Languages of the country
Ethiopia
Official language: Amharic. Regional: Oromo, Somali, Tigrinya, Afar. Population (CLDR): 119 million.
Amharic is the working language of the federal government and regions choose their own working languages; in 2020 Oromo, Tigrinya, Somali and Afar were announced as additional federal languages – implementation to be verified.
Map of regions
Colours mark the regions where a language is official or predominant; stripes – several languages in one region. Hover over a language in the list to see its regions.
Languages and their status
Share: the estimated part of the population that uses the language (also as a second language), according to CLDR.
| Language | Status | Share |
|---|---|---|
|
Amharic
አማርኛ The working language of the Amhara region, Addis Ababa and several other regions. |
Official | 33% |
|
Oromo
Oromoo The working language of the Oromia region. |
Regional | 32% |
|
Somali
Soomaali The working language of the Somali Region. |
Regional | 6% |
|
Tigrinya
ትግርኛ The working language of the Tigray region. |
Regional | 6% |
|
Afar
Qafaraf The working language of the Afar region. |
Regional | 1.4% |
| English | Widely used | 43% |
| Sidamo | Minority | 3.5% |
| Wolaytta | Minority | 1.8% |
Ethiopia on other Ominuvo maps
- World in NumbersPopulation: 135 million (2025)Source: World Bank – WDI: UN World Population Prospects (CC BY 4.0)
- Prices around the worldEthiopian birr (ETB)Source: ISO 4217
- Time zones mapUTC+3Source: IANA tz database (public domain)
- Plugs and sockets of the worldType C, E, F, L · 220 V · 50 Hz
- National dishes of the world5 national dishes
- Plants of the world10 characteristic plants
- Castles map1 castleSource: Wikidata (CC0 1.0)
- Volcano & earthquake map49 volcanoesSource: Smithsonian GVP (Smithsonian Terms of Use)
- Ghost map1 ghost story
- VPN provider mapServers of 3 VPN providersSource: VPN Map (Ominuvo) (CC BY 4.0)