Tanzania
Name
| Official name | United Republic of Tanzania — Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania (Kiswahili); Tanzania in speech, the mainland called Tanganyika still in the older usage and "Bara" (the mainland) by the islanders, the islands Zanzibar (Unguja and Pemba; Zanzibar is also the Revolutionary Government's own name for its state); TZA the code, TZ the domain, EAT on the cars |
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| Former names | The United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar (26 April – 29 October 1964); Tanganyika (the German East Africa of 1891–1918 renamed by the British in 1920; the Tanganyika Territory of the League mandate and the UN trusteeship; the independent Tanganyika of 9 December 1961 and the Republic of Tanganyika of 1962); the Sultanate of Zanzibar (1856–1964; a British protectorate 1890–1963) and the People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba of the revolution (12 January – 26 April 1964); Deutsch-Ostafrika; Azania the old name of the coast in the Greek Periplus, Zanj the Arabs' name for the people |
| Demonym | Tanzanian (Mtanzania, Watanzania); Zanzibari for the islanders, Tanganyikan in the old books; Swahili (Waswahili) the coastal people and their language, not the nation; the 120 peoples by their own names — Sukuma, Chagga, Haya, Nyamwezi, Makonde, Gogo, Hehe, Nyakyusa, Maasai |
| Meaning of the name | A coinage of 1964 — TAN from Tanganyika and ZAN from Zanzibar with the ending -ia, chosen by a public competition after the union (the first proposals ran to "Tanzan" and "Zantan"); Tanganyika from the lake — "tanga" (sail) and "nyika" (wilderness) by one reading, "the gathering of waters" by another; Zanzibar from the Persian Zangi-bar, "the coast of the Blacks" (the Arabic Zanjibar), the Swahili Unguja the island's own name; Dar es Salaam the Arabic "abode of peace" of Sultan Majid's 1865 town; Dodoma "it has sunk" in Gogo, from the elephant in the mud of the legend |
| Motto | "Uhuru na Umoja" ("Freedom and Unity"), the words on the coat of arms of 1964; "Uhuru" the cry of 1961 (the Uhuru Torch lit on Kilimanjaro on the night of independence), "Umoja" the union's word and the name of the first years' slogans — Nyerere's "Ujamaa" (familyhood) the creed of 1967, Magufuli's "Hapa Kazi Tu" ("here, only work") the slogan of 2015–21, Samia's "Kazi Iendelee" ("let the work continue") of 2021 and the "4Rs" (reconciliation, resilience, reforms, rebuilding) of 2022; no motto of Zanzibar by law |
Quick facts
| Capital | Dodoma — the capital by the decision of 1 October 1973, the Parliament's seat since 1996 and the government's since the move of 2019–20 (State House at Chamwino, the ministries' city at Mtumba, the Msalato international airport building); about 765,000 in the city council and 3.09 million in the region by the census of 2022, on the central plateau at 1,120 m, 450 km from the coast, at the junction of the Great North Road and the central railway, the capital of the Gogo country and the wine of the Catholic missions; Dar es Salaam (about 5.4 million in the region, 7 million in the metropolis by the estimates) the largest city and the commercial capital that keeps the port, the banks, the embassies and the big stadium; Zanzibar City the capital of the islands |
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| Largest cities | Dar es Salaam (about 5.38 million in the region by the census of 2022; Africa's fastest-growing metropolis of the 2010s by the UN's counts, with Kinondoni, Ilala, Temeke, Ubungo and Kigamboni), Mwanza (about 1.1 million in the city on the southern shore of Lake Victoria, the "Rock City"), Dodoma (about 765,000 in the city), Zanzibar City (about 890,000 in the Urban West region; Stone Town and Ng'ambo), Arusha (about 620,000; the safari gateway, the East African Community's seat), Mbeya (about 540,000; the Southern Highlands), Morogoro (about 470,000), Tanga (about 390,000; the sisal port), Kahama, Tabora, Kigoma-Ujiji, Songea, Moshi (about 220,000; Kilimanjaro's town), Musoma, Iringa, Shinyanga, Sumbawanga, Bukoba, Mtwara — the census of 2022 by council; about 35% of the people in towns and cities, two-thirds of them in informal settlements by the UN-Habitat counts |
