Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

የኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ ye-Ītyōṗṗyā Fēdēralāwī Dīmōkrāsīyāwī Rīpeblīk Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia


Anthem Wodefit Gesgeshi, Widd Innat Ityopp'ya March Forward, Dear Mother Ethiopia
Location of Ethiopia

Capital	Addis Ababa

Government	Republic and parliamentary democracy
President
- From 2011	Girma Wolde-Giorgis
Prime Minister
- From 2011	Meles Zenawi

Legislature	Ethiopian legislature
- Upper house	House of the Federation
- Lower house	House of Peoples' Representatives

History
- May 27, 1991	Established

Area	1,104,300 km²

Population
- 2011	88,013,491
Density	79.7/km²

GDP	2011 (PPP)
- Total	US$ 88.2 billion
- Per capita	US$ 1,003

Currency	Birr

Ethiopia
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The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is a parliamentary democracy in Africa.

Background

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 remotely demarcated the border by geographical coordinates, but final demarcation of the boundary on the ground is currently on hold because of Ethiopian objections to an international commission's finding requiring it to surrender territory considered sensitive to Ethiopia.^[1]

Economy

Ethiopia's poverty-stricken economy is based on agriculture, accounting for almost 45% of GDP, and 85% of total employment. The agricultural sector suffers from frequent drought and poor cultivation practices. Coffee is critical to the Ethiopian economy with exports of some $350 million in 2006, but historically low prices have seen many farmers switching to qat to supplement income. Under Ethiopia's constitution, the state owns all land and provides long-term leases to the tenants; the system continues to hamper growth in the industrial sector as entrepreneurs are unable to use land as collateral for loans. In November 2001, Ethiopia qualified for debt relief from the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, and in December 2005 the IMF forgave Ethiopia's debt. The global economic downturn led to balance of payments pressures, partially alleviated by recent emergency funding from the IMF. While GDP growth has remained high, per capita income is among the lowest in the world.^[2]