Official Name 

Federal Democratic Republic   of Ethiopia (FDRE)

Political System

Federal System with multi-party democracy

Regional  States/City Administrations

Tigray; Oromia; Amhara; Afar; Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples  Region; Benshangul Gumuz; Harari; Gambella; Addis Ababa City Administration;  Dire Dawa Administrative Council.

Capital City

Addis Ababa

Area

1.14 million square    kilometres

Population

80.1 million (July 2010)

Language

Ethiopia is  a multi-ethnic state with diverse languages.  Amharic is the working  language of the Federal Government.  English is widely used in business  transactions, and as a medium of instruction in secondary schools and higher  educational institutions.

Religion

Major religions are Christianity and Islam.

Calendar

Ethiopia  uses a unique calendar which divides the year into 12 months of 30 days each.  The remaining five or six days in a leap year constitute the short 13th month  of “Pagumen”.  The calendar is seven years behind the Gregorian calendar  with the Ethiopian new year falling in the month of September.

Financial Year

8 July – 7 July

Working Hours

Ethiopia is  in the GMT+3 time zone. Government office hours are
8:30am-12:30pm and 1:30-5:30pm from Monday –Thursday and on Fridays from  8:30-11:30am and 1:30-5:30pm.

Monetary Unit

1 Birr = 100 cents

Internet domain

.et

International dialling code

+251