Over the recent months, social media users have been baffled after learning Ethiopia is in the year 2014, when it is 2022. The shock came after a post on Tik-Tok went viral and got everyone questioning why.
Why is it 2014 in Ethiopia?
Ethiopia s eight years behind the western calendar. In the global north, the majority use a gregorian calendar. A solar calendar is based on a 365-day typical year divided into 12 months of irregular lengths. Eleven months have either 30 or 31 days, while the second month, February, has only 28 days during the typical year. However, nearly every four years is a leap year, when one extra – or intercalary – day is added on February 29th, making the leap year in the Gregorian calendar 366 days long.
Although both the Ethiopian Calender and Western calendars root in Christianity, Ethiopia calculates the birth of Jesus differently. Essentially Ethiopia counts year one as the year Jesus was born, making the Ethiopian new year on September 11th each year or September 12th a leap year. Twelve months have precisely 30 days, and the 13 months have either five days or six days if it is a leap year.
