Just 17 years ago, Ethiopia was the third-poorest nation in the world, with a yearly GDP per capita of about US$650 and the planet’s highest poverty rate. However, the country has since transformed itself from a basket case into an economic miracle.
According to a Quartz Africa report, the IMF says that from 2000 to last year, Ethiopia was the third-fastest growing nation globally, with a population of 10 million or more people, as measured by GDP per capita. From more than half of its people living in poverty at the turn of the century, that figure fell to 31% in 2011 (the latest year the World Bank assessed its poverty level).
The success story doesn’t end there either. The IMF estimates that in the next five years, GDP per capita will increase at around 6% per annum, the third-highest in the world after India and Myanmar. While Ethiopia’s rapid urbanisation has seen its economy concentrated around the services sector, agriculture has also played an important place in its growth.
