Tanzania: People & Society#
| Population | 52,482,726 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2016 est.) |
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| Nationality | noun: Tanzanian(s) adjective: Tanzanian |
| Ethnic groups | mainland - African 99% (of which 95% are Bantu consisting of more than 130 tribes), other 1% (consisting of Asian, European, and Arab); Zanzibar - Arab, African, mixed Arab and African |
| Languages | Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguja (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages note: Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources including Arabic and English; it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages |
| Religions | Christian 61.4%, Muslim 35.2%, folk religion 1.8%, other 0.2%, unaffiliated 1.4% note: Zanzibar is almost entirely Muslim (2010 est.) |
| Demographic profile | Tanzania has the largest population in East Africa and the lowest population density; almost a third of the population is urban. Tanzania’s youthful population – about two-thirds of the population is under 25 – is growing rapidly because of the high total fertility rate of 4.8 children per woman. Progress in reducing the birth rate has stalled, sustaining the country’s nearly 3% annual growth. The maternal mortality rate has improved since 2000, yet it remains very high because of early and frequent pregnancies, inadequate maternal health services, and a lack of skilled birth attendants – problems that are worse among poor and rural women. Tanzania has made strides in reducing under-5 and infant mortality rates, but a recent drop in immunization threatens to undermine gains in child health. Malaria is a leading killer of children under 5, while HIV is the main source of adult mortality For Tanzania, most migration is internal, rural to urban movement, while some temporary labor migration from towns to plantations takes place seasonally for harvests. Tanzania was Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country for decades, hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Great Lakes region, primarily Burundi, over the last fifty years. However, the assisted repatriation and naturalization of tens of thousands of Burundian refugees between 2002 and 2014 dramatically reduced the refugee population. Tanzania is increasingly a transit country for illegal migrants from the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region who are heading to southern Africa for security reasons and/or economic opportunities. Some of these migrants choose to settle in Tanzania. |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 44.06% (male 11,678,349/female 11,444,708) 15-24 years: 19.71% (male 5,173,239/female 5,169,214) 25-54 years: 29.74% (male 7,840,941/female 7,767,797) 55-64 years: 3.5% (male 802,760/female 1,034,151) 65 years and over: 2.99% (male 668,102/female 903,465) (2016 est.) |
| Dependency ratios | total dependency ratio: 93.8% youth dependency ratio: 87.6% elderly dependency ratio: 6.2% potential support ratio: 16.1% (2015 est.) |
| Median age | total: 17.6 years male: 17.3 years female: 17.9 years (2016 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 2.77% (2016 est.) |
| Birth rate | 36 births/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Death rate | 7.8 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Net migration rate | -0.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Urbanization | urban population: 31.6% of total population (2015) rate of urbanization: 5.36% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.) |
| Major urban areas - population | DAR ES SALAAM (capital) 5.116 million; Mwanza 838,000 (2015) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.78 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2016 est.) |
| Mother's mean age at first birth | 19.6 note: median age at first birth among women 25-29 (2010 est.) |
| Maternal mortality rate | 398 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 41.2 deaths/1,000 live births male: 43.2 deaths/1,000 live births female: 39.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 62.2 years male: 60.8 years female: 63.6 years (2016 est.) |
| Total fertility rate | 4.83 children born/woman (2016 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | 34.4% (2009/10) |
| Health expenditures | 5.6% of GDP (2014) |
| Physicians density | 0.03 physicians/1,000 population (2012) |
| Hospital bed density | 0.7 beds/1,000 population (2010) |
| Drinking water source | improved: urban: 77.2% of population rural: 45.5% of population total: 55.6% of population unimproved: urban: 22.1% of population rural: 56% of population total: 46.8% of population (2015 est.) |
| Sanitation facility access | improved: urban: 31.3% of population rural: 8.3% of population total: 15.6% of population unimproved: urban: 68.7% of population rural: 91.7% of population total: 84.4% of population (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | 4.69% (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | 1,385,800 (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | 35,700 (2015 est.) |
| Major infectious diseases | degree of risk: very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, and Rift Valley fever water contact disease: schistosomiasis and leptospirosis animal contact disease: rabies (2016) |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate | 5.9% (2014) |
| Children under the age of 5 years underweight | 13.6% (2011) |
| Education expenditures | 3.5% of GDP (2014) |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write Kiswahili (Swahili), English, or Arabic total population: 70.6% male: 75.9% female: 65.4% (2015 est.) |
| School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) | total: 8 years male: 8 years female: 8 years (2013) |
| Child labor - children ages 5-14 | total number: 2,815,085 percentage: 21% note: data represent children ages 5-17 and does not include Zanzibar (2006 est.) |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 5.8% male: 4.5% female: 7.2% (2013 est.) |