Poverty in Ethiopia

The African country of Ethiopia has made massive strides towards alleviating poverty since 2000 when it was assessed that their poverty rate was one of the greatest among all other countries.^[1] The country has made great strides in different areas of the Millennium Development Goals including eradicating various diseases and decreasing the rate of child mortality.^[1] Despite these improvements, poverty is still extremely high within the country.^[1] One of the leading factors in driving down poverty was the expansion of the agricultural sector.^[1] Poor farmers have been able to set higher food prices to increase their sales and revenue, but this expansion has come at a cost to the poorest citizens of the country, as they could not afford the higher priced food.^[1] One of the biggest challenges to alleviating this issue is changing the structure of Ethiopia's economy from an agricultural-based economy to a more industry-based economy.^[1] The current strategy for addressing poverty in Ethiopia is by building on existing government systems and development programs that are already in place within the country.^[2]