3.1.

Description of the Study Area

The study was conduct in Debre_Markos town. Debre Markos, the capital city of East Gojjam
Administrative Zone is located in the north west of the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa at a
distance of 300kms and 265 kms to the capital city of Amhara National Regional State, Bahir
Dar. Specifically, it is located in the Amhara Regional State, East Gojjam Zone and covers a
total area of 65.85km 2. Until 1995, Debre Markos was the capital city of the province of Gojjam
and currently the town served as the capital city of East Gojjam Zone. The city is named as
Debre Markos after its principal church, which was constructed in 1869 E.C and is devoted to
Saint Mark. It shares borders with Aneded to the east and Gozamen to the south, north and west.
Debre Markos is one of the oldest and medium sized cities of Ethiopia and currently, the city has
eleven (11) kebele administrations (Debre Markos town Administration, 2020/2021). It has
latitude and longitude of 100 20’ N, 370 43’ E and altitude of 2,446 meters above sea level and it
has moderate temperature (Debre Markos City Administration, 2020). The area of Debre Markos
city is 6,585 ha and has oval shape; its mean temperatures ranging from 18 to 24 0 c and its
average annual temperature is210 c . Annual rainfall ranges from 1300mm to 1380mm received
and the existing wind direction is from North to South.

The city is administration and commercial center. There are 80 manufacturing industries, 37
wholesale trades, 11810 retail trades and 768 service trades in the town. There are four
government and three private banks and one micro- finance giving services in the town. The
major investment opportunities in the town are: agro-industry processing, constriction industry,
hotel and tourism & social services. According to Debre Markos town Administration
(2020/2021) youths those register as unemployed in the town was 8494 for both sexes. The male
and female unemployed were 3829 and 4665 respectively. Debre Markos town has economic
linkages with the surrounding areas and Addis Ababa. The town gets grain products, livestock
supply, natural resources (fuel wood and charcoal), and labor from surrounding areas
manufactured and commercial products from Addis Ababa.
According to Debre Markos town Administration (2020/2021) the population of the city was
107,684. Out of this 49893 (47.87%) were males and 57,791 (52.1%) were females;
16,325(26.14%) were within the age group of 0-15 years, 42,185(67.49 %) were 16 - 60 years,
and 3,987(6.37 %) were 61 years and above. The population growth rate at low variant was 2.4%
while household family size in the city is calculated to be 3.2. According to Debre Markos town
Administration (2020/2021) the population projection of the city had been estimated 61,647 male
and 70,714 female inhabitants which is a total of 132,361 populations.

Population distribution by kebele level

The geographic distribution of the population depends by and large on the socio economic,
cultural and historical development of the kebeles. Table 3.1 reports the total population that
resides in each kebele in 2020. In terms of population size, kebele 02 is the biggest, accounting

for 12.6% of the total population of the town and kebele 11 the smallest, and accounting 6.1%.

Table 3.1: Population distribution of Debre Markos town

kebele Number of Population by sex

household Male Female Total Percent
01 3,034 5,447 6,993 12,440 9.4%
02 3,870 7,135 9,571 16,707 12.6%
03 3,668 7,235 7,448 14,683 11.1%
04 3,429 7,104 7,602 14,705 11.1%
05 2,341 5,697 6,119 11,816 8.9%
06 2,060 4,407 5,499 9,906 7.5%
07 1,881 4,827 4,949 9,777 7.4%
08 2,930 5,920 6,093 12,013 9.1%
09 2,602 4,457 5,721 10,178 7.7%
10 2,728 5,812 6,220 12,032 9.1%
11 1,911 3,606 4,499 8,105 6.1%
Total 30,454 61,647 70,714 132,361 100%
Source: Debre Markos town Administration plan commission team (2020/2021)
Figure 3.1: Location of Debre Markos town
Source: Debre Markos town administration annual report (2020/2021)