Debre Zeit Community Religious Following:
Various religions are practiced among the members of the Debre Zeit Community. According to the 2007 population census, slightly over three quarters (79.7%) of the community are Orthodox Christiane followed by protestants which account for 13.8 percent.
St. Rufale Church: One of the three Orthodox church and Mosque in Debre Zeit
What is interesting is as we move away from Debre Zeit into The Oromia Zone, the share of the community members who are Christians shrinks, while the share of those who are Muslims rises significantly. In fact at the Oromia Region level, the community members who are Christians (Orthodox + Protestants + Catholics) and Islam were close to half and half with Christians slightly ahead.
The most dramatic change is the drop in share of Orthodox Christians at the Oromia Regional level from about 80% in Debre Zeit to 30% at the Oromia Region level. Conversely, the Muslim share rises to 47.5 % at the Oromia Region level compared with Only 5% in Debre Zeit.
| % Share of the religions | |||||||
| BISHOFTU/TOWN/-WEREDA | Orthodox | Protestant | Catholic | Islam | Traditional | Christian | Islam |
| Both Sexes | 79.7% | 13.8% | 0.5% | 5.0% | 0.4% | 94.0% | 5.0% |
| Male | 79.5% | 13.2% | 0.5% | 5.6% | 0.5% | 93.2% | 5.6% |
| Female | 80.0% | 14.4% | 0.4% | 4.4% | 0.2% | 94.8% | 4.4% |
| EAST SHEWA ZONE | |||||||
| Both Sexes | 69.5% | 8.4% | 0.5% | 16.2% | 5.1% | 78.4% | 16.2% |
| Male | 69.3% | 8.6% | 0.6% | 16.1% | 5.1% | 78.4% | 16.1% |
| Female | 69.7% | 8.2% | 0.5% | 16.3% | 5.0% | 78.4% | 16.3% |
| OROMIA REGION | |||||||
| Both Sexes | 30.4% | 17.7% | 0.5% | 47.5% | 3.3% | 48.6% | 47.5% |
| Male | 30.5% | 17.4% | 0.5% | 47.7% | 3.3% | 48.4% | 47.7% |
| Female | 30.3% | 18.0% | 0.5% | 47.4% | 3.3% | 48.7% | 47.4% |
For further analysis, we have provided the complete table with actual numbers of followers of the different religion broken down by town (Debre Zeit), Zone (East Shewa) and Region (Oromia)
Population by Religion and Sex: 2007
Total Orthodox Protestant Catholic Islam Traditional Other Christian Islam Traditional
BISHOFTU/TOWN/-WEREDA
Both Sexes 99928 79691 13814 462 4979 376 606 0.94034704987591 0.049825874629733 0.0037627091505884
Male 47860 38058 6323 229 2667 261 322 0.93209360635186 0.055725031341412 0.0054534057668199
Female 52068 41633 7491 233 2312 115 284 0.94793347161404 0.044403472382269 0.0022086502266267
EAST SHEWA ZONE
Both Sexes 1356342 942428 113904 7355 219510 68959 4186 0.78423214793909 0.16183971299274 0.050841896807737
Male 696350 482318 59994 3936 112108 35695 2299 0.78444460400661 0.16099375314138 0.051260142169886
Female 659992 460110 53910 3419 107402 33264 1887 0.78400798797561 0.16273227554273 0.050400610916496
OROMIA REGION
Both Sexes 26993933 8204908 4780917 122138 12835410 887773 162787 0.4855892248084 0.47549240045902 0.032887871508016
Male 13595006 4146040 2368638 61831 6482986 451299 84212 0.48374447205099 0.47686525478547 0.033195939744344
Female 13398927 4058868 2412279 60307 6352424 436474 78575 0.48746097355408 0.47409945587434 0.032575295021758