Background: Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) is a persistent Hepatitis B virus infection inrnwhich serological test fails to detect surface antigen, but viral DNA is detectable at a low level.rnThe HBV screening for blood transfusion is still based only on HBsAg. As a result, OBI remainsrna potential threat for blood safety. Thus far, there is no data on the magnitude of occult hepatitisrnamong blood donors. Therefore, this study sought to determine the magnitude of occult hepatitisrnB virus among apparently healthy blood donors in Ethiopia. rnObjectives: To study the magnitude of OBI and associated risk factors among blood donors atrnNational Blood Bank, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.rnMethods: Cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2020 to April 2021 to determinernthe prevalence of OBI among blood donors. A total of 973 HBsAg negative plasma samplesrnwere collected from National Blood Bank. The samples were tested for anti-HBc using anrnELISA and viral DNA using quantitative real time PCR [Abbot m2000rt]. Along with plasmarnsamples, demographic data were also retrieved from donorâ€Ÿs database. Both descriptive andrninferential statistics was employed for the analysis of data by SPSS 15. P-value less than (0.05)rnwere considered as statistically significant.rnResults: Of the total 973 apparently healthy blood donor study participants, 445 (45.7%) werernfemales and mean age was 26.5 years. A total of 144 of the 973 blood samples were anti-HBcrnreactive (14.8%). Four (0.41% of all and 2.7% of anti HBc+ donations) samples were confirmedrnas OBI by DNA detection. The mean viral load was 31IU/ml with +/- 12 SD suggesting truernoccult hepatitis BV infections. Age was found to be risk factors for anti-core positivity andrnstatically significant at (p=0.0001). rnConclusion: About 4 in 1000 apparently healthy blood donors screened negative for HBsAg hadrnoccult HBV infection. This shows that there is a risk of HBV transmission through bloodrntransfusion in Ethiopia. Therefore, there is a need for further investigation and action to revisernblood screening strategy including anti-HBc and HBV nucleic acid testing.