Yirgachefe (also transliterated Irgachefe) is a district in

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 ...

. It is one of the

woredas Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas (; ''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 wards call ...

in the South Ethiopia Region of the country, named after its major town Yirgachefe. Part of the Gedeo Zone, Yirgachefe is bordered on the south by Kochere, on the west by the

Oromia Zone The Oromia Zone (; Amharic: ኦሮሚያ ዞን) is a zone in Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Oromia is named for the Oromo people, who settled along the edge of the Ethiopian Highlands that form this Zone. Oromia Zone is bordered on the southwest by ...

, on the north by Wonago, on the east by Bule, and on the southeast by Gedeb.

Overview

According to a 2004 report, Yirgachefe had of asphalt roads, of all-weather roads and of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of per .

Coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

is an important cash crop; Esayas Kebede, head of coffee development at the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported over 600 square kilometers were planted with it in the 2007/2008 season, and expected to produce 30,000 tonnes of coffee beans.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this woreda has a total population of 195,256, of whom 97,385 are men and 97,871 women; 15,118 or 7.74% of its population are urban dwellers. The majority of the inhabitants were

Protestants 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 ...

, with 66.71% of the population reporting that belief, 14.03% practiced

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 ...

, 7.42% observed traditional religions, 3.49% were

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, and 2.12% 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 ...

. In the 1994 Census this woreda had a population of 137,372, of whom 68,803 were men and 68,569 women; 11,579 or 8.43% of its population were urban dwellers. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Yirgachefe were the Gedeo (81.34%), the Oromo (10.89%), the Amhara (3.48%), the

Gurage Gurage (, Gurage: ጉራጌ) are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia.G. W. E. Huntingford, "William A. Shack: The Gurage: a people of the ensete culture" They inhabit the Gurage Zone and East Gurage Zone, a fertile, semi-mounta ...

(2.2%), and the Silte (0.73%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.36% of the population. Gedeo was spoken as a first language by 81.6%, 10.2% spoke

Oromiffa Oromo, historically also called Galla, is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Oromo people, native to the Ethiopian state of Oromia; and northern Kenya. It is used as a lingua franca in Oromia and n ...

, and 6.78% 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 ...

; the remaining 1.42% spoke all other primary languages reported. 39.96% of the population said they were

, 27.49% observed traditional religions, 24.6% practiced

, 3.75% were

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, and 2.39% were

.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region'', Vol. 1, part 1
, Tables 2.1, 2.7, 2.12, 2.15, 2.19 (accessed 30 December 2008)

Notes

{{Districts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region Districts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region