Yirgachefe (also transliterated Irgachefe) 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 ...

, named after its major town Yirgachefe. 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 ...

, Yirgachefe is bordered on the south by Kochere, on the west by the

Oromia Zone The Oromia Zone ( om, Godina Oromiyaa; Amharic: ኦሮሚያ ዞን) is a zone in Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Oromia is named for the Oromo people, who settled along the edge of the Ethiopian Highlands that form this Zone. Oromia Zone is bordered ...

, on the north by Wenago, on the east by Bule, and on the southeast by Gedeb.

Overview

According to a 2004 report, Yirgachefe had of asphalt roads, of all-weather roads and of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of per .

Coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

is an important cash crop; Esayas Kebede, head of coffee development at the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported over 600 square kilometers were planted with it in the 2007/2008 season, and expected to produce 30,000 tonnes of coffee beans.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this woreda has a total population of 195,256, of whom 97,385 are men and 97,871 women; 15,118 or 7.74% 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 66.71% of the population reporting that belief, 14.03% 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 ...

, 7.42% observed traditional religions, 3.49% 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 ...

, and 2.12% 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 ...

. In the 1994 Census this woreda had a population of 137,372, of whom 68,803 were men and 68,569 women; 11,579 or 8.43% of its population were urban dwellers. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Yirgachefe were the Gedeo (81.34%), the Oromo (10.89%), the Amhara (3.48%), 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 ...

(2.2%), and the Silte (0.73%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.36% of the population. Gedeo was spoken as a first language by 81.6%, 10.2% 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 ...

, and 6.78% 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 ...

; the remaining 1.42% spoke all other primary languages reported. 39.96% of the population said they were

, 27.49% observed traditional religions, 24.6% practiced

, 3.75% were

Catholics 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 ...

, and 2.39% 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