The total population in Ethiopia was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 8.9 million people (+8.29 percent). After the tenth consecutive increasing year, the total population is estimated to reach 116.27 million people and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the total population was continuously increasing over the past years.According to the International Monetary Fund, the total population of a country consists of all persons falling within the scope of the census.Find more key insights for the total population in countries like Mozambique, Mauritius, and Tanzania.

The annual population growth in Ethiopia saw no significant changes in 2023 in comparison to the previous year 2022 and remained at around 2.52 percent. Yet 2023 saw the lowest population growth in Ethiopia with 2.52 percent. Annual population growth refers to the change in the population over time, and is affected by factors such as fertility, mortality, and migration.Find more key insights for the annual population growth in countries like Uganda and Somalia.

Population density per pixel at 100 metre resolution. WorldPop provides estimates of numbers of people residing in each 100x100m grid cell for every low and middle income country. Through ingegrating cencus, survey, satellite and GIS datasets in a flexible machine-learning framework, high resolution maps of population counts and densities for 2000-2020 are produced, along with accompanying metadata.

DATASET: Alpha version 2010 and 2015 estimates of numbers of people per grid square, with national totals adjusted to match UN population division estimates (http://esa.un.org/wpp/) and remaining unadjusted.

REGION: Africa

SPATIAL RESOLUTION: 0.000833333 decimal degrees (approx 100m at the equator)

PROJECTION: Geographic, WGS84

UNITS: Estimated persons per grid square

MAPPING APPROACH: Land cover based, as described in: Linard, C., Gilbert, M., Snow, R.W., Noor, A.M. and Tatem, A.J., 2012, Population distribution, settlement patterns and accessibility across Africa in 2010, PLoS ONE, 7(2): e31743.

FORMAT: Geotiff (zipped using 7-zip (open access tool): www.7-zip.org)

FILENAMES: Example - AGO10adjv4.tif = Angola (AGO) population count map for 2010 (10) adjusted to match UN national estimates (adj), version 4 (v4). Population maps are updated to new versions when improved census or other input data become available.

Ethiopia data available from WorldPop here.

According to the forecast, Africa's total population would reach nearly 2.5 billion by 2050. In 2023, the continent had around 1.36 billion inhabitants, with Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Egypt as the most populous countries. In the coming years, Africa will experience significant population growth and will close the gap significantly with the Asian population by 2100. Rapid population growth The population of Africa has been increasing annually in recent years, growing from around 818 million to over 1.39 billion between 2000 and 2021, respectively. In the same period, the annual growth rate of the population has been constantly set at roughly 2.5 percent, with a peak of 2.62 percent in 2014. The reasons behind this rapid growth are various. One factor is the high fertility rate registered in African countries. In 2021, a woman in Niger had an average of over 6.8 children in her reproductive years, the highest rate on the continent. High fertility resulted in a large young population and partly compensated for the high mortality rate in Africa, leading to fast-paced population growth. High poverty levels Africa’s population is concerned with widespread poverty. In 2024, over 429 million people on the continent are extremely poor and live with less than 2.15 U.S. dollars per day. Globally, Africa is the continent hosting the highest poverty rate. In 2024, the countries of Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo account for around 21 percent of the world's population living in extreme poverty. Nevertheless, poverty in Africa is forecast to decrease in the coming years.

WorldPop produces different types of gridded population count datasets, depending on the methods used and end application. Please make sure you have read our Mapping Populations overview page before choosing and downloading a dataset.


Bespoke methods used to produce datasets for specific individual countries are available through the WorldPop Open Population Repository (WOPR) link below. These are 100m resolution gridded population estimates using customized methods ("bottom-up" and/or "top-down") developed for the latest data available from each country. They can also be visualised and explored through the woprVision App.
The remaining datasets in the links below are produced using the "top-down" method, with either the unconstrained or constrained top-down disaggregation method used. Please make sure you read the Top-down estimation modelling overview page to decide on which datasets best meet your needs. Datasets are available to download in Geotiff and ASCII XYZ format at a resolution of 3 and 30 arc-seconds (approximately 100m and 1km at the equator, respectively):

- Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 ( 1km resolution ): Consistent 1km resolution population count datasets created using unconstrained top-down methods for all countries of the World for each year 2000-2020.
- Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 ( 100m resolution ): Consistent 100m resolution population count datasets created using unconstrained top-down methods for all countries of the World for each year 2000-2020.
- Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 UN adjusted ( 100m resolution ): Consistent 100m resolution population count datasets created using unconstrained top-down methods for all countries of the World for each year 2000-2020 and adjusted to match United Nations national population estimates (UN 2019)
-Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 UN adjusted ( 1km resolution ): Consistent 1km resolution population count datasets created using unconstrained top-down methods for all countries of the World for each year 2000-2020 and adjusted to match United Nations national population estimates (UN 2019).
-Unconstrained global mosaics 2000-2020 ( 1km resolution ): Mosaiced 1km resolution versions of the "Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020" datasets.
-Constrained individual countries 2020 ( 100m resolution ): Consistent 100m resolution population count datasets created using constrained top-down methods for all countries of the World for 2020.
-Constrained individual countries 2020 UN adjusted ( 100m resolution ): Consistent 100m resolution population count datasets created using constrained top-down methods for all countries of the World for 2020 and adjusted to match United Nations national population estimates (UN 2019).

Older datasets produced for specific individual countries and continents, using a set of tailored geospatial inputs and differing "top-down" methods and time periods are still available for download here: Individual countries and Whole Continent.

Data for earlier dates is available directly from WorldPop.

WorldPop (www.worldpop.org - School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton; Department of Geography and Geosciences, University of Louisville; Departement de Geographie, Universite de Namur) and Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University (2018). Global High Resolution Population Denominators Project - Funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1134076). https://dx.doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/WP00645

From the AfriPop website..."High resolution, contemporary data on human population distributions are a prerequisite for the accurate measurement of the impacts of population growth, for monitoring changes and for planning interventions. The AfriPop project was initiated in July 2009 with an aim of producing detailed and freely-available population distribution maps for the whole of Africa. Based on the approaches outlined in detail here and here, and summarized on the methods page, fine resolution satellite imagery-derived settlement maps are combined with land cover maps to reallocate contemporary census-based spatial population count data. Assessments have shown that the resultant maps are more accurate than existing population map products, as well as the simple gridding of census data. Moreover, the 100m spatial resolution represents a finer mapping detail than has ever before been produced at national extents. The approaches used in AfriPop dataset production are designed with operational application in mind, using simple and semi-automated methods to produce easily updatable maps. Given the speed with which population growth and urbanisation are occurring across much of Africa, and the impacts these are having on the economies, environments and health of nations, such features are a necessity for both research and operational applications."Data Source: AfriPop.org

This statistic shows the total population of Ethiopia from 2013 to 2023 by gender. In 2023, Ethiopia's female population amounted to approximately 64.21 million, while the male population amounted to approximately 64.49 million inhabitants.

This dataset provides population data for Ethiopia, disaggregated by regional states. The data is available in vector format, allowing for spatial visualization. Cross-border settlements are represented separately in a standalone file titled "Crosses Boundary." The dataset includes total population figures and population density, adjusted to match the corresponding official United Nations population estimates that have been prepared by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat (2019 Revision of World Population Prospects).

The world's most accurate population datasets. Seven maps/datasets for the distribution of various populations in Ethiopia : (1) Overall population density (2) Women (3) Men (4) Children (ages 0-5) (5) Youth (ages 15-24) (6) Elderly (ages 60+) (7) Women of reproductive age (ages 15-49).

In 1800, the population of Ethiopia was 2.95 million. Like most other Sub-Saharan countries, Ethiopia experienced slow but steady growth for much of the 18th century, and growth which would increase exponentially as the country entered the 20th century. Ethiopia’s population grew more rapidly as the 20th century progressed, however, this growth was offset in the late 1970s, with the beginning of the Ethiopian Civil War and the coinciding Qey Shibir (Red Terror) campaign. However, despite experiencing a significant famine from 1983 to 1985, which would result in approximately one million deaths, Ethiopia’s population would begin to grow rapidly once more, from 35 million in 1980 to 66 million by the beginning of the 21st century. By 2020, Ethiopia is estimated to have a population of almost 115 million, with some experts predicting that Ethiopia may become one of the most populous countries in the world by 2100.

WorldPop produces different types of gridded population count datasets, depending on the methods used and end application. Please make sure you have read our Mapping Populations overview page before choosing and downloading a dataset.

