Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

is a

federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

subdivided into ethno-linguistically based regional states (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: plural: ክልሎች ''kililoch''; singular: ክልል ''kilil''; Oromo: singular: ''Naannoo''; plural: ''Naannolee'') and chartered cities (Amharic: plural: አስተዳደር አካባቢዎች ''astedader akababiwoch''; singular: አስተዳደር አካባቢ ''astedader akabibi''). This system of administrative regions replaced the

provinces of Ethiopia Historically, Ethiopia was divided into provinces, further subdivided into '' awrajjas'' or districts, until they were replaced by ethnolinguistic-based regions (''kililoch'') and chartered cities in 1995. History Pre-1936 Older provinces (exi ...

in 1992. As of August 2023, there are twelve regional states and two chartered cities (

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

and

Dire Dawa Dire Dawa (; , meaning"where the Dir (clan), Dir hit his spear into the ground" or "The true Dir", , Harari language, Harari: ድሬዳዋ, lit. "Plain of Medicine"; ) is a city in eastern Ethiopia near the Somali Region and Oromia, Oromo borde ...

). Being based on ethnicity and language, rather than physical geography or history, the regions vary enormously in area and population; the most notable example is the

Harari Region The Harari Region (; ; Harari: ሀረሪ ሑስኒ), officially the Harari People's National Regional State (; ; Harari: ዚሀረሪ ኡምመት ሑስኒ ሑኩማ), is a regional state in eastern Ethiopia, covering the homeland of the Har ...

, which has a smaller area and population than either of the chartered cities.

Governance

The regions are each governed by a regional council whose members are directly elected to represent woredas (districts). Each council has a president, who is elected by the council. Each region also has an executive committee, whose members are selected by the president from among the councilors and approved by the council. Each region has a sector bureau, which implements the council mandate and reports to the executive committee.

History

Ethiopia was historically divided into

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

. The current system of administrative regions was introduced in 1992 by the Transitional Government of Ethiopia, and was formalised in 1995 when the current Constitution of Ethiopia came into force. There were 13 regions initially, but five regions were merged to form the multi-ethnic

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; ) was a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in southwestern Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of five ''kililoch'', called Regions 7 to 11, following the ...

later in 1992, following the first elections of regional councils on 21 June 1992. The country's capital

, and

became chartered cities in 2004.

New regions

During the premiership of Abiy Ahmed, several new regions have been created. In November 2019, a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

was held in the Sidama Zone of the

, in which voters supported a proposal for Sidama Zone to become a region in its own right. The Sidama Region was created in June 2020. The

South West Ethiopia Region The Southwest Ethiopia Region, officially the Southwest Ethiopia Peoples' Regional State () is a regional state in southwestern Ethiopia. It was split off from the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) on 23 November 2021 ...

was created on 23 November 2021 following a successful referendum earlier that year. The new region was split off from the SNNPR and consisted of Keffa, Sheka, Bench Sheko, Dawro, and West Omo Zones, along with Konta special district. On 19 August 2023 the

South Ethiopia Regional State The South Ethiopia Regional State (Amharic: ደቡብ ኢትዮጵያ ክልላዊ መንግስት) is a region in southern Ethiopia. It was formed from the southern part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) on 19 A ...

created following the 2023 South Ethiopia Region referendum with the remainder becoming the Central Ethiopia Regional State, thus dissolving the SNNPR.

List of regions and chartered cities

Notes

References

External links

*
States of Ethiopia at Statoids
{{Articles on first-level administrative divisions of African countries Subdivisions of Ethiopia

Regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

Ethiopia 1 Regions, Ethiopia