West Arsi Zone

A map of the regions and zones of Ethiopia.

West Arsi (Amharic: Mirab Arsi; Afan Oromo: Arsii Lixaa/Dhihaa) is one of the zones of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia. This zone is named after a subgroup of the Oromo, who inhabit it. West Arsi was formed of woredas which included to Arsi, Bale and East Shewa zones.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this Zone has a total population of 1,964,038, of whom 973,743 are men and 990,295 women. 272,084 or 13.85% of population are urban inhabitants. A total of 387,143 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 5.01 persons to a household, and 369,533 housing units. The two largest ethnic groups reported in West Arsi were the Oromo (88.52%) and the Amhara (3.98%); all other ethnic groups made up 7.5% of the population. Oromiffa was spoken as a first language by 87.34% and 6.46% spoke Amharic; the remaining 6.2% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants were Muslim, with 80.34% of the population having reported they practiced that belief, while 11.04% of the population professed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity and 7.02% of the population professed Protestantism.