The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 175,407, of whom 88,421 were men and 86,986 women; 4,460 or 2.54% of its population were urban dwellers at the time. (This total also includes an estimate for the inhabitants of several rural kebeles, which were not counted; they were estimated to have 9,417 inhabitants, of whom 4,738 were men and 4,679 women.) The two largest ethnic groups reported in Bedeno were the Oromo (97.74%), and the Amhara (2.18%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.08% of the population. Oromiffa was spoken as a first language by 97.61%, and 2.35% spoke Amharic; the remaining 0.04% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants were Muslim, with 97.31% of the population having reported they practiced that belief, while 2.59% of the population said they professed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity.