Oromia Region

The current regional capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa, also known as Finfinne (which is also the capital of the country). It was changed from Addis Ababa to Adama in 2000, a move that sparked considerable controversy; the government was forced to bring the regional capital back to Addis Ababa on 10 June 2005.[5] Critics of the move believed the Ethiopian government wished to de-emphasize Addis Abeba's geographic location as an enclave surrounded by Oromia.[6] On the other hand, the government maintained that Addis Ababa "has been found inconvenient from the point of view of developing the language, culture and history of the Oromo people."[7]

Oromia shares a boundary with almost every region of Ethiopia except for the Tigray Region. This boundary has been disputed with Oromia's neighbors in a number of cases, most notably between Oromia and the Somali Region. One attempt to resolve the dispute between the two regions was the October 2004 referendum held in about 420 kebeles in 12 woredas across five zones of the Somali Region. According to the official results of the referendum, about 80% of the disputed areas have fallen under Oromia administration, though there were allegations of voting irregularities in many of them.[8] The results led over the following weeks to minorities in these kebeles being pressured to leave. In Oromiya, estimates based on figures given by local woreda and kebele authorities suggest that 21,520 people have been displaced in border woredas, namely Mieso, Doba, and Erer in the Mirab and Misraq Hararghe Zones. Federal authorities believe that this number may be overstated by as much as 11,000. In Doba, the Ministry of Federal Affairs put the number of IDPs at 6,000. There are also more than 2,500 displaced persons in Mieso.[9] In addition, there were reports of people being displaced in the border area of Moyale and Borena zones due to this conflict.[10]

On 12 September 2015 and continuing into 2016, protests broke out across Ethiopia and centered around the Oromia Region. Dozens of protesters were killed in the first days of the protests and internet service was cut in many parts of the region.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed in the woreda (district) of Gimbichu on 10 March 2019.[11]

Based on the 2007 census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), Oromia Region has a total population of 13,993,933, consisting of 6,595,006 men and 6,398,927 women; urban inhabitants number 3,370,040 or 11.3% of the population. With an estimated area of 353,006.81 square kilometers, this region has an estimated population density of 76.93 people per square kilometer. For the entire region 5,590,530 households were counted, which results in an average for the region of 4.8 persons to a household, with urban households having on average 3.8 and rural households 5.0 people. The projected population for 2017 was 32,815,995.[2]

In the previous census, conducted in 1994, the region's population was reported to be 17,088,136; urban inhabitants number 621,210 or 14% of the population.

According to the CSA, as of 2004, 32% of the population had access to safe drinking water, of whom 23.7% were rural inhabitants and 91.03% were urban.[12] Values for other reported common indicators of the standard of living for Oromia as of 2005 include the following: 19.9% of the inhabitants fall into the lowest wealth quintile; adult literacy for men is 61.5% and for women 29.5%; and the regional infant mortality rate is 76 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, which is about the same as the nationwide average of 77; at least half of these deaths occurred in the infants' first month of life.[13]

The road to Lega Dembi gold mine.

Oromia is a major contributor to Ethiopia's main exports - gold, coffee, khat and cattle. Lega Dembi in Guji Zone, owned by Midroc has exported more than 5000 kilograms of gold[16] followed by Tulu Kapi in Wollaga. Awoday in Hararghe is the biggest market of khat exporting to Djibouti and Somalia.[17] Oromia has also abundant livestock than any regions in Ethiopia including camels. It is also the largest producer of cereals and coffee.

The CSA reported that, from 2004 to 2005, 115,083 tons of coffee were produced in Oromia, based on inspection records from the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority. This represents 50.7% of the total production in Ethiopia. Farmers in the Region had an estimated total of 17,214,540 cattle (representing 44.4% of Ethiopia's total cattle), 6,905,370 sheep (39.6), 4,849,060 goats (37.4%), 959,710 horses (63.25%), 63,460 mules (43.1%), 278,440 asses (11.1%), 139,830 camels (30.6%), 11,637,070 poultry of all species (37.7%), and 2,513,790 beehives (57.73%).[18]

According to a March 2003 World Bank publication, the average rural household has 1.14 hectares of land compared to the national average of 1.01 hectares. 24% of the population work in non-farm related jobs compared to the national average of 25%.[19]

• Hassan Ali (1992–1995)
• Kuma Demeksa (OPDO) (1995 – 24 July 2001)
• Juneydi Sado (28 October 2001 – 6 October 2005)
• Abadula Gemeda (6 October 2005 – September 2010)
• Alemayehu Atomsa OPDO (September 2010 – February 2014)
• Muktar Kedir OPDO (March 2014 – 2016)[20]
• Lemma Megersa (June 2016 – 2019)
• Shimelis Abdisa (2019–present)

The Oromia is subdivided into 20 administrative zones:

• Black Gold, film
• Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism
• List of woredas of the Oromia Region

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oromia Region.

• Map of Oromia Region at UN-OCHA (PDF file)
• FDRE States: Basic Information – Oromia