Demographics
Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), Dire Dawa has a total population of 341,834, of whom 171,461 are men and 170,461 women; 233,224 or 68.23% of the population are urban inhabitants. For all of Dire Dawa 76,815 households were counted living in 72,937 housing units, which results in an average of 4.5 persons to a household, with urban households having on average 4.2 and rural households 4.9 people. Ethnic groups in the region include the Oromo (45.9%), Somali (24.3%), Amhara (20.17%), Gurage (4.55%), Tigray (1.23%), and Harari (1.09%). Languages spoke include Oromiffa (47.95%), Amharic (26.46%), Somali (19.7%), Gurage (2.78%), and Harari (1.04%). The religion with the most believers in Dire Dawa is Muslim with 70.8%, 25.71% are Ethiopian Orthodox, 2.81% Protestant, and 0.43% Catholic.
In the previous census, conducted in 1994, the city's population was reported to be 251,864, of whom 127,286 were men and 124,578 were women. The percentage of males and females is about 50.5 and 49.5 percent, respectively. The urban residents numbered at the time 173,188 while its rural residents were 78,676. For the entire administrative council there were 52,245 households in Dire Dawa administrative council with an average of 4.7 persons per household. The major ethnic groups included the Oromo (48%), Amhara (27.7%), Somali (13.9%), Gurage (4.5%; 2.3% Sebat Bet, 0.8% Sodo and 1.4% Silt'e); the remaining 5.9% of the population consists of all other ethnic groups.63.2% of the inhabitants are Muslim, 34.5% Orthodox Christian, 1.5% Protestant, 0.7% Catholic, and 0.1% followers of other religions.
According to the CSA, as of 2004, 90.76% of the total population had access to safe drinking water: 69.61% of rural and 99.48% of urban inhabitants having access. Values for other reported common indicators of the standard of living for Dire Dawa as of 2005 include the following: 11.4% of the inhabitants fall into the lowest wealth quintile; adult literacy for men is 76.6% and for women 53%; and the civic infant mortality rate is 71 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, which is less than the nationwide average of 77; at least half of these deaths occurred in the infants’ first month of life.
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