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Updates: 

Sidama achieved statehood as of 2020-06-18, following a referendum in which the overwhelming majority of voters favored more autonomy. [9] Previously, it was a subdivision of Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples state. ISO added a code for Sidama on 2021-11-25, but there is no GENC code (the replacement for FIPS code) assigned as of 2022-03-26.

I replaced the 2008 population projections (source [8]) with the actual 2007 census data (source [4]), which I think are more reliable.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-4, dated 2002-12-10, adds Dire Dawa administration to the list of subdivisions; changes the status of Addis Ababa from "capital city" to administration; and includes the Amharic names of the subdivisions. I have added the new code for Dire Dawa to the table below.

Change Notice 7 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2002-01-10. Previously, the FIPS standard listed thirty regions. In this update, those regions are expunged, to be replaced with eleven divisions (nine states and two administrations).

Country overview: 

Short name	ETHIOPIA
ISO code	ET
FIPS code	ET
Language	Amharic (am)
Time zone	+3
Capital	Addis Ababa

 

Europeans have used the names Ethiopia and Abyssinia interchangeably for the country in this location. Italy had territorial ambitions over the region in the 19th century. However, as of 1900, Italy in fact controlled only Eritrea. Ethiopia's independence was recognized by the European powers in 1906. In 1935, Italy invaded, and in 1936-06 Ethiopia was made part of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana), along with Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. The British expelled the Italians in 1941 and liberated Ethiopia. The United Nations voted to create a federation of Eritrea and Ethiopia, which lasted from 1952 until 1962, when Ethiopia annexed Eritrea. Eritrea became an independent country again on 1993-05-27. The boundaries of Ethiopia have changed somewhat during the century, and the border with Somalia has never been finally established.

Other names of country: 

1. Amharic: Ityopia
2. Danish: Etiopien
3. Dutch: Ethiopië, Federale Democratische Republiek Ethiopië (formal)
4. English: People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (formal)
5. Finnish: Etiopia
6. French: Éthiopie f
7. German: Äthiopien n
8. Icelandic: Etíópía
9. Italian: Etiopia f
10. Norwegian: Den føderale demokratiske republikk Etiopia (formal) (Bokmål), Den føderale demokratiske republikken Etiopia (formal) (Nynorsk), Etiopia
11. Portuguese: Etiópia, República f Democrática Federal da Etiópia f (formal)
12. Russian: Абиссиния (obsolete), Федеративная Демократическая Республика Эфиопия (formal)
13. Spanish: Etiopía, República f Popular Democrática de Etiopía f (formal)
14. Swedish: Etiopien
15. Turkish: Habeşistan (obsolete), Etiyopya Federal Demokratik Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Greek Aithiopis, from aithe: burn, opsis: appearance (i.e. dark-skinned natives appeared burnt)

Primary subdivisions: 

Ethiopia is divided into ten kilil (states) and two astedader (administrations).

State	HASC	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Addis Ababa	ET.AA	ET44	2,739,551	530	205
Afar	ET.AF	ET45	1,390,273
Amara	ET.AM	ET46	17,221,976	159,202	61,468
Benshangul-Gumaz	ET.BE	ET47	784,345	49,289	19,031
Dire Dawa	ET.DD	ET48	341,834	1,213	468
Gambela Peoples	ET.GA	ET49	307,096	25,802	9,962
Harari People	ET.HA	ET50	183,415	311	120
Oromia	ET.OR	ET51	26,993,933	353,007	136,297
Sidama	ET.SI		3,104,958	6,833	2,638
Somali	ET.SO	ET52	4,445,219
Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples	ET.SN	ET54	11,824,590	105,510	40,738
Tigrai	ET.TI	ET53	4,316,988	50,079	19,336
12 divisions			73,750,932	1,127,127	435,186
State: except for Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, which are administrations. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the state codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Population: 2007-05-28 census (source [4]). When Sidama state was formed, I took the last official population and area of the former Sidama zone. Since Sidama zone was formerly a subdivision of Southern Nations, I subtracted the figures for Sidama from those of Southern Nations.

