Ethiopian Atlas
Chartered city

Dire Dawa

Dire Dawa, Ethiopia's second chartered city
Dire Dawa, Ethiopia's second chartered city · photo: Sailko, CC BY 3.0 (source)

Dire Dawa is a chartered city of Ethiopia, covering 1,053 km² — 0.1% of the national territory. Its administrative centre is Dire Dawa. Its projected 2022 population is 521,000 — about 495 people per km². It comprises 2 sub-city administrations and 13 woredas (districts).

Dire Dawa, Ethiopia's second chartered city, grew from 1902 around the Addis Ababa–Djibouti railway when the line reached the foot of the eastern highlands. It remains a trading and industrial crossroads between the highlands and the Djibouti corridor.

Sources: Britannica — Dire Dawa

Where Dire Dawa sits in Ethiopia

1,053
km²
0.1%
of national territory
2
sub-cities
13
woredas
521,000
people (2022 proj.)
495
per km²
Administrative centreDire Dawa
P-codeET15
Boundary valid from2025-01-01

Sub-city administrations

Dire Dawa ruralDire Dawa urban

View Dire Dawa on the map →

Every figure on this page is computed from the OCHA COD-AB Ethiopia dataset (April 2026 release, CC BY 3.0 IGO). Richer geographic and historical profiles, with cited sources, arrive in Phase 2.