Ethiopian People: Ethiopia's population is highly diverse. Most of its people speak a Semitic or Cushitic language. The Oromo, Amhara, Somali and Tigreans make up more than three-quarters (¾) 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 Oromifa, Somali and Tigrinya. Languages According to the 2007 Ethiopian census, the largest first languages are: Oromo 24,929,567 speakers or 33.8% of the total population; Amharic 21,631,370 or 29.33% (official language[6]); Somali 4,609,274 or 6.25%; Tigrinya 4,324,476 or 5.86%; Sidamo 4,981,471 or 5.84%; Wolaytta 1,627,784 or 2.21%; Gurage 1,481,783 or 2.01%; and Afar 1,281,278 or 1.74%. Widely spoken foreign languages include Arabic (official), English (official; major foreign language taught in schools[6]), and Italian (spoken by European minorities) Religion According to the CIA Factbook the religious demography of Ethiopia is as follows; Ethiopian Orthodox 43.5%, Muslim 33.9%, Protestant 18.6%, traditional 2.6%, Catholic 0.7% other 0.7% (2007 Census).

• published: 15 Jul 2015
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