Contraception
The English texts of the Criminal Code (Proclamation No. 414/2004) and of the Revised Family Code (Proclamation No. 213/2000) contain no provision on contraception or family planning; the Criminal Code's rules on terminating pregnancy (Arts. 545 to 552) concern abortion only. The national framework is the Ministry of Health's Health Sector Transformation Plan (HSTP), which treats family planning as part of maternal health, sets a contraceptive prevalence target for 2020 and describes a national strategy with a minimum service package for adolescent and youth reproductive health. Neither Code, the HSTP nor the two survey reports opened sets a minimum age for contraception. The only official statement found on a husband's say is a declaration Ethiopia made when it ratified the Maputo Protocol in 2018: the woman's right to decide whether to have a child (Art. 14) is to be applied, for married women, on the basis of the spouses' agreement.
The HSTP records that contraceptive prevalence among currently married women rose from 8.1% in the 2000 Demographic and Health Survey to 41.8% in the 2014 Mini Survey, missing by a small margin the 44.0% that the 1995 National Health Policy had set for 2015. In rural areas prevalence went from 4.3% to 39.0% and in urban areas from 35.6% to 59.6%, a rise the Plan credits to health extension workers and to injectables. Unmet need fell from 36% in 2000 to 25% in 2010 and to 18.9% in 2014 (the last figure is attributed to the 2014 PMA survey). Implants have been available at community level since 2009 and intrauterine devices were scaled up in hundreds of districts from 2010; the draft service-availability assessment cited by the Plan found 87% of health facilities other than health posts offering a modern method, and 99% of facilities and 79% of health posts offering it at least five days a week. The total fertility rate fell from 7.7 in the 1990s to 4.1 in 2014, with regional rates running from 7 in the Somali region to 1.7 in Addis Ababa. According to the 2019 survey report, the Plan aimed at a contraceptive prevalence of 55% by 2020, which meant reaching 6.2 million more women and adolescent girls.
The 2019 Ethiopia Mini DHS found that 96% of currently married women know at least one modern method and that 41% use one (1% use a traditional method): injectables 27%, implants 9%, the pill 2% and the intrauterine device 2%. The public sector supplies 87% of modern methods, the private sector 12% and non-governmental organisations 1%; within the public sector, government health stations and centres supply 47% and government health posts 34%. Almost all implant and intrauterine-device users (96% and 94%) are served by the public sector, against 68% of pill users, of whom 32% buy from private clinics or pharmacies (15% each). Use is higher among urban women (48%) than rural women (38%), among women with secondary education (56%) than with none (32%), and rises with wealth from 27% to 51%; by region it ranges from 3% in Somali and 13% in Afar to 50% in Amhara and 48% in Addis Ababa.
The 2016 Ethiopia DHS measured the gap between wishes and practice: 22% of currently married women had an unmet need for family planning (25% in rural areas, 11% in urban areas), down from 37% in 2000, and about 62% of the demand was satisfied. Among users in the five years before the survey, 35% stopped within 12 months, 42% of them because they wanted to become pregnant and 18% because of health concerns or side effects. For adolescents, the HSTP notes that the 2011 survey found the highest unmet need among girls aged 15 to 19 and that the adolescent birth rate fell from 79 to 65 births per 1,000 women between 2011 and 2014. The Guttmacher Institute reports that in 2014 over three quarters of the women who sought abortion-related services were given contraception during their treatment, and that 38% of pregnancies were unintended.
Key points
| Legal basis | No statute located; neither the Criminal Code nor the Revised Family Code mentions contraception; policy in the Health Sector Transformation Plan (2015) |
|---|---|
| Modern-method use, married women | 41% in 2019, against 14% in 2005 (Mini DHS 2019) |
| Methods used | Injectables 27%, implants 9%, pill 2%, intrauterine device 2% (2019) |
| Source of modern methods | Public sector 87%, private sector 12%, non-governmental 1% (2019) |
| Use by region (2019) | Somali 3%, Afar 13%, Addis Ababa 48%, Amhara 50% |
| Unmet need, married women | 22% in 2016 (rural 25%, urban 11%), against 37% in 2000 |
| Demand satisfied | About 62% in 2016 |
| Discontinuation within 12 months | 35% of users in the five years before the 2016 survey |
| HSTP target for 2020 | Contraceptive prevalence of 55%, reaching 6.2 million more women and girls (as described in the 2019 survey report) |
In practice
- Start at the nearest government health post or health centre: in 2019, health centres supplied 47% and health posts 34% of all modern methods obtained from public sources.
