Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule, one exception being the Italian occupation of 1936-41. In 1974 a military junta, the Derg, deposed Emperor Haile Salassie (who had ruled since 1930) and established a socialist state. Torn by bloody coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the regime was finally toppled by a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), in 1991. A constitution was adopted in 1994 and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995.
Demographic Data
Capital: Addis-Ab'ba
Government type: Democracy
Government stability: 83.1%
Government efficiency: 25.2%
Population's support to government: 82.6%
Area: 1,119,683 square kilometers
Habitable land: 78.0%
Farmable land: 12.0%
Total population: 55,979 thousands
Population's growth: 3.1%
Country's development level: 2,370
Economic Data
GNP: 20,300,000,000
Industralisation: 13.4%
International funding: 50,000,000
Political Data
Secret services efficiency: 2,703
Military Data
Technological generation: 1
Number of rebels: 3,358
Rebels development: 2,133
Rebels technological access: 1,658