Izvestiya of Saratov University.

Earth Sciences

ISSN 1819-7663 (Print)
ISSN 2542-1921 (Online)

For citation:

Tsygankov A. S., Dmitriev R. V. Spatial differentiation of the Ethiopian population age structure. Izvestiya of Saratov University. Earth Sciences, 2026, vol. 26, iss. 3, pp. 150-157. DOI: 10.18500/1819-7663-2026-26-3-150-157, EDN: CYMURJ

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0).
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Language: 
Russian
Heading: 
Geography
Article type: 
Article
UDC: 
911.3(630)
DOI: 
10.18500/1819-7663-2026-26-3-150-157
EDN: 
CYMURJ

Spatial differentiation of the Ethiopian population age structure

Autors: 
Tsygankov Anton S., Independent researcher
Dmitriev Ruslan V., Institute for African Studies RAS
Abstract: 

The study aims to test the hypothesis that spatial differences in the age structure of the Ethiopian population manifest at the state level: notable differences emerge when crossing from one state to another. The research draws on the theory of the spatial diffusion of innovations and the concept of the 2nd demographic transition. For formal verification of the hypothesis two probabilistic models, based on the assessment of the local heterogeneity of the age composition by districts, were constructed. The Jensen–Shannon distance, which takes values in the range [0; 1], is used as a measure of the difference between the age structure of a district and its immediate neighboring environment. Mapping the metric values showed that transitional districts – zones of sharp change – were located near the administrative boundaries of the Ethiopian states. This indicates that the spatial differentiation of the age structure of Ethiopia’s population is expressed mainly at the interregional level: within states, neighboring districts are relatively similar in age composition, while the main contrasts are concentrated along administrative state borders.

Key words: 
Ethiopia
population age structure
second demographic transition
spatial diffusion
probabilistic model
Jensen–Shannon distance
Acknowledgments: 
The research was conducted as part of the Institute for African Studies RAS State Assignment, Project No. FMZE-2025-0012 “Spatial vectors of economic and demographic transformations in African countries and regions in the era of new multipolarity”.
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Received: 
11.04.2026
Accepted: 
16.06.2026
Published: 
30.09.2026