Very high population density
With a fertility rate of 4.5 children per woman and a population growth rate of 2.5%, Ethiopia is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world. It is the second most populous country in Africa behind Nigeria, with a high population density of 110 inhabitants per square kilometer. The capital, Addis Ababa, is home to an estimated 5.4 million inhabitants, three times the population of the 1990s. The city has grown like a mushroom in anarchic fashion, and continues to spread out its sprawling new districts. The country's fertility rate is around 4 children per woman, and life expectancy is 68 years. The population is very young, with a median age of 19, but also very poor (around a third live below the poverty line). Among young people aged 15 to 24, 63% of boys know how to read and write, compared with only 47% of girls.
Languages as varied as ethnic groups
Most of the languages and dialects spoken in Ethiopia belong to one of the three branches of the Afro-Asiatic language family: Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic. Today's Ethiopians are mostly Cushitic and Ethio-Semitic. They call themselves "Habesha", deriving from "al-Habasha", which means Abyssinia in Arabic. A very small minority is of Nilotic origin in the west towards Gambela, on the border with southern Sudan. The classical Ethiopian language, Geze, is a purely Semitic language related to Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic. It disappeared from spoken usage around the 10th century (between 900 and 1200, according to specialists), but was maintained as a scholarly and literary language until the 19th century, and remains the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Church to this day.
A country-specific alphabet
Ethiopia has undergone extremely profound Semitic influences. As a result, it is the only African country with its own alphabet, the basis of modern Amharic. Initially borrowed from the Arabian alphabet, which only noted consonants but no vowels, Ethiopian writing was modified to become a syllabary. There are thirty-four basic characters (twenty-six classical ones, plus six that evolved with the language), each representing a syllable. There are no vowels, but changes in character shape mark vocalizations. Since each character has seven vocalizations, learning Amharic requires the memorization of 238 signs for reading and writing, not to mention a few additional combinations for diphthongs such as "wa"... Add to this the fact that our script is incapable of correctly translating the sounds of Ethiopian, that many sounds are extremely similar and that some others seem unpronounceable at first glance, and the task looks daunting. Nevertheless, a foreigner's mastery of a few basic words and phrases is greatly appreciated by Ethiopians. Spontaneous contacts multiply, and the welcome is all the more warm and smiling.
Semitic ethnic groups
Tigrinya, spoken in the north of the country and in Eritrea, is the purest Semitic language, while Amharic, which has become the official language, is heavily tinged with Cushitic. The same is true of the Guragé and Harari idioms, Semitic enclaves in Oromo country, which have absorbed many Cushitic features over time. The Amhara number around 20 million in Ethiopia, but have a large diaspora in the USA of around 200,000. They live in the northern and central regions of Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa, around Lalibela, Gondar and Bahar Dar, but there are also many in neighboring Eritrea, as historically they founded the Solomon dynasty of the Ethiopian Empire, which was centered in Aksum to the north, on the border between the two countries. They are an Ethio-Semitic group.
The Tigrayans live in the eponymous region. Like their neighbor, they are religious, and their way of life follows the precepts of orthodox Christianity. The famine of 1983-1985 caused almost 1.2 million deaths, mainly in this region. The recent war in Tigray (2021-2023) caused almost 600,000 deaths, but the famine that followed has not yet finished claiming victims, and the figures are not yet established.
Cushitic ethnic groups
The Oromo, who make up the majority of Ethiopia's population, number around 40 million - a veritable country within a country! They are one of the oldest Cushitic ethnic groups in the Horn of Africa. They have been settled around Lake Chamo and the Bale Mountains for over seven thousand years. The Oromia region is located in the center of the country, but Oromo are also found in the Wollo and Tigray regions, as well as in Kenya. Oromifa, using the Latin alphabet, is the dominant Cushitic language. In addition to the Oromo, the Afar, Sidamo and Somali represent the largest Cushitic groups. The latter form a Cushitic people who practice Sunni Islam, mainly in Somalia (9 million), Somaliland (5.7 million) and Ethiopia (4.6 million). They migrated from the Arabian Peninsula and have been present in the Horn of Africa for almost seven thousand years.
The Borana, Konso, Dizi, Dassanetch, Arboré, Hamer and Tsamay in the south, as well as the Agaw, isolated in the north in Semitic country, are also ethnic groups of Cushitic origin.
Omotic ethnic groups
Affiliated with the Cushitic group, the Omotic ethnic groups, who probably spread over a wider area before the Oromo expansion, are today concentrated along the Omo valley, as their name suggests. They comprise a multitude of peoples speaking distinct idioms and dialects, including the Bana, Ari, Muguji and Karo, who today number only some 1,500 individuals.
The Nilotic group
The Anuak, Nuer and Surma groups, mainly concentrated along the Sudanese border, speak Nilotic languages that belong to the Nilo-Saharan linguistic group. In the Omo valley, we might mention the Nyagatom, Bodi and Tishana tribes and the Mursi tribe, which numbers just 15,000 members.