- Choose the method with its source in mind: 96% of implant users and 94% of intrauterine-device users were served by the public sector, while 32% of pill users bought from the private sector, mainly private clinics and pharmacies.
- Adolescents fall under a national Ministry of Health strategy with a minimum service package for adolescent and youth reproductive health services (HSTP, section 3.2.2.5); the documents opened state no age limit, so ask the facility which services it offers to under-18s.
- After a miscarriage or abortion treatment, ask for contraception: Guttmacher found that in 2014 over three quarters of women treated received a method.
Cost and coverage
None of the documents opened sets a price list: the 2019 survey records that 87% of modern methods come from the public sector, and the Health Sector Transformation Plan lists no fee schedule for contraceptives.
Recent changes
The 2019 Mini DHS put modern-method use among married women at 41%, below the 55% prevalence that the 2015 Health Sector Transformation Plan set for 2020.
Where to go
- Government health posts staffed by health extension workers and government health stations and centres, which supply 34% and 47% of modern methods.
- The private sector (clinics and pharmacies), which supplies 12% of modern methods in all (Mini DHS 2019, figure 5.4).
- Private pharmacies, where 15% of pill users obtain their method, and private clinics, the source for another 15% (Mini DHS 2019).
Worth knowing
No statutory age or consent rule for contraception, and no detailed family-planning guideline of the Ministry, was found in the sources opened for this page; Ethiopia's 2018 declaration on the Maputo Protocol ties a married woman's decision on having a child to the spouses' agreement, and the figures come from household surveys and the 2015 Plan.
Frequently asked questions
Is contraception legal in Ethiopia?
Nothing in the English texts of the 2004 Criminal Code or the 2000 Revised Family Code prohibits it, and the state itself supplies it: 87% of the modern methods used in 2019 came from the public sector under the Health Sector Transformation Plan.
Which methods do Ethiopian women use most?
Injectables (27% of currently married women) and implants (9%) lead, followed by the pill and the intrauterine device at 2% each, according to the 2019 Ethiopia Mini DHS.
How many women want contraception but cannot get it?
In the 2016 Ethiopia DHS, 22% of currently married women had an unmet need for family planning, 25% in rural and 11% in urban areas.
Sources
- Federal Ministry of Health, Health Sector Transformation Plan (HSTP) 2015/16-2019/20 (October 2015) — section 3.2.2.4 (family planning) and 3.2.2.5 (adolescent and youth friendly reproductive health), October 2015
- Ethiopian Public Health Institute and ICF, Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey 2019 -- Final Report, chapter 5 (family planning) — chapter 5: knowledge, use, methods, sources, patterns by region, residence, wealth and education; reference to the 55% target
- Central Statistical Agency and ICF, Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey 2016, chapter 7 (family planning) — chapter 7: unmet need, demand satisfied, discontinuation (2016)
- Guttmacher Institute, "Induced Abortion and Postabortion Care in Ethiopia", fact sheet (January 2017; Moore et al. and Gebrehiwot et al., International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2016) — contraception received during abortion-related care in 2014 and unintended pregnancies
- Criminal Code of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Proclamation No. 414/2004 (English text hosted by the African Child Policy Forum, Child Law Reform site) — Arts. 545 to 552: the Code's provisions concerning pregnancy concern abortion only
- African Union, list of countries which have signed, ratified or acceded to the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), with reservations and declarations (19 September 2023): Ethiopia signed 1 June 2004, ratified 18 July 2018, deposited 17 September 2019 — Ethiopia's declaration on Art. 14(b): decision whether to have a child based on the spouses' agreement for married women
- Revised Family Code, Proclamation No. 213/2000, Federal Negarit Gazeta, Extraordinary Issue No. 1/2000, Addis Ababa, 4 July 2000 (English text, copy hosted by The Advocates for Human Rights) — English text searched: no provision on contraception
The general article: Contraception · Compare with another country
Abortion
The 2004 Criminal Code punishes terminating a pregnancy at any stage (Art. 545) but does not punish it when a recognised medical institution acts, within the period permitted by the profession, in four cases listed in Art. 551(1) (rape or incest, danger to life or health, an incurable serious deformity, or a woman's minority or physical or mental deficiency), and the woman's own statement is enough to prove rape or incest (Art. 552(2)).
