IPUMS-International is an effort to inventory, preserve, harmonize, and disseminate census microdata from around the world. The project has collected the world's largest archive of publicly available census samples. The data are coded and documented consistently across countries and over time to facillitate comparative research. IPUMS-International makes these data available to qualified researchers free of charge through a web dissemination system. The IPUMS project is a collaboration of the Minnesota Population Center, National Statistical Offices, and international data archives. Major funding is provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Additional support is provided by the University of Minnesota Office of the Vice President for Research, the Minnesota Population Center, and Sun Microsystems.

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.

Abstract

Statistical data reflect the socio-economic and demographic conditions of the residents of a country are useful for designing and preparation of development plans and for monitoring and evaluation of the impact of the implementation of the development plans. These statistical data include population size, age, sex, fertility, mortality, migration, literacy and education, marital status, occupation, industry, housing stocks and conditions… etc. In order to fill the gap for these socio-economic and demographic data need, Ethiopia conducted its second National population and Housing Census in October 1994.

The 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia was conducted under the auspices of the population and housing census commission that was set up under proclamation No. 32/1992. The commission was chaired by the prime minister and the members of the commission were drawn from various relevant ministries. The Central Statistical Authority served as the office of the commission (secretariat). Hence the processing, evaluation and analyses of the data collected in this census as well as its dissemination are the responsibilities of this office.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

Household Person Housing unit

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Sampling procedure

All household in all housing units are counted. Systematic selection procedure used to decide whether to use long or short questioner. During the three days before the census day all households and housing units were listed in a separate form designed for this purpose, this list was used to identify the type of questionnaire that was to be administered to the households. One out of the fife household was selected to interview using long questionnaire, while the other four were interviewed using short questionnaire. Resident of hotels, hostels and other collective quarters were always interviewed using long questionnaire. Short questionnaire administered for the homeless persons. Weight were applied the information collected in order to let the data represent the entire population. This means the fingers presented in tables that refer disability, education, economic activity, migration, fertility, mortality and housing stock and condition represent the entire population.

The fact that the information was collected from a sample of household and not from the entire household does not make the information less reliable. In fact this process increase the quality of the information collected by reducing the work load that would have been faced if all household were covered using the long questionnaire. The reduction of work load improves the quality of the data because it is expected to facilitate a closer supervision during the field work, enable better data coding and editing, and enable the timely processing of the data collected.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Two type of questionnaires were used to collect census data: i) Short questionnaire ii) Long urban and rural questionnaire

The difference between the two questionnaire is number of variables. The data collected using the short questionnaire included basic information on population such as size, sex, age, language, ethnic group, religion and marital status. The data collected using the long questionnaire included information on disability, education, economic activity, migration, fertility, mortality and housing stock and condition.

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.

The geodatabase contains boundaries for the national and first-, second-, and third-order administrative divisions, aligned to the Large Scale International Boundaries dataset from the U.S. Department of State. The feature classes are suitable for linking to the attribute data provided.

The tabular data contain total population for 2007 (census), as well as five-year age group and sex, and information relating to religion, the economy, disability, households, housing, ethnicity, language, health, and agriculture.

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.

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

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.

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

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

Household Person Housing unit

Universe

The census has counted people on dejure and defacto basis. The dejure population comprises all the persons who belong to a given area at a given time by virtue of usual residence, while under defacto approach people were counted as the residents of the place where they found. In the census, a person is said to be a usual resident of a household (and hence an area) if he/she has been residing in the household continuously for at least six months before the census day or intends to reside in the household for six months or longer. Thus, visitors are not included with the usual (dejure) population. Homeless persons were enumerated in the place where they spent the night on the enumeration day. The 2007 census counted foreign nationals who were residing in the city administration. On the other hand all Ethiopians living abroad were not counted.

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Two type sof questionnaires were used to collect census data: i) Short questionnaire ii) Long questionnaire

Unlike the previous censuses, the contents of the short and long questionnaires were similar both for the urban and rural areas as well as for the entire city. But the short and the long questionnaires differ by the number of variables they contained. That is, the short questionnaire was used to collect basic data on population characteristics, such as population size, sex, age, language, ethnic group, religion, orphanhood and disability. Whereas the long questionnaire includes information on marital status, education, economic activity, migration, fertility, mortality, as well as housing stocks and conditions in addition to those questions contained in a short questionnaire.

Population of Ethiopia increased by 2.52% from 126,527,060 persons in 2023 to 129,719,719 persons in 2024. Since the 2.74% rise in 2014, population shot up by 30.05% in 2024. Total 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. The values shown are midyear estimates.

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).

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.; ;

The population density in Ethiopia increased by 2.9 inhabitants per square kilometer (+2.68 percent) in 2022 in comparison to the previous year. With 111.1 inhabitants per square kilometer, the population density thereby reached its highest value in the observed period. Notably, the population density continuously increased over the last years.Population density is calculated by dividing the total population by the total land area, to show the average number of people living there per square kilometer of land.Find more key insights for the population density in countries like Madagascar and Somalia.

As of 2020, the median age stood at 19.5 years in Ethiopia, which is an increase of nearly a year compared to the previous four years. Despite the increment, the median age remained low, indicating a high fertility rate among Ethiopian population. Looking at the population from a different perspective, the human development index scored countries based on health and living standards, in which Ethiopia registered a steady but low level of development in 2019. The country experienced a slight increase in the HDI score since the previous year, which was 0.48. Other measures such as the gender gap index and the economic freedom give further insights into Ethiopia’s population.

Gender gap index score

The overall gender gap index score of Ethiopia amounted to 0.69, ranking 97th out of 156 listed countries globally in 2021. It indicates the discrepancy between genders in four different areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Categorizing the index score by industry, Ethiopia scored low (0.38) in political empowerment in 2021, indicating a low share of women in politics. Health and survival, on the other hand, had a more equal score of 0.97.

Economic freedom in Ethiopia

 Concerning the economic freedom of Ethiopia, which is an index based on 12 categories ranging from property rights to financial possibilities, the country scored 53.6 in 2021. This was slightly lower compared to Africa’s average (55.1). However, Ethiopia registered a steady increase from 2013 onwards, indicating slight improvements in the economic freedom of the people living there.

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.

School age population, post-secondary non-tertiary education, male (number) in Ethiopia was reported at 1227472 Persons in 2019, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Ethiopia - Population of the official age for post-secondary non-tertiary education, male - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on March of 2025.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

households/individuals

Kind of data

survey

Frequency of data collection

Yearly

Sampling procedure

Sample size:

Population ages 65 and above (% of total population) in Ethiopia was reported at 3.1713 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Ethiopia - Population ages 65 and above (% of total) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on March of 2025.

Abstract

The 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) was conducted by the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) under the auspices of the Ministry of Health.

The principal objective of the 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) is to provide current and reliable data on fertility and family planning behaviour, child mortality, adult and maternal mortality, children’s nutritional status, use of maternal and child health services, knowledge of HIV/AIDS, and prevalence of HIV/AIDS and anaemia. The specific objectives are these: - Collect data at the national level that will allow the calculation of key demographic rates; - Analyse the direct and indirect factors that determine fertility levels and trends; - Measure the levels of contraceptive knowledge and practice of women and men by family planning method, urban-rural residence, and region of the country; - Collect high-quality data on family health, including immunisation coverage among children, prevalence and treatment of diarrhoea and other diseases among children under ge five, and maternity care indicators, including antenatal visits and assistance at delivery; - Collect data on infant and child mortality and maternal mortality; - Obtain data on child feeding practices, including breastfeeding, and collect anthropometric measures to assess 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 6-59 months to provide information on the prevalence of anaemia among these groups; - Carry out anonymous HIV testing on women and men of reproductive age to provide information on the prevalence of HIV.

This information is essential for informed policy decisions, planning, monitoring, and evaluation of programmes 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 2011 EDHS provides national and regional estimates on population and health that are comparable to data collected in similar surveys in other developing countries and to Ethiopia’s two previous DHS surveys, conducted in 2000 and 2005. Data collected in the 2011 EDHS add to the large and growing international database of demographic and health indicators.

The survey was intentionally planned to be fielded at the beginning of the last term of the MDG reporting period to provide data for the assessment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The survey interviewed a nationally representative population in about 18,500 households, and all women age 15-49 and all men age 15-59 in these households. In this report key indicators relating to family planning, fertility levels and determinants, fertility preferences, infant, child, adult and maternal mortality, maternal and child health, nutrition, women’s empowerment, and knowledge of HIV/AIDS are provided for the nine regional states and two city administrations. In addition, this report also provides data by urban and rural residence at the country level.

Major stakeholders from various government, non-government, and UN organizations have been involved and have contributed in the technical, managerial, and operational aspects of the survey.

Geographic coverage

A nationally representative sample of 17,817 households was selected.

Universe

All women 15-49 who were usual residents or who slept in the selected households the night before the survey were eligible for the survey. A male survey was also conducted. All men 15-49 who were usual residents or who slept in the selected households the night before the survey were eligible for the male survey.

Kind of data

Sample survey data

Sampling procedure

The sample for the 2011 EDHS was designed to provide population and health indicators at the national (urban and rural) and regional levels. The sample design allowed for specific indicators, such as contraceptive use, to be calculated for each of Ethiopia's 11 geographic/administrative regions (the nine regional states and two city administrations). The 2007 Population and Housing Census, conducted by the CSA, provided the sampling frame from which the 2011 EDHS sample was drawn.

Administratively, regions in Ethiopia are divided into zones, and zones, into administrative units called weredas. Each wereda is further subdivided into the lowest administrative unit, called kebele. During the 2007 census each kebele was subdivided into census enumeration areas (EAs), which were convenient for the implementation of the census. The 2011 EDHS sample was selected using a stratified, two-stage cluster design, and EAs were the sampling units for the first stage. The sample included 624 EAs, 187 in urban areas and 437 in rural areas.

Households comprised the second stage of sampling. A complete listing of households was carried out in each of the 624 selected EAs from September 2010 through January 2011. Sketch maps were drawn for each of the clusters, and all conventional households were listed. The listing excluded institutional living arrangements and collective quarters (e.g., army barracks, hospitals, police camps, and boarding schools). A representative sample of 17,817 households was selected for the 2011 EDHS. Because the sample is not self-weighting at the national level, all data in this report are weighted unless otherwise specified.

In the Somali region, in 18 of the 65 selected EAs listed households were not interviewed for various reasons, such as drought and security problems, and 10 of the 65 selected EAs were not listed due to security reasons. Therefore, the data for Somali may not be totally representative of the region as a whole. However, national-level estimates are not affected, as the percentage of the population in the EAs not covered in the Somali region is proportionally very small.

SAMPLING FRAME

The sampling frame used for 2011 EDHS is the Population and Housing Census (PHC) conducted in 2007 provided by the Central Statistical Agency (CSA, 2008). CSA has an electronic file consisting of 81,654 Enumeration Areas (EA) created for the 2007 census in 10 of its 11 geographic regions. An EA is a geographic area consisting of a convenient number of dwelling units which served as counting unit for the census. The frame file contains information about the location, the type of residence, and the number of residential households for each of the 81,654 EAs. Sketch maps are also available for each EA which delimitate the geographic boundaries of the EA. The 2007 PHC conducted in the Somali region used a different methodology due to difficulty of access. Therefore, the sampling frame for the Somali region is in a different file and in different format. Due to security concerns in the Somali region, in the beginning it was decided that 2011 EDHS would be conducted only in three of nine zones in the Somali region: Shinile, Jijiga, and Liben, same as in the 2000 and 2005 EDHS. However, a later decision was made to include three other zones: Afder, Gode and Warder. This was the first time that these three zones were included in a major nationwide survey such as the 2011 EDHS. The sampling frame for the 2011 EDHS consists of a total of 85,057 EAs.

The sampling frame excluded some special EAs with disputed boundaries. These EAs represent only 0.1% of the total population.

Ethiopia is divided into 11 geographical regions. Each region is sub-divided into zones, each zone into Waredas, each Wareda into towns, and each town into Kebeles. Among the 85,057 EAs, 17,548 (21 percent) are in urban areas and 67,509 (79 percent) are in rural areas. The average size of EA in number of households is 169 in an urban EA and 180 in a rural EA, with an overall average of 178 households per EA. Table A.2 shows the distributions of households in the sampling frame, by region and residence. The data show that 81 percent of the Ethiopia’s households are concentrated in three regions: Amhara, Oromiya and SNNP, while 4 percent of all households are in the five smallest regions: Afar, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambela, Harari and Dire Dawa.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The 2011 EDHS used three questionnaires: the Household Questionnaire, the Woman’s Questionnaire, and the Man’s Questionnaire. These questionnaires were adapted from model survey instruments developed for the MEASURE DHS project to reflect the population and health issues relevant to Ethiopia. Issues were identified at a series of meetings with the various stakeholders. In addition to English, the questionnaires were translated into three major languages—Amharigna, Oromiffa, and Tigrigna.

The Household Questionnaire was used to list all the usual members and visitors of selected households. Basic information was collected on the characteristics of each person listed, including age, sex, education, and relationship to the head of the household. For children under age 18, survival status of the parents was determined. The data on the age and sex of household members obtained in the Household Questionnaire were used 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 of the house, and ownership of various consumer