Postwar Urbanization of Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa began its rise to megacity status between 1967 and 1975 when rural to urban migration in Ethiopia was at its peak (United Nations). This growth upset the social balance of the city as more people competed for jobs in all sectors. Inflation combined with a lack of jobs for qualified college graduates led to widespread student protests. In 1974, agitated students, laborers, and most importantly military officers, staged a coup, which toppled the imperial regime and established a socialist military government (United Nations).

Unemployment problems caused by the overpopulation of Ethiopian cities, particularly Addis Ababa, threatened the new government. The urban working class gained little from the revolution and throughout the 1970šs protested often violently against officials of the new government (United Nations). To make matters worse, the economy was devastated by the nationalization of all land in 1975 (United Nations).

During this period of unrest, the municipal government was in a state of near anarchy. In 1976 no one who had ever owned rental property, a generalized group encompassing a large portion of Addis Ababašs educated population, was allowed to run for office in the local urban dwellers associations known as Kebeles. Instead, the posts were filled by, "busy bodies and persons of dubious character," further setting back the cityšs ability to govern itself and manage growth (United Nations).

Though the population of Addis Ababa continued to skyrocket between 1975 and 1987, the rate of growth declined. Rural to urban migration decreased drastically during this period and most of the population boom in Addis Ababa was due to natural increase (United Nations). Factors which stemmed the flow of migrants from farms and villages to Addis Ababa include a 1975 reform program which provided economic incentives for peasants to stay on their land and strict government restrictions on travel between 1975 and 1980 (United Nations).

Between 1988 and 1991, warfare intensified in the north as Ethiopia concluded a gruesome, three decade civil war with its former province of Eritrea (Eritrea was successful in gaining independence in 1991). Thousands of peasants and villagers fled the battlefields and relocated to protected cities in the southern and central provinces, settling in large numbers in Addis Ababa (United Nations). Many of the sick and maimed flocked to Addis Ababa along with a huge number of orphaned children who lost parents to the war (United Nations). These destitute migrants form the lowest class of beggars and street vendors in Addis Ababa and live on streets throughout the city. As of 1991, over 100,000 street children lived in Ethiopian cities, the majority in the capital (United Nations).

Cities and towns were incorporated and registered as kebeles if they had 2000 or more residents. As the urban population of Ethiopia doubled, from 2 million in 1970 to 4 million in 1994, the number of incorporated kebeles also rose from 185 to 339 and twelve centers developed with populations of 50,000 or more (United Nations).

As its population exploded in the last three decades, Addis Ababa's primacy ratio rose alarmingly. The capital had roughly the same population as Harer in 1900 at 40,000, but grew to 443,700 in 1965, and 683,500 in 1970 with a primacy ratio of over 3:1 (Asmara, Ethiopia; 1970 pop. 192,000) (Tarver 186). By 1984, Asmara, which later seceded with Eritrea had grown to 275,00, while Addis Ababa boomed to 1.4 million and a primacy ratio of 5:1 (Tarver 186). Today, Dire Dawa at 100,000 in population is Ethiopiašs second largest city and Addis Ababa's (1.6 million - 1990) primacy ratio may be as high as 16:1 (Tarver 186).

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