 

The total population in the 2007 exceeds the sum of the state populations by 96,754. The census report assigns that extra amount to an "Especial Enumeration Area."

Further subdivisions:

See the Zones of Ethiopia page.

As of 1953, there were twelve teklay ghizatoch (provinces), subdivided into 76 awraji ghizatoch (subprovinces), which were subdivided into wereda (districts), which were subdivided into mikitil wereda (subdistricts). By 1965, the number of provinces had increased to 14, and the number of subprovinces to 82. In 1974, the new military government changed the status of the fourteen provinces to kifle hager (regions), and reorganized their subdivisions. As a result, there were 102 awraja subdivided into 556 wereda. After the reorganization in 1991, there were about 600 wereda. The 2008 data show 63 zones and 529 wereda.

Territorial extent: 

In the territorial division which prevailed up until 1987, Gojam contained the island of Daga, or Dek, in Lake Tana. Eritrea contained many Red Sea islands, as described in the country listing for Eritrea.

Dire Dawa lies on the border between Oromia and Somali regions.

The UN LOCODE page  for Ethiopia lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

1. Addis Ababa: Amharic for the new flower
2. Harar: Amharic harar, corruption of a word meaning commercial station
3. Somali: see Somalia

Change history: 

1. 1936: Italian East Africa was formed by merging Italy's colonies, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland. It was subdivided into six governments: Amhara, Eritrea, Galla and Sidama, Harar, Shoa (Addis Abeba), and Somalia.
2. 1952-09-15: Eritrea joined Ethiopia in a federation.
3. 1962: Eritrea became a province of Ethiopia.
4. Source [5] lists the following provinces of Ethiopia (modified to take into account the 1952 federation with Eritrea). The capitals are taken from an Ethiopian government source. I've added HASC codes in order to serve as a reference for the Zones of Ethiopia page.

Province	HASC	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Arusi	ET.AR	14,000	Assela
Begemdir	ET.BD	30,000	Gondar
Eritrea	ET.ER	47,876	Asmara
Gamu-Gafa	ET.GG	15,000	Chencha
Gojjam	ET.GJ	24,300	Debre Markos
Harar	ET.HR	156,000	Harar
Ilubabor	ET.IL	19,000	Gorie
Kaffa	ET.KF	19,000	Jimma
Shoa	ET.SH	30,400	Addis Ababa
Sidamo-Borana	ET.SD	39,500	Yirga Alem
Tigré	ET.TI	26,500	Mekele
Wallaga	ET.WG	25,900	Nekemtie
Wallo	ET.WO	30,400	Dessie
Total		457,142

1. ~1963: Bale province (capital Bale, HASC code ET.BL) split from Harar.
2. ~1963: Capital of Gamo Gofa province moved from Chencha to Arba Minch.
3. 1974: Provinces changed to regions.
4. ~1978: Capital of Ilubabor province moved from Gorie to Metu; capital of Sidamo province moved from Yirga Alem to Awasa.
5. 1981: Addis Ababa region split from Shewa; Aseb region split from Eritrea
6. This was the division of Ethiopia prevailing in 1987:

Region	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Awr	Capital
Addis Ababa		1,654,327	218	100		Addis Ababa
Arsi	ET01	1,860,606	23,500	9,100	3	Asela
Aseb		101,352				Aseb
Bale	ET03	1,126,697	124,600	48,100	5	Goba
Eritrea	ET04	2,938,113	117,600	45,400	9	Asmara
Gamo Gofa	ET05	1,395,331	39,500	15,300	4	Arba Minch
Gojam	ET06	3,632,276	61,600	23,800	7	Debre Markos
Gonder	ET02	3,270,440	74,200	28,600	7	Gonder
Harerge	ET07	4,657,859	259,700	100,300	13	Harer
Ilubabor	ET08	1,078,308	47,400	18,300	5	Metu
Kefa	ET09	2,740,773	54,600	21,100	6	Jima
Shewa	ET10	9,059,917	85,200	32,900	11	Addis Ababa
Sidamo	ET11	4,241,827	117,300	45,300	6	Awasa
Tigray	ET12	2,700,921	65,900	25,400	8	Mekele
Welega	ET13	2,770,598	71,200	27,500	6	Nekemte
Welo	ET14	4,075,959	79,400	30,700	12	Dese
Totals		47,305,304	1,221,918	471,900	102
FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4 Population: 1988 estimate Awr: number of awraja by province

