Chena is one of the 77 woreda

Woreda

Woreda is an administrative division of Ethiopia , equivalent to a district . Woredas are composed of a number of Kebele, or neighborhood associations, which are the smallest unit of local government in Ethiopia...

s in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. The name Chena comes from one of the provinces in the former Kingdom of Kaffa

Kingdom of Kaffa

The Kingdom of Kaffa was an early modern state located in what is now Ethiopia, with its capital at Bonga. The Gojeb River formed its northern border, beyond which lay the Gibe kingdoms; to the east the territory of the Konta and Kullo peoples lay between Kaffa and the Omo River; to the south...

, whose administrative center had been at Wacha

Wacha

-References:...

. Part of the Keficho Shekicho Zone

Keficho Shekicho Zone

Keficho Shekicho is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . While in their latest population estimates the Central Statistical Agency includes it as a single Zone, the list of second administrative level bodies maintained by the United Nations Geographic...

, Chena is bordered on the south by the Bench Maji Zone

Bench Maji Zone

Bench Maji is one of the 13 Zones of the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . Bench Maji is bordered on the south by the Ilemi Triangle, on the west by Sudan, on the northwest by the Gambela Region, on the north by Keficho Shekicho and on the east by Debub Omo...

, on the west by Yeki

Yeki

Yeki is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Keficho Shekicho Zone, Yeki is bordered on the south by the Bench Maji Zone, on the west by the Gambela Region, on the north by Masha Anderacha, on the northeast by Gesha, and on the...

, on the north by Gesha

Gesha

Gesha is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Keficho Shekicho Zone, Gesha is bordered on the south by Chena, on the southwest by Yeki, on the west by Masha Anderacha, on the north by the Oromia Region, and on the east by Ginbo...

, on the northeast by Ginbo

Ginbo

Ginbo is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. The name Ginbo comes from one of the provinces in the former Kingdom of Kaffa...

, and on the southeast by Decha

Decha

Decha is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. The name Decha comes from one of the provinces in the former Kingdom of Kaffa, which had the approximately same boundaries...

. Towns in Chena include Ahewa Bench, Bita Genet, Dimbira, and Shishinda.

Demographics

Based on figures published by the Central Statistical Agency

Central Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)

The Central Statistical Agency is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth, as well as to act as an official training center in that field. It is part of the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and...

 in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 221,636, of whom 112,576 are men and 109,060 women; 23,353 or 10.54% of its population are urban dwellers, which is greater than the Zone average of 9.7%. With an estimated area of 1,871.72 square kilometers, Chena has an estimated population density of 118.4 people per square kilometer, which is greater than the Zone average of 81.9.

In the 1994 national census Chena had a population of 153,646, of whom 75,745 were men and 77,901 women; 12,887 or 8.39% of its population were urban dwellers. The four largest ethnic groups reported in this woreda were the Kafficho (75.76%), the Bench (16.19%), the Oromo

Oromo people

The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...

 (3.5%), and the Amhara

Amhara people

Amhara are a highland people inhabiting the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census...

 (2.73%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.82% of the population. Kafa

Kafa language

Kaffa is an Afroasiatic language spoken in Ethiopia around Bonga in the Keficho Shekicho Zone. The language is also called Kafi nono.- Further reading :...

 was spoken as a first language by 75.43% of the inhabitants, 18.36% spoke Bench

Bench language

Bench is a Northern Omotic language of the "Gimojan" subgroup, spoken by about 174,000 people in the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, in southern Ethiopia, around the towns of Mizan Teferi and Shewa Gimira...

, 3.6% spoke Amharic

Amharic language

Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...

, and 3.09% spoke Oromiffa

Oromo language

Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Afan Boran, Afan Orma, and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names , is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic family. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and...

; the remaining 5.6% spoke all other primary languages reported. Concerning education

Education in Ethiopia

Education in Ethiopia has been dominated by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church for many centuries until secular education was adopted in the early 1900s. Prior to 1974, Ethiopia had an estimated illiteracy rate well above 90% and compared poorly with the rest of Africa in the provision of schools and...

, 16.97% of the population were considered literate; 12.45% of children aged 7-12 were in primary school; 2.77% of the children aged 13-14 were in junior secondary school, and 2.13% of the inhabitants aged 15-18 were in senior secondary school. Concerning sanitary conditions

Water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia

Access to water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia is amongst the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and the entire world. While access has increased substantially with funding from external aid, much still remains to be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving the share of people...

, about 69% of the urban and 12% of the total had toilet facilities.