| Principle | Intentional termination of a pregnancy, at any stage, is punishable except as Art. 551 provides (Criminal Code, Art. 545) |
|---|---|
| Woman procuring her own abortion | Simple imprisonment, 10 days to 3 years, up to 5 for concurrent crimes or repeat offenders (Arts. 546(1) and 106) |
| Performing one contrary to law | Simple imprisonment; 3 to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment if without her consent (Art. 547(1)-(2)) |
Full detail: Abortion
Drugs and controlled substances
Section II of the Criminal Code (Proclamation No. 414/2004), headed "Crimes committed through production and distribution of substances hazardous to human and animal health", contains the drug offences. Art. 525 targets anyone who, without special authorisation, plants, produces, makes, possesses, imports, exports, transports, stores, brokers, buys, offers for sale or distributes poisonous, narcotic or psychotropic plants or substances with intent to traffic, who makes or holds the equipment to produce them, or who lets premises or land for that purpose (Art. 525(1)). The English text of the Code names no drug or plant: it does not mention cannabis, khat, opium, heroin or cocaine. The definitions sit in the Food and Medicine Administration Proclamation No. 1112/2019: narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances are those controlled under the United Nations conventions ratified by Ethiopia, plus any the executive organ classifies as such (Art. 2(11) and (12)), and manufacturing, importing or exporting them needs a special permit (Art. 31(1)); the national schedules themselves were not found in the sources opened.
Art. 525 builds a ladder of penalties. Trafficking carries rigorous imprisonment of at least five years and a fine of up to 100,000 Birr (Art. 525(1)). The minimum rises to ten years and the fine to 200,000 Birr where the offender belongs to a national or international organised band or makes a profession of the activity, supplies for gain or with a base motive, or knowingly supplies an infant, a young person, a mentally deficient person or a drug addict, employs children or a person with mental illness, acts in a prison, a school, a social-service institution or a place where children or students take part in educational, sporting or social activities, or has a previous conviction for a similar crime (Art. 525(2)). Whoever possesses, transports, stores or hands over such substances knowing that they were obtained through, or are meant for, those crimes also faces at least five years and the fine (Art. 525(3)). For the user, Art. 525(4) punishes planting, buying, receiving, making, possessing, selling or delivering a substance for private use by oneself or another, and using one without medical prescription or in any other unlawful manner, with rigorous imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine of up to 50,000 Birr. A person who, intending to use such substances unlawfully, fraudulently obtains a prescription or hands one to an unauthorised third person, and a medical practitioner who knowingly writes an unlawful prescription, face up to five years and a fine (Art. 525(5)). Art. 526 separately punishes doping in sport with simple imprisonment or a fine.
Treatment is available to the courts in addition to punishment. Where a convicted person is suffering from chronic alcoholism or abuse of narcotic and psychotropic substances and needs treatment or hospital placement, the court orders treatment in a suitable institution or department of one (Art. 131(1)); a person who is not dangerous may be treated as an out-patient under supervision (Art. 131(2)). Treatment is of indefinite duration but the court reviews the order every two years (Art. 132(1)). Children are treated separately: a child under nine is not criminally responsible and the family, school or guardianship authority may act (Art. 52), a young person from nine to fifteen faces only the special measures and penalties of Arts. 157 to 168 (Art. 53), including admission to a curative institution where the young person is addicted to narcotic or psychotropic substances (Art. 158), and a person between fifteen and eighteen is tried under the ordinary provisions with the court free to take age and prospects of reform into account (Art. 56).
Ethiopia acceded to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs on 29 April 1965 and to the 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances on 11 October 1994, according to the United Nations Treaty Collection. At national level Art. 525(6) preserves the Code's rules on seizure of dangerous articles (Art. 140) and on money laundering (Art. 684), and Art. 66 of Proclamation No. 1263/2021 establishes the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority as an autonomous federal body whose powers are set by Council of Ministers regulation; its website lists medicines among its fields.
