Tigray Region

The Tigray Region (or simply Tigray; officially the Tigray National Regional State) is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is the fifth-largest by area, the fourth-most populous, and the fifth-most densely populated of the 11 regional states. Tigray is bordered by Eritrea to the north, the Amhara Region to the south, Sudan to the west, and Afar Region to the east .

Tigray's official language is Tigrinya, similar to that of southern Eritrea. The Tigray region had an estimated pre-war population of 7,070,260. The majority of the population (c. 80%) are farmers, contributing 46% to the regional gross domestic product (2009). The highlands have the highest population density, especially in eastern and central Tigray. The much less densely populated lowlands comprise 48% of Tigray's area. Although the percentage of Muslims in Tigray as of 2007 was approximately 4%, it has been historically Islam's doorway to the region and to Africa at large. Approximately 95.6% of Tigrayans are Orthodox Christian.

The government of Tigray consists of the executive branch, led by the president, General Tadesse Werede; the legislative branch, which comprises the state council; and the judicial branch, which is led by the state supreme court. In early November 2020, a conflict between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian federal government (with support from Eritrea) rapidly escalating into the Tigray War, destabilizing the region, displacing millions of people. There were around 600,000 civilian deaths and as many as 70,000 combatants were killed and up to 18,000 injured as a result of the war. As of 2023, the region is run by the Interim Regional Administration of Tigray.