orphaned due to poverty, and live in both government-run and privately established orphanages.

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Profile

Official Name: 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.)