Datasets are available to download in Geotiff and ASCII XYZ format at a resolution of 30 arc-seconds (approximately 1km at the equator)

-Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020: Population density datasets for all countries of the World for each year 2000-2020 – derived from the corresponding Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 population count datasets by dividing the number of people in each pixel by the pixel surface area. These are produced using the unconstrained top-down modelling method.
-Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 UN adjusted: Population density datasets for all countries of the World for each year 2000-2020 – derived from the corresponding Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 population UN adjusted count datasets by dividing the number of people in each pixel, adjusted to match the country total from the official United Nations population estimates (UN 2019), by the pixel surface area. These are produced using the unconstrained top-down modelling method.

Data for earlier dates is available directly from WorldPop.

WorldPop (www.worldpop.org - School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton; Department of Geography and Geosciences, University of Louisville; Departement de Geographie, Universite de Namur) and Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University (2018). Global High Resolution Population Denominators Project - Funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1134076). https://dx.doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/WP00674

DATASET: Alpha version 2010 estimates of numbers of people per grid square, with national totals adjusted to match UN population division estimates (http://esa.un.org/wpp/). REGION: Africa SPATIAL RESOLUTION: 0.000833333 decimal degrees (approx 100m at the equator) PROJECTION: Geographic, WGS84 UNITS: Estimated persons per grid square MAPPING APPROACH: Land cover based, as described in: Linard, C., Gilbert, M., Snow, R.W., Noor, A.M. and Tatem, A.J., 2012, Population distribution, settlement patterns and accessibility across Africa in 2010, PLoS ONE, 7(2): e31743. FORMAT: Geotiff (zipped using 7-zip (open access tool): www.7-zip.org) FILENAMES: Example - AGO10adjv4.tif = Angola (AGO) population count map for 2010 (10) adjusted to match UN national estimates (adj), version 4 (v4). Population maps are updated to new versions when improved census or other input data become available. DATE OF PRODUCTION: January 2013

Ethiopia ET: Population Density: People per Square Km data was reported at 104.957 Person/sq km in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 102.403 Person/sq km for 2016. Ethiopia ET: Population Density: People per Square Km data is updated yearly, averaging 42.197 Person/sq km from Dec 1961 (Median) to 2017, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 104.957 Person/sq km in 2017 and a record low of 20.591 Person/sq km in 1961. Ethiopia ET: Population Density: People per Square Km data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ethiopia – Table ET.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population density is midyear population divided by land area in square kilometers. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of their country of origin. Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes.; ; Food and Agriculture Organization and World Bank population estimates.; Weighted average;

Ethiopia ET: Population: as % of Total: Aged 0-14 data was reported at 40.554 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 41.101 % for 2016. Ethiopia ET: Population: as % of Total: Aged 0-14 data is updated yearly, averaging 45.073 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 46.686 % in 1997 and a record low of 40.554 % in 2017. Ethiopia ET: Population: as % of Total: Aged 0-14 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ethiopia – Table ET.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population between the ages 0 to 14 as a percentage of the total population. Population is based on the de facto definition of population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; Weighted average;

This zip file contains 28 cloud optimized tiff files that cover the continent of Africa. Each of the 28 files represents a region or area - these are not divided by country.

Notes:

• The country-by-country files that were previously hosted here have been moved into separate datasets. You can find all of them here.
• South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia are intentionally omitted from this dataset. However, a country-level dataset for Ethiopia can be found here.
• These 28 tiff files represent 2015 population estimates. However, please note that many of the country-level files include 2020 population estimates including: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, The Gambia, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome & Principe, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Population ages 15-64, male (% of male population) in Ethiopia was reported at 57.15 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Ethiopia - Population ages 15-64, male (% of total) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on March of 2025.

Ethiopia ET: Population: Female: Ages 0-4: % of Female Population data was reported at 14.403 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 14.581 % for 2016. Ethiopia ET: Population: Female: Ages 0-4: % of Female Population data is updated yearly, averaging 18.243 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 18.824 % in 1981 and a record low of 14.403 % in 2017. Ethiopia ET: Population: Female: Ages 0-4: % of Female Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ethiopia – Table ET.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Female population between the ages 0 to 4 as a percentage of the total female population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; ;

Abstract

The 2005 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (2005 EDHS) is part of the worldwide MEASURE DHS project which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The principal objective of the 2005 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) is to provide current and reliable data on fertility and family planning behaviour, child mortality, adult and maternal mortality, children’s nutritional status, the utilization of maternal and child health services, knowledge of HIV/AIDS and prevalence of HIV/AIDS and anaemia.