| Official language | Kiswahili (Swahili) — the national language by the practice of 1962 and the official language of government, Parliament, the primary schools and the courts, spoken by about 90% of the people as a first or second language (the standard of Zanzibar's Kiunguja dialect, codified 1930) — and English, the second official language of the higher courts, the secondary schools and the universities, the foreign ministry and the business world; the Swahili of Tanzania the model for the 200 million speakers of East and Central Africa, the African Union's working language (2022) and the East African Community's, World Kiswahili Language Day on 7 July (UNESCO, 2021); Arabic in Zanzibar's mosques and old families; about 120 languages of the peoples — Sukuma, Haya, Chagga, Gogo, Nyamwezi, Makonde (Bantu), Maasai and Datoga (Nilotic), Iraqw (Cushitic), Sandawe and Hadza (the click languages) |
| Currency | Tanzanian shilling (ISO code TZS; TSh; shilingi), of 100 senti — about 2,640 to the U.S. dollar on 3 October 2026 by the Bank of Tanzania's indicative rate (2,626 buying, 2,652 selling), about 2,970 to the euro; the Bank of Tanzania (14 June 1966; Governor Emmanuel Tutuba since January 2023), the Central Bank Rate 6.25% since 2 July 2026 (from 5.75%; the next decision in October), inflation 4.2% (May 2026) inside the 3–5% band; the notes of 500 to 10,000 shillings with Nyerere on the 1,000 and Karume on the 500; the East African shilling before 1966; the mobile money of 60 million accounts (M-Pesa, Mixx by Yas, Airtel Money, HaloPesa) |
| Time zone | East Africa Time (UTC+3), the same clock as Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and the Gulf; no daylight saving; Swahili time counts the hours from sunrise — saa moja (one o'clock) is 7 a.m., saa sita (six) is noon — on the clocks of the daladala and the market |
| Calling code | +255 (Zanzibar +255 24; the old +259 of Zanzibar retired) |
| Internet domain | .tz (since 1995; tzNIC since 2006 — .co.tz, .or.tz, .go.tz, .ac.tz the common second levels) |
| ISO 3166 codes | TZ · TZA · 834 |
| Vehicle registration code | EAT (East Africa Tanzania; EAZ for Zanzibar) — the plates T 123 ABC of the mainland, Z of Zanzibar, the yellow of the private cars and the green of the government's |
| Driving side | Left (the British rule kept, as in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique; the Hilux and the Noah of the roads, the bodaboda of the towns, the daladala of Dar) |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types D (the old British three round pins) and G (the British three square pins); the grid of TANESCO, about 46% of households connected by the census of 2022 and rising on the Nyerere dam's power, the solar lamps of the villages |
| Independence | Tanganyika on 9 December 1961 from the United Kingdom (the UN trusteeship; Julius Nyerere prime minister, Sir Richard Turnbull the last governor; a republic on 9 December 1962 with Nyerere president); Zanzibar on 10 December 1963 (the sultanate under Jamshid bin Abdullah, a Commonwealth monarchy of 33 days), the Zanzibar Revolution of 12 January 1964 (Abeid Karume's Afro-Shirazi Party, John Okello's rising; the sultan fled; thousands of Arabs and South Asians killed by the counts); the Union of 26 April 1964 (Nyerere and Karume's articles of union; Tanzania from 29 October 1964); the Union's 62nd year in 2026 |
