A visual guide to Ethiopia’s ethnic groups and conflict areas 

Ethiopia will head to the polls on June 1 for its first nationwide elections since the formal end of the Tigray war, a devastating two-year conflict from 2020 to 2022 that concluded with a peace agreement between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

With a population of about 135 million, Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous country and the 10th most populous in the world.

More than 50.5 million voters have registered to participate in the vote, which is held every five years, with all 547 parliamentary seats up for grabs. Since 2018, the country has been run by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, whose Prosperity Party holds 457 out of the country’s 547 seats.

The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) is likely to announce the official results on June 11.

Ethiopia at a glance

Ethiopia is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa, covering an area of 1,104,300sq km (426,400sq miles) and bordered by Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti.

The country has sustained notable economic growth over the past two decades, with the IMF projecting a 9.2 percent expansion in 2026, the highest on the continent. Yet persistent challenges remain, including high inflation (11.7 percent as of April 2026), foreign exchange shortages, and the costly burden of post-war reconstruction.

The country has five official languages – Afar, Amharic, Oromo, Somali and Tigrinya. Roughly two-thirds of the population are Christian and one-third Muslim, with small communities of Ethiopian Jews and adherents of traditional faiths.

Ethiopia’s ethnic groups

The East African country is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, with more than 80 distinct groups.

The Oromo are the largest, making up about 35 percent of the population, concentrated largely in the south and central regions. The Amhara are the second-largest, about 24 percent, and have historically been the politically dominant group.

Other significant groups include the Somali (7 percent), in the east; the Tigrayan (6 percent), concentrated in the northern Tigray region; and the Sidama (4 percent), in the southern highlands. Various other groups make up the rest of the country.

This diversity is reflected in the country’s political structure. Ethiopia is subdivided into 12 regional states and two chartered cities (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa), each largely organised around a dominant ethnic group, a system introduced in 1992 and formalised in the 1994 constitution.

The map below shows the country’s ethnic groups and regions.

Armed violence across the country

Ethiopia has been in near-continuous conflict since 2020, across several fronts:

Tigray (2020-22)

From 2020 to 2022, Ethiopian forces (ENDF) and their allies, including Eritrean forces, fought the Tigray defence forces (TDF). The hostilities began in Tigray before spreading to the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions.

The war ended with the Pretoria peace agreement in November 2022, though the situation remains fragile. In January 2026, clashes erupted again in Tigray between the TPLF and Ethiopian government forces, threatening the fragile peace.

Oromia (2019-present)

Since 2019, conflict between Oromia regional forces, the ENDF, and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) has killed thousands of civilians. The OLA, which seeks autonomy for ethnic Oromos, has also targeted ethnic Amharas living in Oromia and border areas. Despite a December 2024 peace agreement signed by the federal government and an OLA faction, government forces continue to commit enforced disappearances and attacks on civilians, including through air and drone attacks.

Amhara (2023-present)

Amhara militias fought alongside federal troops in the Tigray war, but that alliance collapsed when the federal government reached a peace deal with the TPLF. As Prime Minister Abiy moved to rein in the Amhara militias, relations deteriorated sharply. Fighting between the Amhara Fano self-defence force and federal forces has continued into 2026, with battle events recorded across more than 31 districts spanning 11 zones in the Amhara region.

According to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), an independent conflict monitor, between January 1, 2022 and May 15, 2026, more than 7,400 attacks have been recorded across the country.

The Amhara region emerged as the most volatile area, registering more than half (3,719) of the attacks. In Oromia, the country’s most populous region, 2,735 attacks were recorded due to an ongoing armed rebellion led by OLA alongside separate instances of communal clashes.

Other territories also experienced instability, with Tigray registering 262 attacks and the western Gambela region recording 144 attacks.

The map below shows a time series of the various attacks across the country over the past four years.