The specific objectives are to: - collect data at the national level which will allow the calculation of key demographic rates; - analyze the direct and indirect factors which determine the level and trends of fertility; - measure the level of contraceptive knowledge and practice of women and men by method, urban-rural residence, and region; - collect high quality data on family health including immunization coverage among children, prevalence and treatment of diarrhoea and other diseases among children under five, and maternity care indicators including antenatal visits and assistance at delivery; - collect data on infant and child mortality and maternal and adult mortality; - obtain data on child feeding practices including breastfeeding and collect anthropometric measures to use in assessing the nutritional status of women and children; - collect data on knowledge and attitudes of women and men about sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS and evaluate patterns of recent behaviour regarding condom use; - conduct haemoglobin testing on women age 15-49 and children under age five years in a subsample of the households selected for the survey to provide information on the prevalence of anaemia among women in the reproductive ages and young children; - collect samples for anonymous HIV testing from women and men in the reproductive ages to provide information on the prevalence of HIV among the adult population.

This information is essential for informed policy decisions, planning, monitoring, and evaluation of programs on health in general and reproductive health in particular at both the national and regional levels. A long-term objective of the survey is to strengthen the technical capacity of the Central Statistical Agency to plan, conduct, process, and analyse data from complex national population and health surveys. Moreover, the 2005 Ethiopia DHS provides national and regional estimates on population and health that are comparable to data collected in similar surveys in other developing countries. The first ever Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in Ethiopia was conducted in the year 2000 as part of the worldwide DHS programme. Data from the 2005 Ethiopia DHS survey, the second such survey, add to the vast and growing international database on demographic and health variables.

Wherever possible, the 2005 EDHS data is compared with data from the 2000 EDHS. In addition, where applicable, the 2005 EDHS is compared with the 1990 NFFS, which also sampled women age 15-49. Husbands of currently married women were also covered in this survey. However, for security and other reasons, the NFFS excluded from its coverage Eritrea, Tigray, Asseb, and Ogaden autonomous regions. In addition, fieldwork could not be carried out for Northern Gondar, Southern Gondar, Northern Wello, and Southern Wello due to security reasons. Thus, any comparison between the EDHS and the NFFS has to be interpreted with caution.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Household
• Children under five years
• Women age 15-49
• Men age 15-59

Kind of data

Sample survey data

Sampling procedure

The 2005 EDHS sample was designed to provide estimates for the health and demographic variables of interest for the following domains: Ethiopia as a whole; urban and rural areas of Ethiopia (each as a separate domain); and 11 geographic areas (9 regions and 2 city administrations), namely: Tigray; Affar; Amhara; Oromiya; Somali; Benishangul-Gumuz; Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP); Gambela; Harari; Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. In general, a DHS sample is stratified, clustered and selected in two stages. In the 2005 EDHS a representative sample of approximately 14,500 households from 540 clusters was selected. The sample was selected in two stages. In the first stage, 540 clusters (145 urban and 395 rural) were selected from the list of enumeration areas (EA) from the 1994 Population and Housing Census sample frame.

In the census frame, each of the 11 administrative areas is subdivided into zones and each zone into weredas. In addition to these administrative units, each wereda was subdivided into convenient areas called census EAs. Each EA was either totally urban or rural and the EAs were grouped by administrative wereda. Demarcated cartographic maps as well as census household and population data were also available for each census EA. The 1994 Census provided an adequate frame for drawing the sample for the 2005 EDHS. As in the 2000 EDHS, the 2005 EDHS sampled three of seven zones in the Somali Region (namely, Jijiga, Shinile and Liben). In the Affar Region the incomplete frame used in 2000 was improved adding a list of villages not previously included, to improve the region's representativeness in the survey. However, despite efforts to cover the settled population, there may be some bias in the representativeness of the regional estimates for both the Somali and Affar regions, primarily because the census frame excluded some areas in these regions that had a predominantly nomadic population.

The 540 EAs selected for the EDHS are not distributed by region proportionally to the census population. Thus, the sample for the 2005 EDHS must be weighted to produce national estimates. As part of the second stage, a complete household listing was carried out in each selected cluster. The listing operation lasted for three months from November 2004 to January 2005. Between 24 and 32 households from each cluster were then systematically selected for participation in the survey.

