Background: Community nasal meningococcal carriage rates are high across Africa.Meningococcal infections are major causes of morbidity and mortality in the continent;especially among children and adolescents. This study aimed to determine the prevalence ofnasal carriage and antibiotic susceptibilities of meningococcal isolates from healthy Ethiopianchildren and adolescents.Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted in one of the sub-cities of AddisAbaba, Ethiopia. Nasal swabs were collected and processed for identification, serogrouping andtestingsusceptibilities for three antibiotics using standard microbiological techniques. Data onepidemiologic risk factors were collected using a structured questionnaire and the magnitude oftheir association with carriage was assessed using bivariate and multivariate analysis.Result: A total of 240 samples were collected (115 from males and 125 from females). Themean age of study participants was 11.1 years. The prevalence of nasal carriage for Neisseria meningitidis was 20.4% (49/240). Carriage was significantly higher among children living undercrowded conditions (OR1.268; 95% CI: 1.186 – 1.355; p = 0.006). The predominant serogroupswere W135 – 20/49 isolates (40.8%) and C - 12/49 isolates (24.5%) and 83.7% of meningococciwere sensitive for Ciprofloxacin. In contrast, isolates showed high resistance to Ceftriaxone(69.4%) while only 4.2% were sensitive for Penicillin. Multi-drug resistance was documented for14.3% of the isolates.Conclusions: Meningococcal carriage rate was found to be high with higher rates associatedwith children and adolescents living in crowded living conditions. Predominant isolates were ofserogroup W135 and C and the isolates showed marked susceptibility to Ciprofloxacin andresistance to Ceftriaxone and Penicillin.Keywords: N. meningitidis, Nasal carriage, Antibiotic susceptibility, Serogroup, Children,Adolescents, Ethiopia