nt: Denakil Depression -125 m highest
point: Ras Dejen 4,620 m

Natural resources: small reserves of gold, platinum, copper, potash,
natural gas, hydropower

Land use: arable land: 10% permanent crops: 1% other: 89% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 1,900 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: geologically active Great Rift Valley susceptible to
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions; frequent droughts

Environment - current issues: deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion;
desertification; water shortages in some areas from water-intensive
farming and poor management

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone
Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification,
Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban

Geography - note: landlocked - entire coastline along the Red Sea was
lost with the de jure independence of Eritrea on 24 May 1993; the Blue
Nile, the chief headstream of the Nile, rises in T'ana Hayk (Lake Tana)
in northwest Ethiopia

People Ethiopia

Population: 67,673,031 note: estimates for this country explicitly take
into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result
in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower
population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population
by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2002 est.)

Age structure: 47.2% (male 16,098,191; female 15,879,065) 15-64 years:
854,023; female 1,034,829) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.64% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 44.31 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate: 18.04 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.11 migrant(s)/1,000 population note: repatriation
of Ethiopians who fled to Sudan for refuge from war and famine in earlier
years is expected to continue for several years; some Sudanese and Somali
refugees, who fled to Ethiopia from the fighting or famine in their own
countries, continue to return to their homes (2002 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.01
male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over:
0.83 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 98.63 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: 45.09 years (2002 est.) male: Total fertility
rate: 6.94 children born/woman (2002 est.)

HIV/