Awi people


The Awi people are an ethnic group in Ethiopia and are one of the Agaw peoples. The Awi live in Agew Awi Zone in central Gojjam and have a few communities in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region.

Population

The 2007 census lists 631,565 ethnic Awis, or 0.85% of the total population; 63,415 are urban inhabitants. The Awi Zone, according to the Central Statistical Agency, had roughly 990,000 inhabitants in 2005. Others living in that Zone are predominantly Amharas.

Language

The Awis speak Awngi, one of the Agaw languages, which are part of the Cushitic subfamily within Afroasiatic. Agaw languages form the main substratum influence on Amharic and other Ethiopian Semitic languages, which are also Afroasiatic languages.