Southwest Shewa ( Oromo: ''Shawaa Kibba-Dhihaa/Lixaa'') is one of the zones of the

Oromia Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benish ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. 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 West Shewa Zone ( om, Shawaa Lixaa/Dhihaa) is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia. This zone takes its name from the kingdom or former province of Shewa. West Shewa is bordered on the south by the Southwest Shewa Zone and the Southern Nations, Na ...

to create Southwest Shewa Zone. Towns in it include

Waliso Waliso ( om, Walisoo) is a town in Southwest Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia, 114 km southwest of Addis Ababa, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2063 meters above sea level. Waliso is the administrative cent ...

(the capital) and

Tulu Bolo Tulu Bolo ( Oromo: Tullu Bolloo) is a town located in the Southwest Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region, Ethiopia. It has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2193 meters or 7195 feet above sea level. It is the largest settlement in Bec ...

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency (CSA; Amharic: ማዕከላዊ ስታቲስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ) is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growt ...

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 The Gurage (, Gurage: ጉራጌ) are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia.G. W. E. Huntingford, "William A. Shack: The Gurage: a people of the ensete culture" They inhabit the Gurage Zone, a fertile, semi-mountainous region in c ...

(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 The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...

, 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 Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

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