Ethiopians

See also: Ethiopian (disambiguation)

For a specific analysis of the population of Ethiopia, see Demographics of Ethiopia. For the list of ethnic groups officially recognized by the Government of Ethiopia, see List of ethnic groups in Ethiopia.

Ethiopians

Flag of Ethiopia
Total population
c. 114 million
Regions with significant populations
Ethiopia
United States	460,000
Israel	155,300
Saudi Arabia	124,347 (Ethiopian-born)
UAE	90,000
United Kingdom	90,000
South Africa	44,891 (Ethiopian-born)
Canada	44,065
Kenya	36,889 (Ethiopian-born)
Lebanon	30,000
Italy	30,000
Sweden	21,686
Germany	20,465
Sudan	19,000
Australia	19,349
South Sudan	12,786 (Ethiopian-born)
Norway	12,380
Djibouti	12,323 (Ethiopian-born)
Netherlands	9,451 (Ethiopian-born)
France	8,675 (Ethiopian-born)
Yemen	5,740 (Ethiopian-born)
Switzerland	5,211 (Ethiopian-born)
Spain	3,713 (Ethiopian-born)
Kuwait	3,595 (Ethiopian-born)
Greece	2,420 (Ethiopian-born)
Finland	2,366 (Ethiopian-born)
Denmark	2,136 (Ethiopian-born)
Somalia	2,079 (Ethiopian-born)
Libya	1,831 (Ethiopian-born)
Qatar	1,667 (Ethiopian-born)
Egypt	1,457 (Ethiopian-born)
Austria	1,276 (Ethiopian-born)
Belgium	1,143 (Ethiopian-born)
Uganda	1,070 (Ethiopian-born)
Languages
Amharic, Oromo, Somali, Tigrinya, Wolaytta, Gurage, Sidamo and other Languages of Ethiopia
Religion
Christian 60.9% Muslim 35.6%, Traditional 2.6%. Jewish 1%,

Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of the Horn of Africa.

Ethiopia's population is highly diverse with different languages and ethnic groups. Most of its people speak Afro-Asiatic languages (Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic) languages, while others speak Nilo-Saharan languages. The Oromo, Amhara, Somali and Tigrayans make up more than three-quarters (75%) of the population, but there are more than 80 different ethnic groups within Ethiopia. Some of these have as few as 10,000 members.

History

See also: Demographics of Ethiopia

Ethiopia's population is highly diverse, containing over 80 different ethnic groups. Most people in Ethiopia speak Afro-Asiatic languages, mainly of the Cushitic and Semitic branches. Oromo, Somali, Tigrayans and Amharas make up three-quarters of the population. The country also has Omotic ethnic minorities who speak Afro-Asiatic languages of the Omotic branch. They inhabit the southern regions of the country, particularly the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region. Among these are the Welayta and Gamo. The ancestry of Afroasiatic-speaking Ethiopians, Somalian and Eritreans is primarily that of indigenous East Africans, but it also has a significant contribution from Eurasian populations as the result of a back migration (1500-3500 years ago). Nilo-Saharan peoples do not exhibit this genetic similarity; instead, their DNA shows evidence of more recent admixture (less than 1200 years ago) with other African peoples.

The Ethiopian national identity can be traced back to the Kingdom of Aksum. While kingdoms such as Dʿmt had been established in the area previously, Aksum was the first to unify the Afroasiatic peoples of modern-day Ethiopia into one sovereign nation. The use of the term "Ethiopia" for this region specifically also dates to the Aksumite period; Ezana of Axum appropriated the term in the 4th century. The Ethiopian nation was further developed by the territorial expansions of the Solomonic dynasty in the Middle Ages.

