Lay Gayint ( am, ላይ ጋይንት, lit=Upper Gayint) is a

woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas ( am, ወረዳ; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after '' zones'' and the '' regional states''. These districts are further subdivided into a number of ...

in the

Amhara Region The Amhara Region ( am, አማራ ክልል, Åmara Kilil), officially the Amhara National Regional State (), is a regional state in northern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Amhara people. Its capital is Bahir Dar which is the seat of the R ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

. Part of the

Debub Gondar Zone South Gondar ( Amharic: ደቡብ ጎንደር) (or Debub Gondar) is a Zone in the Ethiopian Amhara Region. This zone is named for the city of Gondar, which was the capital of Ethiopia until the mid-19th century, and has often been used as a name ...

, Lay Gayint is bordered on the south by Tach Gayint and

Simada Simada (Amharic: ስማዳ) is a Districts of Ethiopia, woreda in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Debub Gondar Zone, Simada is bordered on the southeast by the Bashilo River which separates it from the Debub Wollo Zone, on the southwe ...

, on the southwest by

Misraq Este Misraq Este ( Amharic: ምሥራቅ እስቴ)is one of the woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Debub Gondar Zone, Misraq Este is bordered on the south by the Abay River which separates it from the Misraq Gojjam Zone, on the west ...

, on the west by

Farta Farta (Amharic: ፋርጣ) is a woreda in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Debub Gondar Zone, Farta is bordered on the south by Misraq Este, on the west by Fogera, on the north by Ebenat and on the east by Lay Gayint. Towns in Farta inc ...

, on the north by

Ebenat Ebnat(Ibnat) () is a town in the South Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Ebnat has a latitude and longitude of . It is the administrative center of Ebnat woreda and is at an elevation of 2972 meters above sea level. History Near Ebenat, on 17 ...

, and on the east by the

Semien Wollo Zone North Wollo ( Amharic: ሰሜን ወሎ) also called Semien Wollo, is a zone in Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is bordered on the south by South Wollo, on the west by South Gondar, on the north by Wag Hemra, on the northeast by Tigray Region, ...

. The administrative center is Nefas Mewcha; other towns in Lay Guyint include Gobgob and Sali. The altitude of this woreda varies from above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. The annual rainfall is erratically distributed and varies from . A notable landmark in Lay Guyint is the church of the village of Betlehem, about southeast of

Debre Tabor Debre Tabor ( am, ደብረ ታቦር, lit. "Mount Tabor") is a town and woreda in north-central Ethiopia. Located in the Debub Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, about 100 kilometers southeast of Gondar and 50 kilometers east of Lake Tana, ...

; inside an ordinary round church structure is an ancient church with a trussed roof of identical construction as the church of

Debre Damo Debre Damo (), also spelled Debre Dammo, Dabra Dāmmo or Däbrä Dammo), is the name of a flat-topped mountain, or amba, and a 6th-century monastery in Tigray Region of Ethiopia. The mountain is a steeply rising plateau of trapezoidal shape, abo ...

. The writer Thomas Pakenham was the first non-Ethiopian to visit this church in 1955.

Notable figures

Notable figures from this small town include

Ambachew Mekonnen Ambachew Mekonnen ( gez, አምባቸው መኮንን; – 22 June 2019) was an Ethiopian politician and economist who served as the president of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia from March to June 2019, when he was assassinated in a coup attempt. ...

who served as the President of the Amhara regional state up until his murder during an attempted coup.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 national census conducted by the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency (CSA; Amharic: ማዕከላዊ ስታቲስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ) is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growt ...

of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 206,499, an increase of 23.56% over the 1994 census, of whom 104,401 are men and 102,098 women; 22,825 or 11.05% are urban inhabitants. With an area of , Lay Gayint has a population density of , which is less than the Zone average of 145.56 persons per square kilometer. A total of 46,038 households were counted in this woreda, resulting in an average of 4.49 persons to a household, and 44,494 housing units. The majority of the inhabitants practiced

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...

, with 97.47% reporting that as their religion, while 2.47% of the population said they were Muslim. The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 167,122 in 33,681 households, of whom 84,585 were men and 82,537 were women; 13,583 or 8.13% of its population were urban dwellers. The largest ethnic group reported in Lay Guyint was the Amhara (99.88%). Amharic was spoken as a first language by 99.84%. The majority 97.6% of the population practiced

with 97.6% professing that belief, while 2.27% of the population said they were Muslim.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Amhara Region'', Vol. 1, part 1
, Tables 2.1, 2.7, 2.10, 2.13, 2.17, Annex II.2 (accessed 9 April 2009)

Notes

{{Districts of the Amhara Region Districts of Amhara Region