Background: Worldwide, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) continues to be an important contributor to morbidity, mortality and health-care costs. In Ethiopia, the physical, financial, emotional, social and religious life of patients living with COPD is poorly understood, information crucial for physicians in developing treatment strategies and government agencies in planning community support services. This study, the first of its kind, was designed to initiate understanding of the personal burden of living with COPD in Ethiopia.Methods: This was a qualitative research study using a phenomenographic approach. Twelve recruited COPD patients underwent in-depth interviews using a semi-structured open-ended interview guide. All audio-records were transcribed verbatim and translated to English for analysis using Atlas.ti software.Results: There were seven men and five women, whose ages ranged from 45 to 78 years. One male participant was a former smoker and one female participant had second-hand cigarette exposure. All 12 participants were unaware of their COPD diagnosis despite experiencing chronic symptoms of cough and shortness of breath, unresponsive to treatment, which affected their physical, financial, emotional, social and religious life. In addition, all participants attempted a variety of coping strategies to deal with their respiratory disease and many were optimistic about their future living with the disease. Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate an urgent need for improved awareness, diagnosis and treatment of COPD patients to lessen the burden of those living with the disease and more judiciously, utilize available resources in Ethiopia.