Ethnicity

Further information: List of ethnic groups in Ethiopia

Amhara people

Tigrayans

Oromo people

People in Harar

Major ethnic groups

• Oromo 34.4%
• Amhara 27%
• Somali 6.2%
• Tigray 6.1%
• Sidama 4.1%
• Gurage 2.5%
• Welayta 2.3%
• Hadiya 2.7%
• Afar 1.7%
• Other ethnic groups 12.6%

List

Ethnic group	Language family	Census (1994)		Census (2007)
		Number	%	Number	%
Aari	Omotic	2	0	0	0
Afar	Afro-Asiatic	979,367	1.84	1,276,374	1.73
Agaw-Awi	Afro-Asiatic	397,491	0.75	631,565	0.85
Agaw-Hamyra	Afro-Asiatic	158,231	0.30	267,851	0.36
Alaba	Afro-Asiatic	125,900	0.24	233,299	0.32
Amhara	Afro-Asiatic	16,007,933	30.13	19,870,651	26.89
Anuak	Nilotic	45,665	0.09	85,909	0.12
Arbore	Afro-Asiatic	6,559	0.01	6,840	0.01
Argobba	Afro-Asiatic	62,831	0.12	140,134	0.19
Bacha	Nilo-Saharan			2,632	< 0.01
Basketo	Omotic	51,097	0.10	78,284	0.11
Bench	Omotic	173,123	0.33	353,526	0.48
Berta	Nilo-Saharan			183,259	0.25
Bodi	Nilo-Saharan	4,686	0.01	6,994	0.01
Brayle	????			5,002	0.01
Burji	Afro-Asiatic	46,565	0.09	71,871	0.10
Bena	????			27,022	0.04
Beta Israel	Afro-Asiatic	2,321	<0.01
Chara	Omotic	6,984	0.01	13,210	0.02
Daasanach	Afro-Asiatic	32,099	0.06	48,067	0.07
Dawro	Omotic	331,483	0.62	543,148	0.74
Debase/ Gawwada	Afro-Asiatic	33,971	0.06	68,600	0.09
Dirashe	Afro-Asiatic			30,081	0.04
Dime	Omotic	6,197	0.01	891	<0.01
Dizi	Omotic	21,894	0.04	36,380	0.05
Donga	Afro-Asiatic			35,166	0.05
Fedashe	????	7,323,	0.01	3,448	< 0.01
Gamo	Omotic	719,847	1.35	1,107,163	1.50
Gebato	????	75	<0.01	1,502	< 0.01
Gedeo	Afro-Asiatic	639,905	1.20	986,977	1.34
Gedicho	????			5,483	0.01
Gidole	Afro-Asiatic	54,354	0.10	41,100	0.06
Goffa	Omotic	241,530	0.45	363,009	0.49
Gumuz	Nilo-Saharan	121,487	0.23	159,418	0.22
Gurage	Afro-Asiatic	2,290,274	4.31	1,867,377	2.53
Silt'e	Afro-Asiatic			940,766	1.27
Hadiya	Afro-Asiatic	1,227,933	2.15	1,884,373	2.44
Hamar	Omotic	42,466	0.08	46,532	0.06
Harari	Afro-Asiatic	21,757	0.04	31,869	0.04
Irob	Afro-Asiatic			33,372	0.05
Kafficho	Omotic	599,188	1.13	870,213	1.18
Kambaata	Afro-Asiatic	499,825	0.94	630,236	0.85
Konta	Omotic			83,607	0.11
Komo	Nilo-Saharan	1,526	<0.01	7,795	0.01
Konso	Afro-Asiatic	153,419	0.29	250,430	0.34
Koore	Omotic	107,595	0.20	156,983	0.21
Kontoma	Afro-Asiatic		0.4	48,543	0.05
Kunama	Nilo-Saharan	2,007	<0.01	4,860	0.01
Karo	Omotic			1,464	< 0.01
Kusumie	????			7,470	0.01
Kwegu	Nilo-Saharan			4,407	0.01
Male	Omotic	46,458	0.09	98,114	0.13
Mao	Omotic	16,236	0.03	43,535	0.06
Mareqo	Afro-Asiatic	38,096	0.07	64,381	0.09
Mashola	Afro-Asiatic			10,458	0.01
Mere people	????			14,298	0.02
Me'en	Nilo-Saharan	52,815	0.10	151,489	0.20
Messengo	????	15,341	0.03	10,964	0.01
Majangir	Nilo-Saharan			21,959	0.03
Mossiye	Afro-Asiatic	9,207	0.02	19,698	0.03
Murle	Nilo-Saharan			1,469	< 0.01
Mursi	Nilo-Saharan	3,258	0.01	7,500	0.01
Nao	Omotic	4,005	0.01	9,829	0.01
Nuer	Nilotic	64,534	0.12	147,672	0.20
Nyangatom	Nilotic	14,201	0.03	25,252	0.03
Oromo	Afro-Asiatic	21,080,318	32.15	25,489,024	34.49
Oyda	Omotic	14,075	0.03	45,149	0.06
Qebena	Afro-Asiatic	35,072	0.07	52,712	0.07
Qechem	????	2,740	0.01	2,585	< 0.01
Qewama	????	141	<0.01	298	< 0.01
She	Omotic	13,290	0.03	320	< 0.01
Shekecho	Omotic	53,897	0.10	77,678	0.11
Sheko	Omotic	23,785	0.04	37,573	0.05
Shinasha	Omotic	32,698	0.06	52,637	0.07
Shita/Upo	Nilo-Saharan	307	<0.01	1,602	< 0.01
Sidama	Afro-Asiatic	1,842,314	3.47	2,966,474	4.01
Somali	Afro-Asiatic	6,785,266	6.18	4,581,794	6.21
Surma	Nilo-Saharan	19,632	0.04	27,886	0.04
Tigrinya	Afro-Asiatic	3,284,568	6.18	4,483,892	6.07
Tembaro	????	86,510	0.16	98,621	0.13
Tsamai	Afro-Asiatic	9,702	0.02	20,046	0.03
Welayta	Omotic	1,269,216	2.39	1,707,079	2.31
Werji	Afro-Asiatic	20,536	0.04	13,232	0.02
Yem	Omotic	165,184	0.31	160,447	0.22
Zeyese	Omotic	10,842	0.02	17,884	0.02
Zelmam	Nilo-Saharan			2,704	< 0.01
Other/unknown		155,972	0.29	178,799	0.24
Somalian (Somalis of Somalia)				200,227	0.9
Sudanese		2,035	<0.01	10,333	0.01
Eritrean (Ethiopian people of Eritrean descent)		61,857	0.12	9,736	0.01
Kenyan		134	<0.01	737	<0.01
Djiboutian		367	<0.01	733	<0.01
Other foreigners				15,550	0.02
Total		53,132,276		73,750,932