| National days | Union Day 26 April (the holiday of the state), Independence Day 9 December (Tanganyika's Uhuru), Zanzibar Revolution Day 12 January, Karume Day 7 April (the first vice president's assassination, 1972), Saba Saba 7 July (TANU's founding of 1954; the international trade fair of Dar es Salaam), Nane Nane 8 August (the farmers' day), Nyerere Day 14 October (Mwalimu's death, 1999), Labour Day 1 May; the religious holidays of both faiths — Eid al-Fitr (30 March in 2026), Eid al-Adha (6 June), Maulid (4 September), Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas and Boxing Day; the Uhuru Torch race around the country every year since 1961 |
| Constitution | The Constitution of the United Republic of 25 April 1977 (in force 26 April), the fourth after the independence constitution of 1961, the republican one of 1962 and the interim of 1965 — the one-party state of 1965–92 (the Eighth Amendment of 1992 brought multiparty politics; the Bill of Rights of 1984), the executive presidency of two five-year terms, the Union of two governments (the Union's and Zanzibar's, the mainland having none of its own) with the 22 Union matters (defense, foreign affairs, citizenship, the currency, the police, higher education), Zanzibar's own constitution of 1984 (amended 2010 for the government of national unity); the Constitutional Review of 2012–14 (the Warioba commission's draft of a three-government federation) passed by the Constituent Assembly in October 2014 and never put to the referendum — the opposition's standing demand for a new constitution and an independent electoral commission, the government's answer that the 2024 electoral laws suffice (the Independent National Electoral Commission Act of 2024) — both stated (LAW 2) |
| Population | 61,741,120 at the census of 23 August 2022 (the mainland 59,851,347, Zanzibar 1,889,773; 44,928,923 in 2012; +3.2% a year), about 72.6 million in 2026 by the United Nations' estimate and about 70 million by the National Bureau of Statistics' projection by the reports (both stated) — the 20th or so of the world, the fifth of Africa; the median age about 18, the under-15s about 43%, the over-65s about 3%; the fertility rate about 4.8 (the demographic survey of 2022); a projection of about 120 million by 2050 the government's own; the mainland's regions led by Dar es Salaam (5.38 million), Mwanza (3.70), Tabora (3.39), Morogoro (3.20), Dodoma (3.09), Kagera (2.99), Geita (2.98) and Mbeya (2.34) by the census |
| Area | 947,303 km² (365,756 sq mi) by the statistics bureau's count — 947,300 by the Factbook's (both stated) — the 31st of the world and the 13th of Africa; land 885,800 km², water 61,500 (6.5%: the shares of Victoria, Tanganyika and Nyasa); the mainland of 26 regions, Zanzibar's Unguja (1,666 km²) and Pemba (988) with the Mafia and Latham islands of the mainland's coast; the coastline 1,424 km, the borders 4,161 km with eight neighbors; about 38% of the land under protection (the national parks, the Ngorongoro, the game reserves, the forest reserves) by the government's count — among the largest shares of any country |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | The flag of 30 June 1964 — a black diagonal band edged in gold running from the lower hoist to the upper fly, the green triangle above it for the land and its agriculture, the blue triangle below for the Indian Ocean and the great lakes, the black for the people, the gold for the minerals in the ground; 2:3, the merger of Tanganyika's flag of 1961 (green-black-green with gold edges, the TANU colors) and Zanzibar's of 1964 (blue-black-green), one of the few African flags with a diagonal band (Namibia's and the Congo's the cousins, Trinidad's across the ocean); Zanzibar's own flag of 2005 (blue, black and green with the national flag in the canton) flown beside it on the islands; the presidential standard of the gold torch; the Uhuru Torch's flag of 1961 the ancestorFlag of Tanzania |
