Shinile is one of nine Zones of 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 Somali Region

Somali Region

Somali Region ; is the eastern-most of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia. It is often called Somalia, though it is not to be confused with the independent country of the same name. The capital of Somali State is Jijiga...

. Shinile is named for its largest town, Shinile

Shinile

Shinile is a town in eastern Ethiopia. Located in the Shinile Zone of the Somali Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1079 meters above sea level...

.

Located at the northwestern point of the Somali Region, and stretching across the savanna north of the Amhar mountains, Shinile is bordered on the south by the Oromia Region

Oromia Region

Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...

, on the west by the Afar Region

Afar Region

Afar is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia, and is the homeland of the Afar people. Formerly known as Region 2, its current capital is Asayita; a new capital named Semera on the paved Awash - Asseb highway is under construction....

, on the north by Djibouti

Djibouti

Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...

, and on the east by Jijiga

Jijiga Zone

Jijiga is one of nine zones of the Ethiopian Somali Region. This zone is named after its largest city, Jijiga. Other towns and cities in this zone include Qarbibayax, Dhurwaale Awbere, Derwonaji, tuli gulled and Hart Sheik...

. Part of the northwestern corner is occupied by the Yangudi Rassa National Park

Yangudi Rassa National Park

Yangudi Rassa National Park is one of the National Parks of Ethiopia. Located in the Afar Region, its 4730 square kilometers of territory include Mount Yangudi near the southern border and the surrounding Rassa Plains, with altitudes from 400 to 1459 meters above sea level. Sandy semi-desert and...

, which is a notable local landmark.

Demographics

Based on figures from 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) in 2005, Shinile has an estimated total population of 452,112, of whom 237,067 are men and 215,045 are women; 79,574 or 17.6% of its population are urban dwellers. Information is not available on the area of Shinile, so its population density can not be calculated. Its inhabitants are predominantly the Issa

Issa (clan)

The Issa are a Somali clan, a sub-clan of the Dir. The Issa primarily reside in Djibouti, the extreme northwestern fringe in the Awdal district of Somaliland in northern Somalia, as well as the Shinile Zone located in the Somali Region of Ethiopia.-Lineage:...

, Gadabuursi

Gadabuursi

The Gadabuursi , also known as Samaroon, is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Dir.Most Gadabuursi members are descendants of Sheikh Samaroon...

 and Gurgura subgroups of the Somali

Somali people

Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...

 Dir

Dir (clan)

The Dir , or Theyr bin Abdalla as mentioned in the book "Futuh al-Habasha", is a Somali clan. Its members mostly live in northwestern Somalia and Djibouti, in addition to southern and central Somalia and the Ogaden....

.

The 1994 national census reported a total population for this Zone of 358,703 in 54,617 households, of whom 191,094 were men and 167,609 were women; 53,374 or 14.88% of its population were urban dwellers. The largest ethnic group reported in Shinile was the Somali

Somali people

Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...

 (95%); a similar share spoke Somali

Somali language

The Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....

 (95%). Only 12,085 or 3.4% were literate.

According to a May 24, 2004 World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

memorandum, none of the inhabitants of Shinile have access to electricity, this zone has a road density of 17.3 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers, the average rural household has 1.2 hectare of land (compared to the national average of 1.01 hectare of land and
an average of 2.25 for pastoral Regions) and the equivalent of 1.4 heads of livestock. The memorandum gave this zone a drought risk rating of 387.

Agriculture

On 5-23 November 2003, the CSA conducted the first ever national agricultural census, of which the livestock census was an important component. For the Somali Region, the CSA generated estimated figures for the livestock population (cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and equids) and their distribution by commissioning an aerial survey. For the Shinile Zone, their results included:

Animal	Estimated total	number per sqk.
cattle	207,472	6.8
sheep	670,956	49.5 (including goats)
goats	849,451	49.5 (including sheep)
camels	103,052	3.4
asses	16,138	0.5 (all equids)
mules	191	0.5 (all equids)
horses	0