Geography Quiz Arcade

Ethiopia 🇪🇹

Ethiopia is a country in Africa with a population of 123,379,924. Its capital is Addis Ababa. The official currency is ETB, and the main languages are Amharic.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Addis Ababa
  • Continent: Africa
  • Population: 123,379,924
  • Area: 1,104,300 km²
  • Density: 112 people per km²
  • Currency: ETB
  • Languages: Amharic
  • ISO code: ET

Where Ethiopia sits

Ethiopia 🇪🇹 is one of 54 countries in Africa, with its capital at Addis Ababa. It covers 1,104,300 square kilometres — 26th in the world — and is home to about 123,379,924 people, 12th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Nigeria, Egypt, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and South Africa. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Ethiopia compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Ethiopia sits closest to Japan and Mexico. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Bolivia and Colombia.

At 112 people per square kilometre it is somewhat above the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.

Amharic is listed as official in Ethiopia alone. The ETB is used by Ethiopia and no one else.

To see Ethiopia next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Ethiopia

Addis Ababa means 'new flower' in Amharic. Ethiopia's green, yellow and red were so admired that many African countries used the same colours on their own flags.

The flag of Ethiopia: green, yellow and red, with a blue disc

🇪🇹 The flag is three horizontal stripes of green, yellow and red, with a blue disc in the centre holding a yellow star with rays. Green stands for hope and fertile land, yellow for justice and harmony, and red for sacrifice and heroism. The blue disc stands for peace and the star for the unity and equality of Ethiopia's peoples.

Region and neighbours

Ethiopia is a large landlocked country in the Horn of Africa, with high mountains and the Great Rift Valley. It shares land borders with 6 countries: Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan and Sudan. Ethiopia is landlocked, with no coast on the open ocean.

Three facts about Ethiopia

  1. Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world.
  2. Lucy, a 3.2-million-year-old skeleton of an early human relative, was found in Ethiopia in 1974.
  3. The churches of Lalibela were carved out of solid rock.

Sources: Wikipedia: Ethiopia, Wikipedia: Flag of Ethiopia, Wikipedia: Addis Ababa, Wikipedia: Lucy (Australopithecus), Wikipedia: Lalibela, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Ethiopia

Quizzes that include Ethiopia

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Ethiopia those are:

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Ethiopia

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Ethiopia flag?

The flag of Ethiopia is three horizontal stripes of green, yellow and red, with a blue disc in the centre holding a yellow star with rays. Green stands for hope and fertile land, yellow for justice and harmony, and red for sacrifice and heroism. The blue disc stands for peace and the star for the unity and equality of Ethiopia's peoples.

Which countries border Ethiopia?

Ethiopia shares land borders with Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan and Sudan.

How can I remember the capital of Ethiopia?

Addis Ababa means 'new flower' in Amharic. Ethiopia's green, yellow and red were so admired that many African countries used the same colours on their own flags.