Ethiopia- The People
Ethiopia is about one-and-a-half times the size of the province of Manitoba, but contains a population of over 90 million people, the second-largest on the African continent (next to Nigeria). The vast majority of the people live in small villages, and there is only one truly large city, the capital, Addis Ababa, which has a population of approximately four million, or around the same as Montreal.
Ethiopians belong to a wide variety of ethnic groups, with the Oromo (34.5%) and Amhara (24.6%) being the largest ethnic groups. The country is divided into regions based on language and customs vary greatly from one region to the next. The notion we have of "Ethiopians" hides a lot of diversity and two Ethiopians are hardly guaranteed to be able to communicate with each other, let alone have the same native language and traditions.
Ethiopia is a deeply religious country as a whole, with just over 60% of the population being Christian and over 30% being Muslim, with most of the rest belonging to indigenous religious groups. Christianity has a long history in Ethiopia, and most Ethiopian Christians belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which has been the dominant religious group in the country for 1600 years. Until recently, a large Jewish minority lived in Ethiopia as well but most of them have since migrated to Israel.
Ethiopians mostly live on the land as subsistence farmers and most live on an income of less than $2 USD a year. Indeed, there are a handful of individual multibillionaires in the world who have wealth which approaches or exceeds the total national wealth of Ethiopia. The richest man in Canada, David Thomson is worth some $23 billion, while the entire gross national product of Ethiopia is a mere $31 billion. By contrast, the gross national product of Germany is $3,367 billion- over a thousand times as much, despite Ethiopia having a slightly larger population.
Over the last few decades, many Ethiopians have left their country and come to other nations, such as Canada and the United States to try and start a better lives for themselves. Many are political refugees, while others simply desire to make a fresh start in a different country. There are a significant number of Ethiopians living in Manitoba, including a community of a few hundred in Brandon.
Ethiopians belong to a wide variety of ethnic groups, with the Oromo (34.5%) and Amhara (24.6%) being the largest ethnic groups. The country is divided into regions based on language and customs vary greatly from one region to the next. The notion we have of "Ethiopians" hides a lot of diversity and two Ethiopians are hardly guaranteed to be able to communicate with each other, let alone have the same native language and traditions.
Ethiopia is a deeply religious country as a whole, with just over 60% of the population being Christian and over 30% being Muslim, with most of the rest belonging to indigenous religious groups. Christianity has a long history in Ethiopia, and most Ethiopian Christians belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which has been the dominant religious group in the country for 1600 years. Until recently, a large Jewish minority lived in Ethiopia as well but most of them have since migrated to Israel.
Ethiopians mostly live on the land as subsistence farmers and most live on an income of less than $2 USD a year. Indeed, there are a handful of individual multibillionaires in the world who have wealth which approaches or exceeds the total national wealth of Ethiopia. The richest man in Canada, David Thomson is worth some $23 billion, while the entire gross national product of Ethiopia is a mere $31 billion. By contrast, the gross national product of Germany is $3,367 billion- over a thousand times as much, despite Ethiopia having a slightly larger population.
Over the last few decades, many Ethiopians have left their country and come to other nations, such as Canada and the United States to try and start a better lives for themselves. Many are political refugees, while others simply desire to make a fresh start in a different country. There are a significant number of Ethiopians living in Manitoba, including a community of a few hundred in Brandon.
Sources and Links
Ideas for Further Inquiry
1.) What do you think about the fact that a single person in Canada has nearly as much wealth as 91 million people in an entire country? What do you think this suggests about the world economy?
2.) Look at stories about Ethiopia on news websites such as cbc.ca or current events blogs. What do they emphasize about Ethiopia? Do you think that portrayal is fair?
3.) Most Canadians live in towns or cities. How do you think life would be different