Ethiopia: Population density (people per sq. km of land area)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Ethiopia's population density (people per sq. km of land area) rose 3 on 2023 (from 114.68 to 117.69).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was +2.03 and a typical year strayed about 1.57 from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.6 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 3 in 2024 and the biggest yearly fall was 6.08 in 2004. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is upward, about 2.8 a year. A straight line explains 100% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 125.35 for 2027. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2022 to 2024 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 1.26, against 5.89 for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2024, Ethiopia had the 91st highest value of the 214 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Ethiopia in the 2024 ranking

• Azerbaijan — 88th of 214: 123.45
• Sierra Leone — 89th of 214: 119.73
• Poland — 90th of 214: 119.45
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 92nd of 214: 117.07
• Portugal — 93rd of 214: 116.75
• Slovak Republic — 94th of 214: 112.77

What this measures

Population density is midyear population divided by land area in square kilometers. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of their country of origin. Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes.

Limitations: Current population estimates for developing countries that lack recent census data and pre- and post-census estimates for countries with census data are provided by the United Nations Population Division and other agencies. The cohort component method - a standard method for estimating and projecting population - requires fertility, mortality, and net migration data, often collected from sample surveys, which can be small or limited in coverage. Population estimates are from demographic modeling and so are susceptible to biases and errors from shortcomings in the model and in the data.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 32 values

Population density (people per sq. km of land area) in nearby economies

• Angola — 30.39 (2024)
• Benin — 128.26 (2024)
• Botswana — 4.45 (2024)
• Burkina Faso — 86.07 (2024)
• Burundi — 547.03 (2024)
• Cabo Verde — 130.24 (2024)
• Cameroon — 61.61 (2024)
• Central African Republic — 8.56 (2024)
• Chad — 16.12 (2024)
• Comoros

More environment data for Ethiopia

• Population in largest city — 5.96 million (2025)
• Population in the largest city (% of urban population) — 18.24% (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million — 5.96 million (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million (% of total population) — 4.4% (2025)
• Rural population — 102.81 million (2025)
• Rural population (% of total population) — 75.89% (2025)
• Urban population — 32.66 million (2025)
• Urban population (% of total population) — 24.11% (2025)
• Rural population growth (annual %) — 1.91% (2025)
• Urban population growth (annual %)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Ethiopia's population density (people per sq. km of land area)?

117.69 in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1993?

It is up 119.12% from 53.71 in 1993 (2.56% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 117.69 in 2024 and the lowest 53.71 in 1993.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator EN.POP.DNST, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: FAO population estimates, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); World Bank population estimates, World Bank (WB), publisher: World Bank (WB) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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