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| Coat of arms | The arms of 1964 — a warrior's shield in four fields: the gold of the minerals above, the flag's colors, the red of the soil and the blue wavy of the sea and lakes below, charged with the flaming torch of freedom (the Uhuru Torch), the spear of the defense of the land and the crossed axe and hoe of the people's work; the shield stands on Kilimanjaro's snows, held by a man and a woman (the people and their equality) with an elephant's tusk at either side (the wildlife and the wealth), the clove bush at her foot and the cotton at his; the ribbon "Uhuru na Umoja"; the arms on the passport, the coins and the courtrooms; Zanzibar's own arms of the revolution with the sailing dhow and the cloves |
| National anthem | "Mungu ibariki Afrika" ("God Bless Africa") — the Swahili words of 1961 to Enoch Sontonga's "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" of 1897, the hymn of the African National Congress that became the anthem of Tanganyika on independence and of the Union in 1964, the tune shared with Zambia (to 1973) and with South Africa's anthem since 1994, Zimbabwe's old one and Namibia's cousin; Zanzibar's own "Mungu ibariki Zanzibar" sung at the islands' functions by the practice; "Tanzania, Tanzania" the patriotic song of the schools |
| National motto | "Uhuru na Umoja" ("Freedom and Unity") on the arms since 1964; "Uhuru" the word of 1961, "Umoja" the Union's; the slogans of the presidents — "Ujamaa na Kujitegemea" (familyhood and self-reliance, 1967), "Hapa Kazi Tu" (2015), "Kazi Iendelee" (2021); the Afro-Shirazi Party's "Mapinduzi Daima" ("Revolution forever") of the islands |
| National colors | Green, black, blue and gold of the flag — the green of the land, the black of the people, the blue of the waters, the gold of the minerals; the Taifa Stars in blue, gold and green (the "Tanzanite" kits), the Simba red and the Yanga green and yellow of the Dar derby, the CCM's green and gold, CHADEMA's red, white and blue, ACT-Wazalendo's purple; the kanga's prints and the kitenge; the tanzanite blue of the gem |
| National animal | The giraffe (twiga) — the national animal and the symbol of the Union, protected since Nyerere's day (the killing of one a crime under the Wildlife Conservation Act; the Maasai giraffe the subspecies), the emblem of the state's letterheads and the old 1,000-shilling note; the lion of the Serengeti's 3,000, the elephant of the 60,000 (the Selous's herds halved by the poaching of 2009–14 and recovering), the black rhino of Ngorongoro, the chimpanzee of Gombe and Mahale (Jane Goodall's since 1960), the wildebeest of the migration, the leopard, the buffalo, the hippo and the crocodile of the Rufiji, the flamingo of Natron, the kingfisher, the fish eagle, the Zanzibar red colobus and the Pemba flying fox; the elephant's tusks on the arms |
| National flower and tree | No flower by law — the orchids of Kitulo (the "Garden of God," 350 species), the flame lily, the jacaranda of the towns, the frangipani of Zanzibar, the lotus of the lakes by custom; the tree: the African blackwood (mpingo, Dalbergia melanoxylon), the national tree by common account (the wood of the Makonde carvings and the world's clarinets, the Mpingo Conservation project), the baobab of the plains (the elephants' tree), the mango and the coconut of the coast, the clove tree of Pemba (the island's livelihood since 1818), the acacia of the savanna's silhouette, the Kilimanjaro's giant groundsels and lobelias |