Ethiopian diaspora

• Ethiopian Americans
• Ethiopian Australians
• Ethiopian Canadians
• Ethiopian Jews in Israel
• Ethiopians in Italy
• Ethiopians in the United Kingdom
• Ethiopians in Denmark
• Ethiopians in Norway
• Ethiopians in Sweden
• Eritreans
• Habesha peoples
  • Eritrean people of Ethiopian descent
  • Ethiopian people of Eritrean descent

Languages

Main article: Languages of Ethiopia

Until the fall of the Derg, Amharic served as the sole official language in government administration, courts, church and even in primary school instruction. After 1991, Amharic has been replaced in many areas by other official government languages such as Oromo, Somali and Tigrinya. English is the most widely spoken foreign language and is taught in all secondary schools.

According to the 2007 Ethiopian census and the CIA World Fact Book, the largest first languages are: Oromo 24,929,567 speakers or 33.8% of the total population; Amharic 21,631,370 or 29.3% (federal working language); Somali 4,609,274 or 6.2%; Tigrinya 4,324,476 or 5.9%; Sidamo 4,981,471 or 4%; Wolaytta 1,627,784 or 2.2%; Gurage 1,481,783 or 2%; and Afar 1,281,278 or 1.7%. Widely-spoken foreign languages include Arabic, English (major foreign language taught in schools), and Italian (spoken by an Italian minority).

Religion

According to the CIA Factbook the religious demography of Ethiopia is as follows; Ethiopian Orthodox 43.8%, Muslim 31.3%, Protestant 22.8%, Catholic 0.7%, traditional 0.6%, and other 0.8%.

Diaspora

The largest diaspora community is found in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 250,000 Ethiopian immigrants lived in the United States as of 2008. An additional 30,000 U.S.-born citizens reported Ethiopian ancestry. According to Aaron Matteo Terrazas, "if the descendants of Ethiopian-born migrants (the second generation and up) are included, the estimates range upwards of 460,000 in the United States (of which approximately 350,000 are in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area; 96,000 in Los Angeles; and 10,000 in New York)."

