were able to freely elect their leaders: four national and regional parliamentary elections were held in 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010, despite some challenges. These are giant strides in political governance. 25 On the economic front, there was also significant progress. Ethiopia has since emerged as one of the fastest growing non-oil economies in Africa, with doubledigit growth and continued improvement in infrastructure and access to basic services. Several advances were also made in key areas of human development. Net primary school enrolments quadrupled, from 22 percent in 1991, to 83.4 percent in 2007/08; child mortality nearly halved from 204 per 1,000 births in 1990, to 123 per 1,000 births in 2007/08; and, the number of people with access to clean water more than doubled, from 19 in 1990 to 52 in 2006/07. More recently, poverty reduction has accelerated. The poverty headcount, which stood at 46 percent in 1995/96 and 44 percent in 2000/01, fell to 39 percent in 2005/06. Notwithstanding these gains, and given the country’s very low starting point, Ethiopia is a long way from achieving some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. As spelt out throughout this report, several formidable challenges remain, especially in the task of strengthening and consolidating a young and fragile democracy. At the same time, the country faces widespread poverty twenty-five years after suffering from a devastating famine that killed more than one million people. 26 While there has been unparalleled development, Ethiopia is still one of the poorest countries in the world. At US$ 323 (average for the 2007-09 period), Ethiopia’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) is much lower than the sub-Sahara African average.3 The United Nations Human Development Report (HDR 2009) recently ranked Ethiopia as 171 out of 182 countries surveyed, with an HDI score of 0.414. 27 At the turn of the millennium, representations and images of Ethiopia, though still conditioned and coloured by the spectre of political and social problems of past years, offer a positive view of the future. As the country continues to celebrate 3,000 years of its existence (which it formally celebrated in 2000, or 2008 according to the Romanic Calendar), the third millennium has come to symbolise Ethiopia’s desire for renaissance. The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has taken the initiative in promulgating this idea as a practical and tangible way of promoting renewal and positive change in the country. 28 3 The notion of the third millennium renaissance for Ethiopia is, thus, a historic opportunity for modernisation and transformation. If it continues to be managed properly, it offers the country the opportunity to bring about major social transformation, with the possibility of establishing a new political, social and economic order. Data compiled using the 2009 data from the IMF, World Bank and the Human Development Report. - 48 -