1986 Edition
CIA World Factbook 1986 (Internet Archive)
Geography
Agriculture
main crop — coffee; also cereals, pulses, oilseeds, meat, hides and skins
Area
1,221,900 km2; four-fifths the size of Alaska; 55% meadow and natural pasture; 10% crop and orchard; 6% forest and wood; 29% wasteland, urban, or other
Branches
executive power exercised by the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), dominated by its chairman and small circle of associates; predominantly civilian Cabinet holds office at sufferance of military; legislature dissolved September 1974; judiciary at higher levels based on Western pattern, at lower levels on traditional pattern, without jury system in either
Budget
revenues and cash grants, $1.1 billion; current expenditures, $1.0 billion; development expenditures, $467 million (1983/84)
Capital
Addis Ababa
Coastline
1,094 km (includes offshore islands) People
Communists
government is officially Marxist-Leninist
Elections
none (January 1985) Political parties and leaders: Ethiopian Workers Party (WPE) founded in September 1984; headed by Mengistu HaileMariam
Electric power
324,000 kW capacity (1985); 709 million kWh produced (1985), 16 kWh per capita
Ethnic divisions
40% Oromo, 32% Amhara and Tigrean, 9% Sidamo, 6% Shankella, 6% Somali, 4% Afar, 2% Gurage, 1% other
Exports
$403 million (f.o.b., 1983/84 est.); 61% coffee, 10% hides and skins
GDP
$5.0 billion (1983/84 est), $120 per capita; real growth rate 3.7% (1983/84)
Government leader
Lt. Col. MENGISTU Haile-Mariam, Chairman of the Provisional Military Administrative Council (since February 1977)
Imports
$906 million (c.i.f., 1983/84)
Infant mortality rate
145/1,000(1983)
Labor force
90% agriculture and animal husbandry; 10% government, military, and quasi-government
Land boundaries
5,198 km Water
Language
Amharic (official), Tigrinya, Orominga, Arabic, English (major foreign language taught in schools)
Legal system
complex structure with civil, Islamic, common, and customary law influences; constitution suspended September 1974; military leaders have promised a new constitution by September 1986; legal education at Addis Ababa University; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Life expectancy
38
Limits of territorial waters (claimed)
12 nm
Literacy
about 35%
Major industries
cement, sugar refining, cotton textiles, food processing, oil refinery
Major trade partners
exports — US, FRG, Djibouti, Japan, Saudi Arabia, France, Italy; imports— USSR, Italy, FRG, Japan, UK, US
Member of
AfDB, EGA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICO, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, ITU, NAM, OAU, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTO Economy
National holiday
Popular Revolution Commemoration Day, 12 September
Nationality
noun — Ethiopian(s); adjective— Ethiopian
Natural resources
potash, salt, gold, copper, platinum
Official name
Socialist Ethiopia
Organized labor
All Ethiopian Trade Union formed by the government in January 1977 to represent 273,000 registered trade union members Government
Other political or pressure groups
important dissident groups include Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), and Eritrean Liberation Front/Popular Liberation Forces in Eritrea; Tigrean People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in Tigray and Welo Provinces; Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) in the Ogaden region
Political subdivisions
14 provinces (also referred to as regional administrations)
Population
43,882,000 (July 1986), average annual growth rate 3.8%
Religion
40-45% Muslim, 35-40% Ethiopian Orthodox, 15-20% animist, 5% other
Suffrage
none
Type
under military rule since September 1974; monarchy abolished in March 1975, but republic not yet declared