Country · Africa
Ethiopia
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Ethiopia is a country in Eastern Africa. Its capital city is Addis Ababa. About 109.2 million people live there, in an area of 1 104 300 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Laika ac (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Lemazelalem3 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Rod Waddington (CC BY-SA 2.0) · DaneyWiki (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Laika ac (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Ethiopia?
Ethiopia lies in Eastern Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 891 km from the equator.
Ethiopia is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 6 countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.
How big is Ethiopia?
Ethiopia covers 1 104 300 square kilometres.
That is about 11 times the size of Iceland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 26th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 98.9 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Ethiopia?
About 109.2 million people live in Ethiopia.
That is the 12th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Amharic.
They pay with the Ethiopian birr (Br).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 45 years.
The land of Ethiopia
The land in Ethiopia sits on average 1 330 metres above sea level — high enough that much of it counts as mountain country.
Because it is landlocked, everything that arrives by ship has to cross one of its 6 neighbours first.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Ethiopia different?
A dish the country is known for: Wat with injera and Fit-fit.
Websites from here often end in .et.
Ethiopia and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 14 live in Ethiopia.
It takes up about 0.83 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa it is the 10th largest of 54 countries, and the 2nd most populated.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Ethiopia and its neighbours
Sudan, its largest neighbour, is about 1.7 times bigger.
More people live in Ethiopia than in Sudan — 109.2 million against 41.8 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 4 live wild in Ethiopia: Cheetah, Leopard, Dromedary and Ostrich. The longest river is the Nile, running 6 650 km from source to mouth.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Ethiopia?
The capital of Ethiopia is Addis Ababa. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Ethiopia?
About 109.2 million people live in Ethiopia, which makes it the 12th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Ethiopia?
Ethiopia borders Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan — 6 neighbours in total.
How big is Ethiopia?
Ethiopia covers 1 104 300 square kilometres, making it the 26th largest country in the world. That is about 11 times the size of Iceland.
Which continent is Ethiopia in?
Ethiopia is in Africa, in the part called Eastern Africa.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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