| National dish | Ugali (the stiff maize porridge) with nyama choma (the roast goat or beef) and mchicha (the greens) by custom — the plate of the mainland; wali wa nazi (coconut rice) and the pilau and biryani of the coast, the Zanzibar mix (urojo) and the octopus curry of Forodhani's night market, mishkaki (the skewers), chipsi mayai (the chips omelet of the streets), ndizi (the plantains of the Chagga with the mbege banana beer), kachumbari, mandazi and chapati of the morning with chai; the cashews of Mtwara, the cloves and spices of Pemba, the Kilimanjaro and Mbeya coffees and the Konyagi gin; the Kilimanjaro, Serengeti and Safari lagers of the two breweries; the tilapia and the Nile perch of Mwanza, the dagaa; the Swahili sweets of Ramadan; the groundnut soup of the Haya and the kande of the Pare |
| National sport | Football by custom — the Taifa Stars (the Tanzania Football Federation, 1930; FIFA since 1964), the Kariakoo derby of Simba SC (1936) and Young Africans (Yanga, 1935) at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium of 60,000 (2007; the Chinese-built national stadium), the Premier League of 16, Azam FC of the Bakhresa group; AFCON appearances of 1980, 2019, 2023 and 2025 — THE ROUND OF 16 OF JANUARY 2026 THE FIRST KNOCKOUT (the group of Nigeria 1–2, Uganda 1–1 and Tunisia 1–1 in December 2025, Morocco 1–0 on 4 January 2026); the 2026 World Cup missed (3-1-4 in the group); the African Nations Championship co-hosted with Kenya and Uganda in August 2025 (the quarterfinal); AFCON 2027 co-hosted with the two neighbors (Dar es Salaam and Arusha the venues); the coach Miguel Ángel Gamondi, the captain Mbwana Samatta (Genk, Aston Villa, Fenerbahçe) the first Tanzanian of the Premier League; Zanzibar's own federation and CECAFA entry; athletics the glory — Filbert Bayi's 1,500 m world record of 1974 and his Olympic silver of 1980 with Suleiman Nyambui's (the country's only medals), Juma Ikangaa's marathons, ALPHONCE SIMBU'S WORLD MARATHON GOLD OF 15 SEPTEMBER 2025 (Tokyo, by three hundredths of a second) and his 2:02:47 second at Boston on 20 April 2026, Gabriel Geay; the boxing of the Bongo fighters, netball, the basketball of Hasheem Thabeet (the NBA's first Tanzanian, 2009), the Zanzibar bao board game; the Glasgow Commonwealth Games of 2026 without a medal (Winfrida Makenji's 200 m national record of 23.88); the Kilimanjaro Marathon of Moshi and the Serengeti safari rallies |
| Heritage listings | UNESCO World Heritage ×7 — the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (1979; the crater and Olduvai), the ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara (1981), the Serengeti (1981), the Selous Game Reserve (1982; the Nyerere park and the dam; on the danger list since 2014), Kilimanjaro National Park (1987), the Stone Town of Zanzibar (2000) and the Kondoa Rock-Art Sites (2006); the Ramsar wetlands ×4 (the Malagarasi-Muyovozi, Lake Natron, the Kilombero Valley, the Rufiji-Mafia-Kilwa marine site), the biosphere reserves ×4 (Serengeti-Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara, East Usambara, Gombe Masito Ugalla), the 22 national parks of TANAPA and the Ngorongoro's own authority, about 38% of the land protected; the Makonde carving and the Tingatinga painting the intangible heritage without a UNESCO inscription; the Swahili language's day of 7 July |
| Symbol status | The flag by the Flag and Coat of Arms Act of 1971 (the proclamation of 30 June 1964), the arms by the same, the anthem by custom since 1961 (no act), the motto on the arms, the giraffe by the wildlife laws' protection and the custom, the mpingo by common account, no flower, dish or sport by law; the Uhuru Torch by the tradition of 1961; Zanzibar's flag by the islands' act of 2005; the national dress the kanga and the kitenge by custom, the kanzu and the kofia of the coast |
Geography
| Location | East Africa, between 1° and 12° S and 29° and 41° E, on the Indian Ocean south of the equator — Kenya and Uganda to the north across Lake Victoria's shores, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west along Lake Tanganyika, Zambia and Malawi to the southwest across Lake Nyasa, Mozambique to the south beyond the Ruvuma; the islands of Zanzibar (Unguja 35 km offshore, Pemba) and Mafia; the Comoros and Madagascar across the Mozambique Channel; the three great lakes of Africa on its three sides; the crossroads of the Rift Valley's two arms, the Swahili coast and the plateau of the interior; the longest-lived union of Africa; the hinterland's gateway for six landlocked neighbors |
