Wenago is one of the

woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas ( am, ወረዳ; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''zones'' and the '' regional states''. These districts are further subdivided into a number of ...

s in the

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; am, የደቡብ ብሔር ብሔረሰቦችና ሕዝቦች ክልል, Yädäbub Bḥer Bḥeräsäbočna Hzboč Kllə) is a regional state in southwestern E ...

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 ...

. Part of the

Gedeo Zone Gedeo is a zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. This zone is named for the Gedeo people, whose homelands lie in this zone. Gedeo is an exclave of the SNNPR consisting of a narrow strip of land along the ea ...

, Wenago is bordered on the southwest by

Yirgachefe Irgachefe (ይርጋጨፌ ''Yïrgach’äffe'', also transliterated as Yirgachefe) is a town in central southern Ethiopia in Yirgachefe District. Located in the Gedeo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region, this town ha ...

, on the northwest by the

Oromia Region 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 ...

, on the northeast by Dila Zuria, and on the southeast by Bule. Towns in Wenago include Wenago. Dila Zuria woreda and Dila town were separated from Wenago. According to a 2004 report, Wenago had 12 kilometers of asphalt roads, 56 kilometers of all-weather roads and 17 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 333 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. Local landmarks include the Qallu compound (''galma'') of the

Guji Oromo The Guji Oromo are an Oromo clan living Guji Zone in southern Oromia of Ethiopia. They are distinguished by their agro- pastoral lifestyle. According to a population projection from 2007, the total population of the Guji Oromo is above 5 million. ...

, which that group claims ought to be annexed to the Guji Zone of the Oromia Region, a claim which has led to violence in the past.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this woreda has a total population of 116,921, of whom 58,150 are men and 58,771 women; 8,471 or 7.25% of its population are urban dwellers. The majority of the inhabitants were

Protestants 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 ...

, with 76.11% of the population reporting that belief, 9.29% observed traditional religions, 8.55% practiced

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 ...

, and 1.71% were

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. In the 1994 Census this woreda had a population of 185,676, of whom 93,300 were men and 92,376 women; 38,794 or 20.89% of its population were urban dwellers. The five largest ethnic groups reported in Wenago were the Gedeo (73.5%), the Amhara (6.98%), the Oromo (6.37%), the Sidama (3.34%), and the Silte (2.33%); all other ethnic groups made up 7.48% of the population. Gedeo was spoken as a first language by 73.22%, 13.5% 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 ...

, 5.43% spoke

Oromiffa Oromo ( or ; Oromo: ''Afaan Oromoo''), in the linguistic literature of the early 20th century also called Galla (a name with a pejorative meaning and therefore rejected by the Oromo people), is an Afroasiatic language The Afroasiatic languag ...

, 3.25% spoke Sidamo and 1.39% spoke Silte; the remaining 3.21% spoke all other primary languages reported. The largest religious group was the

, with 45.92% of the population holding that belief, while 26.06% practiced

, 16.96% observed traditional religions, 4.66% 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 ...

, and 2.56% were

.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region'', Vol. 1, part 1
Tables 2.1, 2.7, 2.12, 2.15, 2.19 (accessed 30 December 2008)

Notes

{{Districts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region Districts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region