Alaba

Alaba is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. This woreda is named after the Alaba people, and covers part of their homeland. While in their latest population estimates the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) includes it one of the woredas of the Kembata Alaba and Tembaro Zone, the list of second administrative level bodies maintained by the United Nations Geographic Information Working Group categorizes Alaba as a "special woreda", that is a district that is not part of any Zone. [ [http://www.who.int/whosis/database/gis/salb/salb_coding.htm Names and codes for January 2000, Ethiopia] (WHO website). The information in the WHO spreadsheet is built on information received 18 September 2002 from the Ethiopian Ministry of Federal Affairs.] Located in the Great Rift Valley, Alaba is bordered on the south by an exclave of the Hadiya Zone, on the southwest by Kedida Gamela, on the west and north by the Hadiya Zone, and on the east by the Oromia Region; the Bilate River defines its western boundary. Towns in Alaba include Alaba Kulito and Alem Gebeya.

The elevation of this woreda ranges from 1700 to 2200 meters above sea level. The climate is characterized as temperate or locally called "woinadega", the mean annual temperature is about 17.6 _ 22.5 Oc and the mean annual rainfall reaches 601-1200mm. The economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture. The main cash crops include pepper, maize, teff, sorgum, dagnssa and wheat.Fact|date=August 2008

Based on figures published by the CSA in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 270,210, of whom 135,593 were males and 134,617 were females; 30,297 or 11.21% of its population are urban dwellers, which is greater than the Zone average of 8.8%. With an estimated area of 973.76 square kilometers, Alaba has an estimated population density of 277.5 people per square kilometer, which is less than the Zone average of 429.40. [ [http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics] , Tables B.3 and B.4]

Notes