Ethiopia case study
How has location affected Ethiopia’s development?
Ethiopia is located in the east-central of Africa. It is landlocked. This has affected its development, as the country does not have access to sea ports. This means that imports and exports from Ethiopia are less possible, and more expencive. Therefore, less money is going into Ethiopia’s economy, meaning that it is less developed.
Ethiopia has Mountainous land, steep slopes and thin soils. This means that few crops can be grown so farming is subsistence and no money is made from this. However, coffee, cotton and grains can be grown in lower valleys and used to export. Coffee, cotton and grains are exported in its raw form and are low value cash crops. Therefore Ethiopia does not make much capital to invest in its infrastructure which is essential to develop and to manufacture its own goods from the raw materials.
How has international investment affected Ethiopia’s development?
Ethiopia has improving international links and global support from TNC’s. A range of TNC’s like Hilton Hotels have been investing in Ethiopia. H+M have been manufacturing clothes and Siemens have been manufacturing electrical equipment. This means that Ethiopia is now making more money from trade of manufactured goods like clothes and electrical equipment – but sometimes working conditions are poor. Growth of tourism creates more jobs in tourism – these may not seem well-paid by AC standards but are better than average for Etiopia. Therefore Ethiopia is beginning to make a little more profit from tourists and manufactured goods. However this can come at the cost of fair treatment of workers.
How has population affected Ethiopia’s development?
Ethiopia has a large population of over 94 million, making the 13th most populous nation in the world. There is a high birth rate and a slowly falling death rate. This means that the natural increase is occurring and the population is growing by 2.6% per year. Therefore in Ethiopia, there will be a lot of pressure on the economy as there is an overpopulation and there are locals already struggling with food insecurities and lack of resources.