page_title: People of Ethiopia
section_title: Ethnicity
hierarchical_section_title: People of Ethiopia / Ethnicity
caption_attribution_description: It might look as a family, but it isn't. These kids and teens are living on the Ethiopian highlands, in a village which is above 3600m of altitude. They live from agriculture and cattle, as do their parents and families.
context_page_description: Ethiopia's population is highly diverse with different languages and ethnic groups. Most of its people speak an Ethiosemitic or Cushitic language which are both part of the Afroasiatic language family, while others speak Nilo-Saharan languages. The Oromo, Amhara, Somali and Tigrayans make up more than three-quarters of the population, but there are more than 80 different ethnic groups within Ethiopia. Some of these have as few as 10,000 members. English is the most widely spoken foreign language and is taught in all secondary schools. Amharic was the language of primary school instruction but has been replaced in many areas by local languages such as Afan Oromo, Somali and Tigrinya.
context_section_description: Oromo 34.6%
  Amhara 27.1%
  Somali 6.1%
  Tigrayan 6.1%
  Sidama 4%
  Gurage 2.5%
  Welayta 2.3%
  Hadiya 1.7%
  Afar 1.7%
  Gamo 1.5% 
  and others --  List of ethnic groups in Ethiopia
  Officially recognized ethnic groups in Ethiopia:
caption: Amhara people
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Photo Professional", "Image DateTime": "2009:10:08 16:45:36", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "236", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "350", "Thumbnail YResolution": "350", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2250", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8503", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "5/2", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:10:08 16:45:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:10:08 16:45:36", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "228255/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "43317/16384", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "50", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2013", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1342", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "2013", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1342", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2086", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "2816000/877", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "940000/291", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}