1. 1987-09: Ethiopia reorganized into 25 administrative regions and five autonomous regions. The autonomous regions were Āseb, Dirē Dawa, Eritrea, Ogadēn, and Tigray. This new administrative structure may never have been fully implemented. Here is a table describing the new divisions. Note that this table shows 27 autonomous regions instead of the 25 expected. The Central Statistical Authority of Ethiopia doesn't mention Gamo Gofa or Nazrēt. The FIPS document doesn't mention East Shewa or South Omo, and uses the name Omo rather than North Omo.

Region	FIPS	Pop-1993	Pop-1982	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Alternate names
Addis Ababa	ET15	2,657,559	2,379,500	5,200	2,000
Ārsī	ET01	2,157,227	1,984,000	23,700	9,200	Arusi
Āseb	ET16	246,373	451,900	69,800	26,900	Assab
Assosa	ET17	570,910	525,900	23,100	8,900	Āsosa
Balē	ET38	1,063,382	977,300	67,300	26,000	Mendebo
Borena	ET18	723,746	668,800	94,000	36,300
Dirē Dawa	ET22	521,691	476,000	29,300	11,300
East Gojam	ET28	1,699,460	1,563,200	13,900	5,400	Misrak Gojam
East Hārergē	ET29	2,774,346	2,552,300	90,600	35,000	Misrak Hārergē
East Shewa		1,026,180	934,500	12,800	4,900	Misrak Shewa
Eritrea	ET36		3,138,600	93,700	36,200	Ērtra
Gambēla	ET23	195,023	179,400	26,100	10,100	Gambella
Gamo Gofa	ET39					Gemu Gwefa
Īlubabor	ET40	3,117,220	2,867,900	35,100	13,600	Illubabor
Kefa	ET41	1,148,596	1,057,900	40,100	15,500	Keffa
Metekel	ET24	416,380	383,300	30,500	11,800	Metekel Nazaret
Nazrēt	ET30
North Gonder	ET19	2,038,164	1,873,000	62,000	23,900	Semēn Gonder
North Omo	ET32	3,046,859	2,806,000	29,900	11,500	Semēn Omo
North Shewa	ET20	2,570,128	2,364,300	27,000	10,400	Semēn Shewa
North Welo	ET21	1,621,520	1,491,700	30,800	11,900	Semēn Welo
Ogadēn	ET31	906,632	833,200	179,300	69,200
Sīdamo	ET42	2,980,044	2,741,700	20,700	8,000
South Gonder	ET33	1,867,766	1,719,900	17,100	6,600	Debub Gonder
South Omo		269,197	248,000	22,000	8,500	Debub Omo
South Shewa	ET34	3,235,768	2,977,500	16,800	6,500	Debub Shewa
South Welo	ET35	2,675,995	2,461,700	20,700	8,000	Debub Welo
Tigray	ET37	2,999,948	2,757,100	53,400	20,600	Tigre
Welega	ET43	2,673,652	2,460,300	42,600	16,400	Walaga
West Gojam	ET25	2,210,466	2,032,800	17,300	6,700	Mirab Gojam
West Hārergē	ET26	1,482,628	1,364,200	33,200	12,800	Mirab Hārergē
West Shewa	ET27	2,934,434	2,702,000	23,200	9,000	Mirab Shewa
Totals		51,831,294	50,973,900	1,251,200	483,100
FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4 Pop-1993: 1993 estimate Pop-1982: 1982 estimate

1. 1991: Ethiopia reorganized into twelve rasgez akababiwach (autonomous regions) and two chartered cities. This division didn't last long enough to be recognized by the FIPS standard. Sources differ about the names of these divisions. The best reconstruction I can make is that Addis Ababa and Harer were the chartered cities, and the autonomous regions were Afar, Agew, Amhara, Benishangul, Gambela, Gurage-Hadiya-Kambata, Kefa, Omo, Oromo, Sidamo, Somali, and Tigray.
2. 1993-05-27: Eritrea became independent. Āseb and Eritrea ceased being regions of Ethiopia.
3. 1994-12: Under a new constitution, Ethiopia reorganized into nine astedader akababiwach (administrative regions) and one federal capital district.
4. ~1998: Dire Dawa became an administration.

