The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 82,801, of whom 42,511 were men and 40,290 women; 5,491 or 6.63% of its population were urban dwellers at the time. (This total also includes an estimate for the inhabitants of one rural kebele, which was not counted; it was estimated to have 5,348 inhabitants, of whom 2,697 were men and 2,651 women.) The two largest ethnic groups reported in Kombolcha were the Oromo (92.55%), and the Amhara (7.2%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.25% of the population. Oromiffa was spoken as a first language by 92.5%, and 7.27% spoke Amharic; the remaining 0.23% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants were Muslim, with 91.8% of the surveyed population having reported they practiced that belief, while 7.79% of the population said they professed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity.