Southwest Shewa ( Oromo: ''Shawaa Kibba Lixaa'') is one of the zones of 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 ...

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 takes its name from the kingdom or former province of

Shewa Shewa (; ; Somali: Shawa; , ), formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa, is a historical region of Ethiopia which was formerly an autonomous kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The modern Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is located at it ...

. Between 2002 and 2005, a number of districts were separated from West Shewa Zone to create South west Shewa Zone. Towns in it include Waliso (the capital) and

Tulu Bolo Tulu Bolo is a city located in the of Oromia Ethiopia. It is located about 70 kilometers South of Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,73 ...

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), this Zone has a total population of 1,101,129, of whom 556,194 are men and 544,935 women. 149,878 or 13.61% of population are urban inhabitants. A total of 233,916 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 4.71 persons to a household, and 227,102 housing units. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Southwest Shewa were the Oromo (87.08%), the Amhara (6.16%) and the Gurage (5.06%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.7% of the population. Oromo was spoken as a first language by 84.85%, 8.41% spoke

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 ...

and 5.57% spoke Guragiegna; the remaining 1.17% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants professed

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 ...

, with 77.82% of the population having reported they practiced that belief, while 11.11% of the population were

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 ...

, 8.81% of the population professed

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

and 2.04% said they held traditional beliefs.Population Census Commission of Ethiopia. (2007). The 2007 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Statistical Report for Oromiya Region; Part I: Population Size and Characteristics. Ethiopian Statistical Service. http://www.statsethiopia.gov.et/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Population-and-Housing-Census-2007-Oromiya-Statistical.pdf

Notes

{{coord missing, Ethiopia Oromia Zones of Ethiopia