Southwest Shewa ( Oromo: ''Shawaa Kibba-Dhihaa/Lixaa'') is one of the zones of the Oromia in Ethiopia. This zone takes its name from the kingdom or former province of

Shewa Shewa ( am, ሸዋ; , om, Shawaa), formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa (''Scioà'' in Italian language, Italian), is a historical region of Ethiopia which was formerly an autonomous monarchy, kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The ...

. Between 2002 and 2005, a number of districts were separated from West Shewa Zone to create Southwest Shewa Zone. Towns in it include Waliso (the capital) and Tulu Bolo.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this Zone has a total population of 1,101,129, of whom 556,194 are men and 544,935 women. 149,878 or 13.61% of population are urban inhabitants. A total of 233,916 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 4.71 persons to a household, and 227,102 housing units. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Southwest Shewa were the Oromo (87.08%), the Amhara (6.16%) and the Gurage (5.06%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.7% of the population. Oromo was spoken as a first language by 84.85%, 8.41% spoke

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

and 5.57% spoke Guragiegna; the remaining 1.17% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants professed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 77.82% of the population having reported they practiced that belief, while 11.11% of the population were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, 8.81% of the population professed Protestantism and 2.04% said they held traditional beliefs.Census 2007 Tables: Oromia Region
Tables 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4.

Notes

{{coord missing, Ethiopia Oromia Region Zones of Ethiopia