Published 12/04/2008 - 3:45 p.m. GMT
Jimma Times

According to a report, the Ethiopia Statistics Authority indicates that Ethiopia's population has reached 76.9 million. This makes Ethiopia the second biggest African country after Nigeria, which is around 150 million. Third in Africa is Egypt at 75.6 million.

According to the census, the number of Christians (Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic, other)  in Ethiopia has increased from 32.7 million in 1995 to 46.4 million this year. One of the fastest growing religions in Africa, the Ethiopian Evangelical Christian population nearly tripled, growing from 5.4 million in 1995 to around 14 million today (18.4%). Ethiopian Muslim population has increased from 17.4 million (32.8%) to 25.2 million (33.9 %).

Out of the 80 ethnicities in Ethiopia, the number of ethnic Oromo is about 25.5 million (33.5 %) while ethnic Amhara is about 19.8 million (26%), Somali 4.5 million (6.2 %) and  Tigre 4.4 million (6%). The Oromo population increased from the previous 32.1% while the Amhara decreased from the previous 30.1%.  The ethnic Somali population in Ethiopia has grown speedily, mostly due to refugee as the result of the ongoing civil war in neighboring Somalia since 1991.

The Ethiopian Statistics Authority projected that Ethiopia’s population could reach up to 115 million by the year 2015

Article source:http://www.jimmatimes.com/article.cfm?articleId=31559