Distillers Ethiopia
A one-page guide to Ethiopia for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Addis Ababa
- Official languages
- Amharic, Oromo, Somali, Tigrinya, Afar
- Currency
- Birr (ETB)
- Time zone
- UTC+3
- Area
- 1,129,819 km²
People
- Population
- 135.5 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 2.6% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 24.1%
- Aged under 15
- 38.8%
- Aged 65 and over
- 3.3%
- Life expectancy
- 67.6 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$126.4 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$933 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 9.77% (2025)
- Inflation
- 13.23% (2025)
Climate
Addis Ababa (highland) averages about 16 C, with daytime highs 20-25 C and lows 5-10 C; about 1,200 mm rain a year. Dry October-February, light rains March-May, heavy rains June-September. Landlocked.
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 21 (sale of any alcoholic drink to under-21s is illegal under the 2019 Food and Medicine Administration Proclamation)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 3.06 litres of pure alcohol (2020)
- What people drink
- Beer 87%, spirits 13% (2022)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia: Ethiopia; World Bank Open Data API (population, area, GDP, growth, inflation); Our World in Data / WHO GHO alcohol per capita; Wikipedia: Legal drinking age; Euromonitor: Spirits in Ethiopia (Sept 2026, listing); The Reporter Ethiopia - Ban on alcohol advert to take effect (2019); PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries - Ethiopia, other taxes (reviewed 15 Jul 2026); Capital Ethiopia - Breweries face excise tax squeeze (4 Jan 2026). Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.