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Whenever you think of children living in poverty in Africa, many people tend
to think about Ethiopia, a vast country with a population of 115 million (2020)
people whose history stretches back into the mists of time. Unlike many other African
nations, Ethiopia has always been independent (apart from a brief period of
occupation by Italy.) Despite not being a former colony, Ethiopia still suffered from poor
governance and dictatorships for decades. It was ruled for over forty
years by the Emperor Hailie Selassis, then a military junta until 1991. Wars with neighbours
continued over boundary disputes, although now seemingly resolved, and Ethiopia is currently in turmoil following the rise to power of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed with tensions rising over Ethiopia's post
1991 ethno-federalist setlement for the governance of the country, with many Ethiopians seeing it as a guarantee of local autonomy, while others view it as an obstacle to effective central government. These tensions erupted into open conflict in 2020 between the federal and Tigray governments in the northern region of Ethiopia, an effective war that has seen tens of thousands killed to date.
Although Ethiopia has a fast growing economy, the vast majority of its population
live in poor rural areas dependent on subsistence farming. Ethiopia's famine of 1984-1985, resulting from poor rainfall and leading to an
almost total failure of crop production was followed in 1986 by a locust plague.
The famine affected around eight million people, with one million of them dying
of starvation. The country remains drought prone making for widespread food
insecurity. Ethiopia is in 173rd place out of 189 countries and territories in 2019 when
ranked in terms of life expectancy, literacy, access to knowledge and the
living standards of a country. Despite having the fastest growing economy in the region, with an aim of reaching lower-middle-income status as a country by 2025, an estimated 13.2 million people in Ethiopia don't have enough to eat according to the 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan (HPR), made worse in the north by the conflict there.
It is hard to believe that an estimated 720,000-1,200,000 children in Ethiopia have been have been orphaned by AIDS, with a further 109,133 infected themselves, with 2,420 becoming infected annually. Four and a half million children are orphans in Ethiopia and is estimated that a further 200,000 children are becoming orphaned there every year. For more about
Ethiopia check out our profile articles below.
Ethiopia Profile: Volunteer in Ethiopia
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Ethiopia Profile: Ethiopia History
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Ethiopia Profile: Life in Ethiopia
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Ethiopia Profile: Ethiopian Children
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Ethiopia Profile: Ethiopia Images
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Ethiopia Profile: Ethiopia Quiz
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Ethiopia Profile: Addis Ababa Profile
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Ethiopia Profile: Addis Ababa Airport
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Ethiopia Profile: Child Sponsor Ethiopia
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Ethiopia Profile: Ethiopia Map
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Ethiopia Profile: Ethiopia News
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