The Central Zone () is a zone in the

Tigray Region The Tigray Region (or simply Tigray; officially the Tigray National Regional State) is the northernmost Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob people, Irob and Kunama people. I ...

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 ...

. Towns and cities in the Central Zone include

Axum Axum, also spelled Aksum (), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire. Axum is located in the Central Zone of the Tigray Re ...

and Adwa, as well as the historically significant village of Yeha and the town of Tembien Abiyi Adi. The Central Zone is bordered on the east by the Eastern Zone, on the south by South Eastern Zone, on the west by North Western Zone and on the north by

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this Zone has a total population of 1,245,824, of whom 613,797 are men and 632,027 women; 176,453 or 14.16% are urban inhabitants. The largest ethnic group reported in the Central Zone was the Tigrayan (99.37%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.63% of the population. Tigrinya is spoken as a first language by 99.4; the remaining 0.6% spoke all other primary languages reported. 97.82% of the population said they were Orthodox Christians, and 2.07% 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 ...

. The 1994 national census reported a total population for the zone of 943,850, of whom 464,633 were men and 479,217 women; 91,058 or 9.6% of its population were urban dwellers. The Zone is predominantly Tigrayan, at 99.6% of the population, while 0.11% were Agaw, 0.096% Amhara, and all other ethnic groups 0.12%. Tigrinya was spoken as a first language by 99.67% of the inhabitants. 98.41% of the population said they were Orthodox Christians, and 1.55% were

. Concerning

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

in the Zone, 9.64% of the population were considered literate; 10.62% of children aged 7–12 were in primary school, while a negligible number of the children aged 13–14 were in junior secondary school, and 0.14% of children aged 15–18 were in senior secondary school. Concerning sanitary conditions, about 25% of the urban and 5.6% of all houses had access to safe drinking water at the time of the census; about 2.5% of the urban and 6% of the total had toilet facilities. According to a May 24, 2004

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

memorandum, 13% of the inhabitants of the Central Zone have access to electricity, this zone has a road density of 29.0 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers, the average rural household has 0.8 hectare of land (compared to the national average of 1.01 hectare of land and a regional average of 0.51) and the equivalent of 0.8 heads of livestock. 17% of the population is in non-farm related jobs, compared to the national average of 25% and a regional average of 28%. 74% of all eligible children are enrolled in primary school, and 28% in secondary schools. 78% of the zone is exposed to

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

, and none to

Tsetse fly Tsetse ( , or ) (sometimes spelled tzetze; also known as tik-tik flies) are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus ''Glossina'', which are placed in their own family, Gloss ...

. The memorandum gave this zone a drought risk rating of 616.World Bank, ''Four Ethiopias: A Regional Characterization''
(accessed 23 March 2006).

References

{{Districts of the Tigray Region Tigray Region Zones of Ethiopia