A large Ethiopian community is also found in Israel, where Ethiopians make up almost 1.9% of the population. Almost the entire community are members of the Beta Israel community. There are also large number of Ethiopian emigrants in Saudi Arabia, Italy, Lebanon, United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden and Australia..

Genetic studies

Autosomal DNA

Studies of Ethiopians belonging to Semitic and Cushitic ethnic groups mostly from the north of the country (the Oromo, Amhara, Tigray, and Gurage) estimate approximately 40% of their autosomal ancestry to be derived from an ancient non-African back-migration from the near East, and about 60% to be of local native African origin (from a sub-Saharan population indigenous or "autochthonous" to the Horn of Africa). Other studies, such as Pickrel et al (2014), shows the West Eurasian ancestry to peak in the Tygray at 50%. In Pagani, Luca et al (2012), this non-African component, is estimated to have entered the Horn of Africa roughly ~3,000 years ago and was found to be similar to the populations in the Levant. The paper goes on to say that his coincides with the introduction of Ethio-Semitic languages into the region.

Tishkoff et al. (2009) identified fourteen ancestral population clusters which correlate with self-described ethnicity and shared cultural and/or linguistic properties in Africa in what was the largest autosomal study of the continent to date. The Burji, Konso and Beta Israel were sampled from Ethiopia. The Afroasiatic speaking Ethiopians sampled were cumulatively (Fig.5B) found to belong to: 71% in the "Cushitic" cluster, 6% in the "Saharan/Dogon" cluster, 5% in the "Niger Kordofanian" cluster, 3% each in the "Nilo-Saharan" and "Chadic Saharan" cluster, while the balance (12%) of their assignment was distributed among the remnant (9) Associated Ancestral Clusters (AAC's) found in Sub-Saharan Africa. The "Cushitic" cluster was also deemed "closest to the non-African AACs, consistent with an East African migration of modern humans out of Africa or a back-migration of non-Africans into Saharan and Eastern Africa."

Wilson et al. (2001), an autosomal DNA study based on cluster analysis that looked at a combined sample of Amhara and Oromo examining a single enzyme variants: drug metabolizing enzyme (DME) loci, found that 62% of Ethiopeans fall into the same cluster of Ashkenazi Jews, Norwegians and Armenians based on that gene. Only 24% of Ethiopians cluster with Bantus and Afro-Caribbeans, 8% with Papua New Guineans, and 6% with Chinese.

Paternal lineages

Y DNA Haplogroups of Ethiopia

A composite look at most YDNA studies done so far reveals that, out of a total of 459 males sampled from Ethiopia, approximately 58% of Y-chromosome haplotypes were found to belong to Haplogroup E, of which 71% (41% of total) were characterized by one of its further downstream sub lineage known as E1b1b, while the remainder were mostly characterized by Haplogroup E1b1(x E1b1b,E1b1a), and to a lesser extent Haplogroup E2. With respect to E1b1b, some studies have found that it exists at its highest level among the Oromo, where it represented 62.8% of the haplotypes, while it was found at 35.4% among the Amhara, other studies however have found an almost equal representation of Haplogroup E1b1b at approximately 57% in both the Oromo and the Amhara. The haplogroup (as its predecessor E1b1) is thought to have originated in Ethiopia or elsewhere in the Horn of Africa. About one half of E1b1b found in Ethiopia is further characterized by E1b1b1a (M78), which arose later in north-eastern Africa and then back-migrated to eastern Africa.

Haplogroup J has been found at a frequency of approximately 18% in Ethiopians, with a higher prevalence among the Amhara, where it has been found to exist at levels as high as 35%, of which about 94% (17% of total) is of the type J1, while 6% (1% of total) is of J2 type. On the other hand, 26% of the individuals sampled in the Arsi control portion of Moran et al. (2004) were found to belong to Haplogroup J.

Another fairly prevalent lineage in Ethiopia belongs to Haplogroup A, occurring at a frequency of about 17% within Ethiopia, it is almost all characterized by its downstream sub lineage of A3b2 (M13). Restricted to Africa, and mostly found along the Rift Valley from Ethiopia to Cape Town, Haplogroup A represents the deepest branch in the Human Y- Chromosome phylogeny.

Finally, Haplogroup T at approximately 4% and Haplogroup B at approximately 3%, make up the remainder of the Y-DNA Haplogroups found within Ethiopia.

Maternal lineages

mtDNA Haplogroups of Ethiopia

The maternal ancestry of Ethiopians is similarly diverse. About half (52.2%) of Ethiopians belongs to mtdna Haplogroups L0, L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, or L6. These haplogroups are generally confined to the African continent. They also originated either in Ethiopia or very near. The other portion of the population belong to Haplogroup N (31%) and Haplogroup M1 (17%). There is controversy surrounding their origins as either native or a possible ancient back migration into Ethiopia from Asia.

Passarino et al. (1998) suggested that:

Caucasoid gene flow into the Ethiopian gene pool occurred predominantly through males. Conversely, the Niger–Congo contribution to the Ethiopian population occurred mainly through females.

While there is debate among the scientific community of what exactly constitutes "Caucasoid gene flow", the same study further stated:

Indeed, Ethiopians do not seem to result only from a simple combination of proto-Niger–Congo and Middle Eastern genes. Their African component cannot be completely explained by that of present-day Niger–Congo speakers, and it is quite different from that of the Khoisan. Thus, a portion of the current Ethiopian gene pool may be the product of in situ differentiation from an ancestral gene pool."

Scott et al. (2005) similarly observed that the Ethiopian population is almost equally divided between individuals that carry Eurasian maternal lineages, and those that belong to African clades. They describe the presence of Eurasian clades in the country as sequences that "are thought to be found in high numbers in Ethiopia either as a result of substantial gene flow into Ethiopia from Eurasia (Chen et al., 2000; Richards et al., 2003), or as a result of having undergone several branching events in demic diffusion, acting as founder lineages for non-African populations". The researchers further found no association between regional origin of subjects or language family (Semitic/Cushitic) and their mitochondrial type:

The haplogroup distribution amongst all subjects (athletes and controls) from different geographical regions of Ethiopia is displayed in Table 3. As can be seen graphically in Fig. 3, the mtDNA haplogroup distribution of each region is similar, with all regions displaying similar proportions of African 'L' haplogroups (Addis Ababa: 59%, Arsi: 50%, Shewa: 44%, Other: 57%). No association was found between regional origin of subjects and their mitochondrial type (v2=8.5, 15 df, P=0.9). Similarly, the mtDNA haplogroup distribution of subjects (athletes and controls) speaking languages from each family is shown in Table 3. Again there was no association between language family and mitochondrial type (v2=5.4, 5 df, P=0.37). As can be seen in Fig. 4, the haplogroup distributions of each language family are again very similar.

In addition, Musilová et al. (2011) observed significant maternal ties between its Ethiopian and other Horn African samples with its Western Asian samples; particularly in terms of the HV1b mtDNA haplogroup. The authors noted:

"Detailed phylogeography of HV1 sequences shows that more recent demographic upheavals likely contributed to their spread from West Arabia to East Africa, a finding concordant with archaeological records suggesting intensive maritime trade in the Red Sea from the sixth millennium BC onwards."

According to Černý et al. (2008), many Ethiopians also share specific maternal lineages with areas in Yemen and other parts of Northeast Africa. The authors indicate that:

"The most frequent haplotype in west coastal Yemen is 16126–16362, which is found not only in the Ethiopian highlands but also in Somalia, lower Egypt and at especially high frequency in the Nubians. The Tihama share some West Eurasian haplotypes with Africans, e.g. J and K with Ethiopians, Somali and Egyptians."

See also

• Ethnic groups in Ethiopia
• Government of Ethiopia
• Regions of Ethiopia

References

• E. Sylvia Pankhurst, The Ethiopian People. Their Rights and Progress. Woodford Green, Essex: New Times & Ethiopia News 1946.
• Edward Ullendorff, The Ethiopians: an introduction to country and people. London: Oxford University Press 1960, ²1965, ³1973 (ISBN 0-19-285061-X), ⁴1990 (Wiesbaden: F. Steiner; ISBN 3-515-05693-9).

External links

• Directory of ethnic groups with information on population numbers and religion, maintained by Protestant churches and mission agencies