Their lives differ little from those led by their ancestors. The majority are farmers who work the land with wooden plows pulled by oxen. The rural population also includes nomads, who make their living chiefly by raising livestock. Poverty is widespread in the rural areas of Ethiopia. Each year, large numbers of rural people move to urban areas to try to find jobs.
Poverty also exists in the urban areas.
However, in general the urban people are better off economically than the rural people. In addition, schools, medical care, and such modern living comforts as electricity are more widely available in the urban areas. Most Ethiopians live in round houses with walls made of wooden frames plastered with mud. The houses have cone-shaped roofs of thatched straw or, occasionally, metal sheeting. Many people in areas where stone is plentiful live in rectangular stone houses.