Bensa

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Bensa is a woreda (district) in the Sidama Region of Ethiopia. Its main town is Daye, which is also the capital of the Eastern Sidama zone, also known as the Bensa zone. Bensa stretches into the Oromia Region like a peninsula and is bordered by Oromia to the north and south, Bona Zuria to the west, Arbegona to the northwest, Chire to the east, and Aroresa to the southeast.

Population and people: In 2007, Bensa had 250,727 residents (about 127,000 men and 124,000 women), with 4.6% living in urban areas. In 1994 the population was 186,343, with 3.2% urban. The area is mainly Sidama (about 96% in 1994). Sidamo was spoken as the first language by about 98% of people in 1994, with small numbers speaking Amharic and Oromiffa. Religion was mostly Protestant, rising from about 78% in 1994 to 92.8% in 2007; Muslims and Ethiopian Orthodox Christians were small minorities (about 2.7% and 1.9% respectively in 2007).

Education and services: Literacy was around 18% in 1994. Among children, about 6.96% aged 7–12 were in primary school, 1.70% aged 13–14 in junior secondary, and 0.93% aged 15–18 in senior secondary school. Access to safe drinking water and toilets was higher in urban areas: about 62% of urban households had safe water and 65.7% had toilet facilities, compared with 13.6% and 5.1% overall.

Infrastructure: As of 2004, Bensa had 101 kilometers of all-weather roads and no dry-weather roads, giving a road density of 125 kilometers per 1,000 square kilometers.