Misraq Welega is one of the 12 Zones in the 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...

n Region of Oromia. This zone acquired its name from the former province of Welega

Welega Province

Welega was a province in the western part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Nekemte. It was named for the Welega Oromo, who are the majority of the population within its boundaries....

. Towns and cities in this zone include Finicha'a

Finicha'a

Finicha'a is a town in western Ethiopia. Located in the Misraq Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an altitude of 1302 meters above sea level. Finicha'a hosts an airport which consists of an unpaved airstrip about 1480 meters in length...

, Guduru

Guduru, Ethiopia

Guduru is a town in southwestern Ethiopia. Located in the Misraq Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 1969 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Guduru woreda.The British traveller C.F...

 (also known as Kombolcha), Nekemte

Nekemte

Nekemte is a market town in western Ethiopia. Located in the Misraq Welega Zone of the Oromia Region , Nekemte has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2,088 meters....

, and Shambu

Shambu

Shambu is a town in western Ethiopia. Located in the Horo Gudru Welega Zone of the Oromia Region west of Lake Finicha'a, this town has a longitude and latitude of with an elevation of 2503 meters above sea level...

.

Misraq Welega is bounded on the southwest by Illubabor

Illubabor Zone

Illubabor is one of the 17 zones of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Illubabor is named for the former province Illubabor. It is bordered on the south by the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, on the southwest by the Gambela Region, on the west by Misraq Welega, on the north by the...

, on the west by the Didessa River

Didessa River

The Didessa River is a river in western Ethiopia. A tributary of the Abay River, it rises in the mountains of Gomma, flowing in a northwestern direction to its confluence where the course of the Abay has curved to its southernmost point before turning northwards at about...

 which separates it from Mirab Welega

Mirab Welega Zone

Mirab Welega is one of the 12 Zones in the Ethiopian Region of Oromia. This zone is named after the former province of Welega, whose western part lay in the area Mirab Misraq now occupies....

, on the northwest and north by the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, on the east by Mirab Shewa

Mirab Shewa Zone

Mirab Shewa is one of the 12 zones of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia. This zone takes its name from the kingdom or former province of Shewa...

, and on the southeast by the Gibe River

Gibe River

The Gibe River is a tributary of the Omo River. Located in southwest Ethiopia, it is not navigable, like almost all rivers in the country.-Overview:...

 which separates it from Jimma

Jimma Zone

Jimma is one of the 17 Zones of the Ethiopian Region of Oromia. Jimma is named for the former Kingdom of Jimma, which was absorbed into the former province of Kaffa in 1932...

. The highest point in this zone is Mount Garochan (3,276 m).

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...

 (CSA) reported that 40,606 tons of coffee

Coffee production in Ethiopia

The coffee production in Ethiopia is critical to the Ethiopian economy with about 25% of the population depending directly or indirectly on coffee for its livelihood...

 were produced in Mirab and Misraq Welega combined in the year ending in 2005, based on inspection records from the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea authority. This represents 35.3% of the Region's output and 17.9% of Ethiopia's total output.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this Zone has a total population of 1,213,503, of whom 606,379 are men and 607,124 women; with an area of 12,579.77 square kilometers, Misraq Welega has a population density of 96.46. While 162,854 or 7.72% are urban inhabitants, a further 28 persons are pastoralists. A total of 255,534 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 4.75 persons to a household, and 246,680 housing units.

The 1994 national census reported a total population for this Zone of 1,253,432 in 252,821 households, of whom 616,565 were men and 636,867 women; 138,736 or 11.07% of its population were urban dwellers at the time. The two largest ethnic groups reported in Misraq Welega were 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...

 (88.5%), 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...

 (10.47%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.03% of the population. 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...

 was spoken as a first language by 89.37%, and 9.9% 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...

; the remaining 0.73% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants professed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 61.74% of the population having reported they practiced that belief, while 16.44% of the population said they were Protestant

P'ent'ay

P'ent'ay or Pentay is a slang term widely used in modern Ethiopia, and among Ethiopians living abroad, to describe Ethiopian Christians who are not members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo, Ethiopian Orthodox Tehadeso, Roman Catholic or Ethiopian Catholic churches...

, 12.44% held traditional beliefs, and 8.27% were Muslim

Islam in Ethiopia

According to the latest 2007 national census, Islam is the second most widely practised religion in Ethiopia after Christianity, with over 25 million of Ethiopians adhering to Islam according to the 2007 national census, having arrived in Ethiopia in 615...

.