Because of the way the sample was designed, the number of cases in some regions appear small since they are weighted to make the regional distribution nationally representative. Throughout this report, numbers in the tables reflect weighted numbers. To ensure statistical reliability, percentages based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases are shown in parentheses and percentages based on fewer than 25 unweighted cases are suppressed.

Note: See detailed sample implementation table in APPENDIX A of the survey report.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

In order to adapt the standard DHS core questionnaires to the specific socio-cultural settings and needs in Ethiopia, its contents were revised through a technical committee composed of senior and experienced demographers of PHCCO. After the draft questionnaires were prepared in English, copies of the household, women’s and men’s questionnaires were distributed to relevant institutions and individual researchers for comments. A one-day workshop was organized on November 22, 2004 at the Ghion Hotel in Addis Ababa to discuss the contents of the questionnaire. Over 50 participants attended the national workshop and their comments and suggestions collected. Based on these comments, further revisions were made on the contents of the questionnaires. Some additional questions were included at the request of MOH, the Fistula Hospital, and USAID. The questionnaires were finalized in English and translated into the three main local languages: Amharic, Oromiffa and Tigrigna. In addition, the DHS core interviewer’s manual for the Women’s and Men’s Questionnaires, the supervisor’s and editor’s manual, and the HIV and anaemia field manual were modified and translated into Amharic.

The Household Questionnaire was used to list all the usual members and visitors in the selected households. Some basic information was collected on the characteristics of each person listed, including age, sex, education, and relationship to the head of the household. The main purpose of the Household Questionnaire was to identify women and men who were eligible for the individual interview. The Household Questionnaire also collected information on characteristics of the household’s dwelling unit, such as the source of water, type of toilet facilities, materials used for the floor and roof of the house, ownership of various durable goods, and ownership and use of mosquito nets. In addition, this questionnaire was used to record height and weight measurements of women age 15-49 and children under the age of five, households eligible for collection of blood samples, and the respondents’ consent to voluntarily give blood samples.

The Women’s Questionnaire was used to collect information from all women age 15-49 years and covered the following topics. - Household and respondent characteristics - Fertility levels and preferences - Knowledge and use of family planning - Childhood mortality - Maternity care - Childhood illness, treatment, and preventative actions - Anaemia levels among women and children - Breastfeeding practices - Nutritional status of women and young children - Malaria prevention and treatment - Marriage and sexual activity - Awareness and behaviour regarding AIDS and STIs - Harmful traditional practices - Maternal mortality

The Men’s Questionnaire was administered to all men age 15-59 years living in every second household in the sample. The Men’s Questionnaire collected similar information contained in the Women’s Questionnaire, but was shorter because it did not contain questions on reproductive

Ethiopia ET: Population: as % of Total: Female data was reported at 50.069 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 50.072 % for 2016. Ethiopia ET: Population: as % of Total: Female data is updated yearly, averaging 50.152 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 50.293 % in 1960 and a record low of 50.069 % in 2017. Ethiopia ET: Population: as % of Total: Female data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ethiopia – Table ET.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Female population is the percentage of the population that is female. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; Weighted average;

As of 2023, the total population of Africa was over 1.48 billion. The number of inhabitants on the continent increased annually from 2000 onwards. In comparison, the total population was around 831 million in 2000. According to forecasts, Africa will experience impressive population growth in the coming years and would nearly reach the Asian population by 2100. Over 200 million people in Nigeria Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. In 2023, the country’s population exceeded 223 million people. Ethiopia followed with a population of around 127 million, while Egypt ranked third, accounting for approximately 113 million individuals. Other leading African countries in terms of population were the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, South Africa, and Kenya. Additionally, Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chad recorded the highest population growth rate on the continent in 2023, with the number of residents rising by over 3.08 percent compared to the previous year. On the other hand, the populations of Tunisia and Eswatini registered a growth rate below 0.85 percent, while for Mauritius and Seychelles, it was negative. Drivers for population growth Several factors have driven Africa’s population growth. For instance, the annual number of births on the continent has risen constantly over the years, jumping from nearly 32 million in 2000 to almost 46 million in 2023. Moreover, despite the constant decline in the number of births per woman, the continent’s fertility rate has remained considerably above the global average. Each woman in Africa had an average of over four children throughout her reproductive years as of 2021, compared to a world rate of around two births per woman. At the same time, improved health and living conditions contributed to decreasing mortality rate and increasing life expectancy in recent years, driving population growth.