Key points
| Trafficking (intent to traffic) | Rigorous imprisonment of at least 5 years and a fine of up to 100,000 Birr (Criminal Code, Art. 525(1)) |
|---|---|
| Aggravated cases | At least 10 years and a fine of up to 200,000 Birr: organised band, gain, vulnerable users, schools or prisons, repeat offence (Art. 525(2)) |
| Possession knowing it is for trafficking | At least 5 years and a fine of up to 100,000 Birr (Art. 525(3)) |
| Private use or possession for use | Rigorous imprisonment of up to 7 years and a fine of up to 50,000 Birr (Art. 525(4)) |
| Unlawful prescription | Rigorous imprisonment of up to 5 years and a fine (Art. 525(5)) |
| Court-ordered treatment | Treatment in a suitable institution, reviewed every 2 years (Arts. 131 and 132) |
| Child under 9 | Not criminally responsible (Art. 52) |
| Young person 9 to 15 | Special measures only, Arts. 157 to 168; curative institution if addicted (Arts. 53 and 158) |
| Person 15 to 18 | Ordinary provisions, with age and prospects of reform weighed (Art. 56) |
| International conventions | 1961 Single Convention: accession 29 April 1965; 1988 Convention: accession 11 October 1994 |
In practice
- Take any controlled medicine only on a medical prescription: using such a substance without one is itself an offence under Art. 525(4)(b), and handing a prescription to an unauthorised third person with the aim of unlawful use carries up to five years under Art. 525(5).
- An owner who lets a house, premises or land for making, composing, producing, selling or distributing such substances falls under Art. 525(1)(d), with a minimum of five years, so check what a tenant does with the property.
- If a court orders treatment instead of or in addition to punishment, expect admission to a suitable institution or, for a person who is not dangerous, out-patient care under a supervisor, with a review of the order every two years (Arts. 131 and 132).
- For a child, remember the age bands: under nine the family, school or guardianship authority acts (Art. 52); from nine to fifteen the court may order treatment or supervised education instead of an ordinary sentence (Arts. 157 to 159).
Where to go
- The courts, which apply Art. 525 and may order treatment in a suitable institution (Art. 131).
- The Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority, established by Art. 66 of Proclamation No. 1263/2021, for the regulation of medicines.
- A curative institution, to which a court may admit a young offender addicted to narcotic or psychotropic substances (Art. 158).
Worth knowing
The English text of the Criminal Code names no controlled substance, and Proclamation No. 1112/2019 defines narcotic and psychotropic substances only by reference to the UN conventions and to the executive organ's own classification, so the status of khat or any other plant cannot be read from the statutes opened; the same Art. 525 covers both sellers and users, and the difference lies in the intent to traffic.
Frequently asked questions
What penalty applies to personal possession of drugs in Ethiopia?
Art. 525(4) of the Criminal Code punishes possessing, buying or making a substance for private use, and using one without medical prescription, with rigorous imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine of up to 50,000 Birr.
How much more serious is drug trafficking?
Art. 525(1) sets a minimum of five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of up to 100,000 Birr, and Art. 525(2) a minimum of ten years and a fine of up to 200,000 Birr for organised groups, for supplying vulnerable users, for offences in schools or prisons and for repeat offenders.
Are young people treated differently?
Yes: under the Code a child under nine is not criminally responsible (Art. 52), a young person from nine to fifteen is subject only to the special measures of Arts. 157 to 168, and a person aged fifteen to eighteen is tried under the ordinary provisions with age taken into account (Art. 56).
Sources
- Criminal Code of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Proclamation No. 414/2004 (English text hosted by the African Child Policy Forum, Child Law Reform site) — Arts. 52, 53, 56, 131, 132, 140, 157 to 159, 525 and 526, and the search of the English text for substance names
- United Nations Treaty Collection, Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 (status table, chapter VI-15) — accession of Ethiopia to the 1961 Single Convention on 29 April 1965
- United Nations Treaty Collection, Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988 (status table, chapter VI-19) — accession of Ethiopia to the 1988 Convention on 11 October 1994
- Definition of Powers and Duties of the Executive Organs Proclamation No. 1263/2021, Federal Negarit Gazette (copy on the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority site), Art. 66 — Art. 66: establishment of the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority
- Food and Medicine Administration Proclamation No. 1112/2019, Federal Negarit Gazette, 25th year No. 39, 28 February 2019 — Art. 2(11) and (12): definitions of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances; Art. 31(1): special permit
- Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority, official website (home page, opened 12 October 2026) — scope of the Authority (food, medicine, medical devices, blood, traditional medicine, cosmetics, tobacco, alcohol) and Regulation No. 531/2023
The general article: Drugs and controlled substances · Compare with another country