Basic data and maps
Location of the country on the African continent
Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa, in the east of the continent. Since Eritrea’s independence in 1993, Ethiopia has been a landlocked country. The neighboring countries are Eritrea in the north, Djibouti and Somalia in the east, Kenya in the south, the Republic of South Sudan and Sudan in the west.
According to ehuacom, Ethiopia is a country located in Eastern Africa. The country has an area of approx. 1,104,300 km² and is about three times the size of Germany. The information on population size varies widely. The 2007 census showed a population of just under 74 million people. Current estimates speak of over 100 million people. This makes Ethiopia the second most populous country in Africa after Nigeria. About 80% of the Ethiopian population lives in the countryside. The population density in 2007 with 60 residents per square kilometer was only about a quarter of the population density in Germany.
Ethiopia – Outline Map
The Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA) has existed since 1972. It has been providing good data and analysis for a number of years. However, data collection is still the greatest challenge for the CSA. There are many estimates, projections and projections. For this reason, the websites of the government and the bilateral and multilateral donors sometimes show different figures. All information should therefore only be understood as an approximate size. When in doubt, several sources should be consulted.
A good country overview can be found at the World Bank, the Foreign Office and in the CIA World Factbook.
Natural space and climate
In Ethiopia there is the largest contiguous high plateau in Africa. A good half of the country’s area is higher than 1200 meters, more than a quarter is over 1800 meters and over five percent is over 3500 meters. Most of the highlands are low mountain ranges with a moderate climate. The highlands drop off steeply several hundred meters in many places. The highland edges and the gullies of the great rivers Nile, Omo and Tekeze are very steep.
The capital Addis Ababa is at over 2300 meters. The highest mountain in the country, Ras Dashen, is 4,620 meters high.
The Great African Rift Valley stretches across the country, from south-west to north-east, the plates of which are drifting apart. The deepest point in the country is 116 meters below sea level in the Koba Depression west of the border with Eritrea. Due to its location in the rift valley, Ethiopia is an earthquake zone. In 2005 a strong earthquake created a new 60 km long crater in the northern Afar region of the country.
The landscape is largely characterized by wet and dry savannahs and is determined in the east by semi-deserts and deserts. The proportion of forest is rather small.
Birds on Lake Hawassa
There are numerous lakes, most of which are of volcanic origin. The largest lake in Ethiopia, Lake Tana, is also the highest lake in Africa. There are numerous islands on it, on which monasteries were built in the 14th century, which are still preserved today. Other important lakes are Abijata, Shala (the deepest lake in the country), Hawassa and Langano. The latter is considered the only bilharzia-free standing body of water in Ethiopia and is therefore suitable as a swimming lake.
Wenchi Crater Lake
The Ethiopian ecosystem is extraordinarily diverse. Ethiopia is not only a wintering place for many species of migratory birds, but is also home to over 70 endemic species, such as the Menelik bushbuck and the blood-breasted baboon. People in Ethiopia are particularly proud of the endangered black maned lions, for which protection programs are in progress.
Dawn over Lake Bishoftu
There are many protected natural areas in Ethiopia, including several national parks. Probably the most famous is the Simien National Park. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and surrounds the highest mountain in Ethiopia.
Mountainous landscape in southern Ethiopia
GIZ supports Ethiopia in the sustainable use and protection of these natural areas.
More and more often shape the landscape
The already mentioned Lake Tana in northern Ethiopia is an ecologically and economically important natural area . It is threatened by overfishing and deforestation in the riparian region. Together with the Ethiopian government, environmental organizations are trying to protect it. Since 2015 he is UNESCO – Biosphere Reserve.
According to recent discoveries, natural resources, especially gold deposits, are gaining more and more economic importance. Water is increasingly used for irrigation and power generation. Other forms of regenerative energy generation (e.g. wind energy) are also gaining in importance.
The climate within the country is very diverse. Ethiopia lies entirely in the tropics, but the altitude puts the equatorial climate into perspective, so that there are both hot, humid and temperate areas. In the tropical hot areas the average annual temperature is 27 degrees, in the warm-temperate 22 and in the mountain areas of the highlands only 16 degrees Celsius. There are two rainy seasons a year, a main rainy season from June to September and a small rainy season between February and March.
