[1] Hormuzd Rassam mentions visiting the island in February 1866, describing that at the time it contained four villages with a church attached to each one.

Rassam also repeats the story told to him how Dejazmach Kassa (the later Emperor Tewodros II) captured Dek in a single assault.

Cheesman visited Dek in 1932 and 1933, he found that it was not strictly "monasterial", but with five churches each with a small village nearby.

Cheesman continues his description: Based on the 2007 national census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), the kebele which includes Dek has a total population of 4,816, of whom 2,503 are men and 2,313 women; a total of 1,218 households were counted in this kebele, resulting in an average of 3.95 persons to a household, which is less than the woreda average of 4.45 persons, and 1,197 housing units.

[4] The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 5,099 people in 1,028 households, of whom 2,683 were men and 2,416 were women.