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| Land borders | 4,161 km with eight countries by the Factbook's count — Mozambique 840 km (the Ruvuma River; the Unity Bridge of 2010 at Negomano), Kenya 775 (the Kilimanjaro line of 1886–1900 and the Namanga and Holili crossings; the Namanga trade stopped by the protests of October 2025), Burundi 589 (the Kagera and Malagarasi; the refugee camps of Nyarugusu and Nduta — Nduta closed 30 April 2026), Malawi 512 (Lake Nyasa; the lake's median line the dispute since 1967 — Malawi claims the whole lake under the Heligoland treaty of 1890, Tanzania half — both stated), the Congo 479 (the lake's middle line; the Kigoma–Kalemie ferries), Uganda 391 (the Kagera line of 1890 and Lake Victoria; the war of 1978–79), Zambia 353 (Tunduma–Nakonde, the TAZARA's border, the busiest crossing of the south), Rwanda 222 (Rusumo's falls and the one-stop post); the coast 1,424 km; the East African Community's open borders in law and the queues in practice |
| Coastline | 1,424 km on the Indian Ocean from the Kenyan border at Jasini to the Ruvuma — the Swahili coast of coral and mangrove: Tanga and the Pangani estuary, the Saadani park where the giraffes meet the sea, Bagamoyo (the caravan terminus; the port talks with China), Dar es Salaam's harbor and the Msasani peninsula, the Kigamboni beaches, the Rufiji delta (the largest mangrove forest of East Africa, 53,000 ha), Kilwa's islands, Lindi, Mtwara's deepwater port and the cashews, Mikindani; Zanzibar's Stone Town, Nungwi and Kendwa beaches, the Jozani forest and Pemba's clove hills; Mafia's whale sharks and the marine park (1995); the dhows and the monsoon (the kaskazi of December–March, the kusi of June–October); the beach tourism of 2.3 million visitors' share; the gas fields offshore (Block 1, 2 and 4) and the LNG site at Likong'o in Lindi; the exclusive economic zone of about 240,000 km² |
| Highest point | Kilimanjaro — Uhuru Peak on Kibo, 5,895 m (19,341 ft; 5,891.8 by the survey of 2008 — both stated) — the highest point of Africa, the highest free-standing mountain of the world and the highest volcano outside South America, the three cones of Kibo, Mawenzi (5,149 m) and Shira, first climbed on 6 October 1889 by Hans Meyer, Ludwig Purtscheller and the guide Yohani Kinyala Lauwo; the park of 1973 (1,688 km²) and the World Heritage of 1987, about 50,000 climbers a year by the seven routes (Marangu, Machame, Lemosho, Rongai), the porters of Moshi, the glaciers down about 85% since 1912 (the Furtwängler and the Northern Icefield the last) by the surveys; Mount Meru 4,566 m (Arusha National Park), Loolmalasin 3,682, Ol Doinyo Lengai 2,962 (the "Mountain of God" of the Maasai, the natrocarbonatite volcano, active 2007–08), Rungwe 2,981 in the south; the Eastern Arc's Udzungwa, Uluguru and Usambara; the Livingstone Mountains above Lake Nyasa; the highest village of the Chagga on the mountain's slopes above 1,800 m |
| Lowest point | The Indian Ocean shore at 0 m by the Factbook's convention — or the floor of Lake Tanganyika, about 1,471 m below sea level (the surface at 773 m, the depth 1,470 m), the lowest land point of Africa if the lake bed counts, as Wikipedia's infobox counts it (both stated, LAW 2); the lake's trench the Western Rift's; the Rufiji delta and the Kilombero floodplain the lowlands that flood (the Rufiji floods of April 2024: 155 dead by the government's count), the Pangani and the Wami, Lake Eyasi's bed at 1,030 m and Lake Natron's at 600 m the floors of the Eastern Rift, the Usangu wetlands |
