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The Ethiopian Famine Shocks the World

1983–1985·Social & demographic·Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia)·
1983–1985Date
Social & demographicCategory
4Empires active
Date
1983–1985
Category
Social & demographic
Region
Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia)
Era
Contemporary
Significance

A catastrophic famine struck Ethiopia in the mid-1980s, killing hundreds of thousands and prompting an unprecedented global relief effort.

Rooted in drought, but sharply worsened by civil war and the policies of the ruling Marxist Derg regime, the crisis deepened through 1983 and 1984 as harvests failed across the northern highlands. Close to eight million people became famine victims and over a million are estimated to have died. The disaster seized world attention on 23 October 1984 when a BBC television report by Michael Buerk, with footage by cameraman Mohamed Amin from a feeding camp at Korem, described "a biblical famine in the twentieth century." The images of starving children shocked global audiences and galvanised an outpouring of private giving. They inspired the Band Aid charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in December 1984 and the following year's Live Aid concerts, which raised vast sums and reshaped humanitarian fundraising. The famine exposed how war and politics could turn drought into mass death and made global compassion a mass-media phenomenon.

See the world map in 1983–1985 →More social & demographicThe Contemporary era

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