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How the crowd draws

546 drawings of its land border, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 16 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Ethiopia

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area1,132,000 km²437,000 sq mi1,076,000 km²415,000 sq mi5.0% smaller
Outline4,970 km3,088 mi4,726 km2,937 mi4.9% shorter
Centre39.61° E, 8.62° N39.6° E, 8.6° N39.42° E, 8.43° N39.4° E, 8.4° N29 km south-west18 mi south-west
Westernmost33.00° E, 7.89° N33.0° E, 7.9° N33.30° E, 8.01° N33.3° E, 8.0° N33 km short21 mi short
Easternmost47.98° E, 7.99° N48.0° E, 8.0° N47.05° E, 7.97° N47.1° E, 8.0° N102 km short63 mi short
Southernmost39.48° E, 3.46° N39.5° E, 3.5° N39.51° E, 3.47° N39.5° E, 3.5° N1 km short1 mi short
Northernmost37.89° E, 14.85° N37.9° E, 14.8° N37.95° E, 14.64° N38.0° E, 14.6° N23 km short14 mi short

Near the land border, 58% of the crowd’s lines run inside Ethiopia.

Borders

Why two lengths?

A line’s length depends on how closely it is drawn. The game’s lines are simplified: they keep a point every few kilometres and cut across small bends. The official lengths, from the CIA World Factbook, are measured on other lines. A border measured on a finer line, following every bend of its rivers and ridges, comes out longer.

Coasts differ most, and either way. Some official coastlines follow every inlet and island (Canada’s 202,080 km); others are smoothed on purpose, crossing bays and sounds (the United States’ 19,924 km), and can come out shorter than the game’s.

Players draw against the game’s line and are scored against it, so the crowd’s length is compared with the game’s, both measured the same way. Set against an official length measured another way, the comparison would say more about the two methods than about the crowd.

Ethiopia and Kenya: 897 km in the game, 867 km officially.

7 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Kenya897 km in the game867 km officially881 km the crowd’s1.8% shorter
Somalia854 km in the game1,640 km officially759 km the crowd’s11.1% shorter
Eritrea840 km in the game1,033 km officially790 km the crowd’s6.0% shorter
Somaliland754 km in the game641 km the crowd’s15.0% shorter
Sudan671 km in the game744 km officially649 km the crowd’s3.3% shorter
S. Sudan654 km in the game1,299 km officially679 km the crowd’s3.8% longer
Djibouti309 km in the game342 km officially335 km the crowd’s8.4% longer

How it is measured

The crowd’s Ethiopia: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Ethiopia or outside it; the median over a short stretch is where the crowd puts the line there, and the real outline moved by it is the crowd’s. Where the move folds a narrow inlet over itself, the loop is cut.

The 546 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s World map, scribbles left out, the real line the game’s own. Area true to scale; the outline copies the real line’s detail, so its length changes only where the shape moves or a loop is cut.

Draw Ethiopia yourself and add your line to the next update.