Other names of subdivisions: 

Amharic uses its own alphabet. Many of the variants shown here are just different transliterations from the Amharic alphabet.

1. Addis Ababa: Āddīs Ābaba, Addis Abeba, Adis-Abeba, Ādīs Ābeba (variant); Adís Abeba (Spanish)
2. Afar: Affar (variant)
3. Amhara: Amara (variant)
4. Arsi: Arssi, Arusi, Arussi, Ārsī (variant)
5. Bale: Balē, Mendebo (variant)
6. Begemdir: Begemder & Semien (variant)
7. Benshangul-Gumaz: Benishangul, Beni Shangul, Bénishangul, Benishangul-Gumuz, Binshangul Gumuz (variant)
8. Eritrea: Ertra (variant; see also country listing for Eritrea)
9. Gambela Peoples: Gambela Hizboch (Amharic); Gambella (variant)
10. Gamo Gofa: Gamu Gofa, Gemu Gefa, Gemu Gofa, Gemu Goffa, Gemu Gwefa (with or without hyphen) (variant)
11. Gojam: Gojjam, Gwejam (variant)
12. Gonder: Bagemder, Begemder, Begemdir, Begemdir and Simen, Gondar (variant)
13. Gurage-Hadiya-Kambata: Gurage-Hadiya-Wolayta, Gurage Kembatahadiya (variant)
14. Harari People: Harer (variant); Hareri Hizb (Amharic)
15. Harerge: Harar, Hararge, Harargue, Harer, Hārergē (variant)
16. Ilubabor: Illabobor, Illubabor, Ilubbabor, Īlubabor (variant)
17. Kefa: Kafa, Kaffa (variant)
18. Oromia: Oromiya (variant)
19. Shewa: Shawa, Shoa (variant)
20. Sidamo: Sidama, Sīdamo, Sidamo-Boran, Sidamo-Borana (variant)
21. Somali: Sumale (variant)
22. Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples: S.N.N.P. (abbreviation); YeDebub Biheroch Bihereseboch na Hizboch (Amharic)
23. Tigray: Tegré, Tigrai, Tigre (variant); Tigré (French)
24. Welega: Walaga, Wallaga, Wallega, Wellega, Wollega (variant)
25. Welo: Elo, Wallo, Wollo (variant)

Sources: 

1. [1] Library of Congress country study  (retrieved 1999).
2. [2] "People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Facts and Figures". Central Statistical Authority, Addis Ababa, 1990.
3. [3] "Administrative Sub-divisions of Ethiopia" (as of 1964-07-07). Ministry of Interior, Central Statistical Office, Imperial Ethiopian Government. Addis Ababa, July 1964.
4. [4] Population and Housing Census Report  - Country - 2007. Central Statistical Agency, 2010-07 (retrieved 2014-02-12).
5. [5] Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1957 edition.
6. [6] Europa World Year Book 2001. Europa Publications, London, 2001.
7. [7] "Ershiyi (21) Shiji Shijie Diming Lu", Beijing, 2001.
8. [8] A report on the website of the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia, headed "Section-B Population" (http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/national%20statistics%202007/Population.pdf, dead link, retrieved 2008-03-15). It showed populations and areas for the primary, secondary, and tertiary subdivisions of Ethiopia. The populations were based on projections from the 1994 census. Areas were measured from maps used to take the census, and were missing for Afar and Somali regions. I used the CIA World Factbook to get the total area of the country.
9. [9] Ethiopia Insight, "Sidama's Statehood Quest Beyond Recognition", 2021-06-17