One of the most outstanding facts about living in Ethiopia is that there is no average city in the country. A country with a population of more than 98 million people is experiencing a rapid urban development. The biggest city is Addis Ababa which accommodates a population of 4million people. There are other smaller cities in the country like Dire Dawa and medium size towns.
Most of the wealthy people reside in Addis Ababa. The agricultural sector which is the countries’ economic bedrock employs more than 70% of the population. The location of Addis makes an ideal area for agriculture.
Ethiopia has a federal system of government that represents the 80% of the diverse ethnic groups in the country. The outskirts of Ethiopia are people who are very poor, and they speak their first languages either Afan, Oromo or Tigrinya although Amharic is the official language which is not spoken by most of the poor. Most of the rich and, middle class and working class are well vast with speaking English.
There is a high economic transformation in the country supported by the strong central government. The government is mostly working on the improvement of infrastructure believing that the infrastructure improvement is one of the main determinants of the economic growth. The ruling party EPRDF believes in improving the country for the benefit of everyone not only the elite class.
The level of corruption in Ethiopia is quite low as compared with its neighboring countries. Every corruption fighting agencies are working at their level best to minimize corruption. The Ethiopian citizens grow up with a culture of non-corruption.
The Ethiopian citizens are welcoming and friendly they are accommodative to anyone. Unlike in other countries where you cannot walk freely on some streets, in Ethiopian streets especially in Addis, there are no violent crimes.
Naming in Ethiopian culture is done in a western culture way. The first name fast then the fathers name the last names are rarely used. In case you are addressing a man called Tadese Joseph, you have to refer to him as Mr, Tadese or Ato Tadese using the Ethiopian way of referring to a man.
Addis Ababa is the African diplomatic hub. Diplomats and NGO from almost every corner of the world are found there. Outside the capital city, there are very few diplomats and the NGOs tend to go precisely where their projects are.
The income inequality gap in Ethiopia is not shown by where the people live since you will always find shacks and shanties set up next to multi-million houses. The rich and the people live strategically in the same place.
