East Welega Zone

East Welega (Oromo: Wallagga Bahaa) is one of the zones in the central Oromia Region of Ethiopia.

East Welega is bounded on the southwest by Illubabor, on the west by the Didessa River which separates it from West Welega, on the northwest and north by the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, on the northeast by Horo Guduru Welega Zone, on the east by West Shewa, and on the southeast by the Gibe River which separates it from Jimma.

The Central Statistical Agency (CSA) reported that 40,606 tons of coffee were produced in West and East Welega combined in the year ending in 2005, based on inspection records from the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea authority.

[1] Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this Zone has a total population of 1,213,503, of whom 606,379 are men and 607,124 women; with an area of 12,579.77 square kilometers, East Welega has a population density of 96.46.

The majority of the inhabitants professed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 61.74% of the population having reported they practiced that belief, while 16.44% of the population said they were Protestant, 12.44% held traditional beliefs, and 8.27% were Muslim.