The
Tigray-Tigrinya people (ትግራይ - ትግርኛ) are an ethnic group inhabiting the
southern and
central parts of
Eritrea and the northern highlands of
Ethiopia's
Tigray Region. Prior to 1995, they lived in Ethiopia's former provinces of
Tigray,
Begemder (Gonder), and
Wollo, with the regions within these provinces that they inhabited (e.g.
Wolqayt,
Tsegede,
Tselemti,
Raya,
Humera) later incorporated into the modern Tigray Region. The
Tigray people, eponymous with the name of their territory, make up approximately 96.6% of the inhabitants of the Tigray Region, and comprise 6.1% of Ethiopia's total population, numbering a little over 5.7 million. Group members in Eritrea are known by the name of their language,
Tigrinya, and they constitute around 50% of the population, at about 3.4 million people. They primarily live in a region of Eritrea known as the
Kebessa, contained within the former
awrajas of
Hamasien,
Seraye, and
Akele Guzay, these later incorporated into
Eritrea's present-day regions. The Tigray-Tigrinya speak
Tigrinya, an
Afro-Asiatic language belonging to the family's
Semitic branch. Members from this ethnic group today form the dominant political force in both Ethiopia and Eritrea.