ulation: 24%
male: 33%
female: 16%

Labor force: 18 million
by occupation: agriculture and animal husbandry 80%, government and
services 12%, industry and construction 8% (1985)

@Ethiopia:Government

Names:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Ethiopia
local long form: none
local short form: Ityop'iya

Digraph: ET

Type: transitional government
note: on 28 May 1991 the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
Front (EPRDF) toppled the authoritarian government of MENGISTU
Haile-Mariam and took control in Addis Ababa; a new constitution was
promulgated in December 1994 and national and regional elections are
scheduled for May 1995; the administrative regions will elect regional
assemblies by popular vote; the National Assembly will have two
chambers - one elected by popular vote and the other selected as
representatives by the regional assemblies; the lower house of the
National Assembly will select or confirm the president, the prime
minister and the cabinet officers and judges; the prime minister will
be the chief executive officer and the duties of the president will be
mostly ceremonial

Capital: Addis Ababa

Administrative divisions: 14 ethnically-based administrative regions
(astedader akababiwach, singular - astedader akababi) Addis Ababa,
Afar, Amhara, Benishangul, Gambela, Gurage-Hadiya-Kambata, Hareri,
Kefa, Omo, Oromo, Sidama, Somali, Tigray, Wolayta
note: the following named four administrative regions may have been
abolished and their territories distributed among the remaining ten
regions: Kefa, Omo, Sidama, and Wolayta

Independence: oldest independent country in Africa and one of the
oldest in the world - at least 2,000 years

National holiday: National Day, 28 May (1991) (defeat of Mengistu
regime)

Constitution: new constitution promulgated in December 1994

Legal system: NA

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President MELES Zenawi (since 1 June 1991); appointed
by the Council of Representatives following the military defeat of the
MENGISTU government; following the elections to the National Assembly
scheduled for May 1995 the lower house of the National Assembly will
nominate a new president
head of government: Prime Minister TAMIRAT Layne (since 6 June 1991);
a new prime minister will be designated by the party in power
following the elections to the General Assembly in Ma