The thes is addresses the demographic transi tion potcntial in Ethiopia and the poss ibilityrnof ca pturing the demographic dividend observed in some East Asian Countries, as wellrnas, suggests mechani sms to fac ili tate this possible opportunity. It is based on thern"S pectrum" Proj ecti on Model covering the period from 1994 to 2050. The age structurernof the Ethiopian popu lation has remained child and youth dominated for along time now.rnbut with recent incipient fe rtil i ty dec line expected to be ex pediting, Ethiopia'srndemographic profile will see considerable shi ft in the nex t ['our decades,rnEducat ion and employment indicators wi tness that despite striking improvements Inrnprimary ed uca tion and modest decline in unemployment rate past years. there is still hugernunemployment ra te and low secondary school enrol lment, as well as, wide genderrndisparity in both secondary education and forma l employment. Proj ec tions under threerndifferent fertility scenarios reveal that fert ility plays multi ple roles in boosting Ethiopia tornreap the demographic di vidend th rough; reducing population size, changi ng the agernst ructure and rai sing the status of women. Thus it will determine Ethiopia 's futurerndevelopment course including its prospec ls of joining Middle Incoilic Countr ies. Thisrnrequires the government to al locate more funds for fam ily plann ing service provision andrndiffusion of small fam ily norm in i ts development stmtegy as well as establ ishing qualityrninstitution including evalu ating the old popul ation policy of Eth iopi a.rnNonetheless, the demographic di vidend is not automatic. nor does the window ofrnopportunity lasts fore ver. Hence it can be reaped if policies and programs in countries atrnthe incipient stages of the demographic transition are focused on the needs, aspirationsrnand expectations for a growi ng bulge of you ng people. These precondi tions. amongrnothers, incl ude training and j ob creation for youth. quality and efficient educationalrnsystem, agri cultural moderni zation and intensificat ion, labor intensive productionrntechnology, health ier lifestyles. and in st itutional developments. Under business as usualrnscenario, however, the future is hl eak and the youth wou ld turn out to be gi ven uprnburdens ralher than grown up di vidend.