Offa (woreda)

Offa is one of the woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Wolayita Zone, Offa is bordered on the south by the Gamo Gofa Zone, on the west by kindo Didaye, on the north by Kindo Koysha, on the northeast by Sodo Zuria, and on the east by Humbo. The administrative center of Offa is Gesuba. Western part of Offa was added to Kindo Didaye woreda.

According to a 2004 report, Offa had 22 kilometers of all-weather roads and 56 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 133 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers.

Prior to the Ethiopian 2005 General Elections, Amnesty International reports that a total of 38 Coalition for Unity and Democracy members were arrested in Offa between 11 and 17 February, and held for seven days on the accusation they held their campaign meeting without giving police 48 hours notice. Amnesty International included this incident as part of a series of government intimidation of opposition party activists.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this woreda has a total population of 103,870, of whom 50,938 are men and 52,932 women; 5,426 or 5.22% of its population are urban dwellers. The majority of the inhabitants were Protestants, with 85.55% of the population reporting that belief, 11.97% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 1.1% were Catholic.

The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 111,384 of whom 55,323 were men and 56,061 were women; 2,931 or 2.63% of its population were urban dwellers. The largest ethnic group reported in Offa was the Welayta (99.21%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.79% of the population. Welayta was the dominant first language, spoken by 99.34% of the inhabitants; the remaining 0.66% spoke all other primary languages reported.