Siltʼe is a zone in the

Central Ethiopia Regional State The Central Ethiopia Regional State is a regional state in Ethiopia. It was formed from northern part of the then Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) on 19 August 2023. Its formation was effected when South Ethiopia Regio ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. This zone is named for the

Siltʼe people The Siltʼe people are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia. They inhabit the Siltʼe Zone which is part of the Central Ethiopia Regional State. Silt'e people speak the Siltʼe language, a Semitic language, which is closely related to the Harar ...

, whose homeland lies in this zone. Like other nationalities in Ethiopia, the Siltʼe people have their own language, Siltʼe. Siltʼe is bordered on the south by Halaba, on the southwest by Hadiya, on the north by

Gurage 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 and East Gurage Zone, a fertile, semi-mounta ...

, and on the east by the

Oromia Region Oromia (, ) is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. Under Article 49 of 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Constitution, the capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa, also called Finfinne. The ...

. Following a referendum held between 18 and 26 April 2001, the Siltʼe unanimously voted to form their own Zone, Siltʼe. Later more woredas from Gurage and Hadya zones and Alaba special woreda were added.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency, also known as the Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS; Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ስታቲስቲክስ አገልግሎት), is an Ethiopian government agency designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that ...

of Ethiopia (CSA), Siltʼe Zone has a total population of 750,398, of whom 364,108 are men and 386,290 women; 78,525 or 6.28% are urban inhabitants. The largest ethnic group reported in Siltʼe was the

(97.35%); all other ethnic groups made up 2.65% of the population. Siltʼe is spoken as a first language by 96.95% of the population, and 1.54% speak

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

; the remaining 1.51% speak all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants were reported as

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

, with 97.6% of the population reporting that belief, while 2.03% practiced

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...

Woredas

Current

Districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(also called woreda locally, is third level administration in Ethiopia after Zone) of Siltʼe Zone are: * Town administrations, which are considered as

Woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas (; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''List of zones of Ethiopia, zones'' and the ''Regions of Ethiopia, regional states''. These districts are f ...

for all administrative purposes.

Worabe Werabe (allegedly from the Silti word for "Hyena") is a town in south-central Ethiopia. Official sources locate this town in the Silte Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR), although it is reported that at a re ...

which is the seat of the Zone also one of the town administration in the zone.

References

{{Authority control Central Ethiopia Regional State Zones of Ethiopia Zones in Central Ethiopia Regional State