| Mean elevation | 1,018 m by the Factbook's count — the central plateau of 1,000–1,500 m (Dodoma 1,120, Tabora 1,190, Arusha 1,400, Mbeya 1,700, Iringa 1,600) between the coastal plain (Dar es Salaam 55 m, Tanga, the Rufiji) and the Rift's walls, the Southern Highlands above 2,000 m, the Kitulo plateau at 2,600, the Ngorongoro rim at 2,300, Kilimanjaro's 5,895; the lake basins at 1,134 m (Victoria), 773 (Tanganyika) and 474 (Nyasa); the highest town Mbeya at 1,700 m |
| Rivers | The Rufiji (600 km; the Great Ruaha, the Kilombero and the Luwegu joined; the Nyerere dam at Stiegler's Gorge, the delta's mangroves; the longest river wholly within the country), the Ruvuma (800 km; the Mozambique border, the Unity Bridge), the Pangani (400 km; from Kilimanjaro and Meru to Tanga; the Nyumba ya Mungu dam, the Hale and Pangani Falls stations), the Wami (the Saadani), the Malagarasi (475 km; the longest of the Tanganyika basin, the Ramsar wetland), the Kagera (the Nile's remotest headstream from the Rukarara in Rwanda through the Rusumo Falls to Lake Victoria; the shared Rusumo dam of 80 MW, 2024), the Mara (the migration's river crossings), the Great Ruaha (dry in the Ruaha park's bad years), the Ruvu (Dar's water), the Songwe (the Malawi border); the Nile's source question — Victoria's inflow the Kagera, the outflow at Jinja in Uganda; the Mtera and Kidatu hydro on the Ruaha; the rivers of the Rift that end in the soda lakes; the water towers of the Eastern Arc |
| Lakes | Lake Victoria (68,800 km²; Tanzania's 49%, Uganda's 45%, Kenya's 6%; the largest lake of Africa and of the tropics, the second-largest freshwater lake of the world by area; Mwanza, Bukoba and Musoma on its shores, the Nile perch of the 1950s' introduction, the MV Bukoba of 1996 and the MV Nyerere of 2018, the Magufuli Bridge across the Mwanza gulf since 19 June 2025), Lake Tanganyika (32,900 km², 673 km long, 1,470 m deep — the longest freshwater lake of the world and the second-deepest after Baikal, with about 16% of the world's fresh surface water; Kigoma and Ujiji, the MV Liemba of 1913, the chimpanzees of Gombe and Mahale, the cichlids), Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi; 29,600 km², 706 m deep; the Livingstone Mountains, Matema, the border dispute), Lake Rukwa (the shallow soda lake of the southwest; the helium gas of its basin), Lake Eyasi (the Hadza's), Lake Manyara (the tree-climbing lions, the flamingos; the park of 1960), Lake Natron (the flamingos' only East African breeding ground beneath Ol Doinyo Lengai; the Ramsar site), Lake Chala (the crater lake on the Kenyan line), Ngozi (the crater lake of Rungwe), Lake Duluti, the Momella lakes of Meru; the three great lakes together about a third of the country's borders |
| Terrain | Four lands — the narrow coastal plain of coral, mangrove and the Rufiji delta; the central plateau of miombo woodland and savanna at 1,000–1,500 m (the Maasai Steppe, the Sukuma land, the Tabora and Dodoma plains) that is three-quarters of the country; the two arms of the Great Rift that frame it — the Western Rift's trench of Tanganyika and Rukwa and the Eastern Rift's chain of Natron, Manyara, Eyasi and the Crater Highlands of Ngorongoro; and the mountains — Kilimanjaro and Meru of the northeast, the Eastern Arc's ancient ranges (Usambara, Pare, Uluguru, Udzungwa; the forests of the endemics), the Southern Highlands of Mbeya, Rungwe and the Kipengere; the Serengeti's grasslands and kopjes, the Selous's miombo, the Ngorongoro crater (260 km², 610 m deep; the largest unbroken caldera of the world), Olduvai's gorge; the islands of coral rock; the soils of the volcanoes rich (Kilimanjaro's coffee and bananas) and the plateau's poor; the tsetse's third of the country that kept the cattle out until the DDT years |
| Climate | Tropical, by altitude and the monsoons — the coast and Zanzibar hot and humid (Dar es Salaam about 26°C, 1,100 mm; the kaskazi and kusi winds), the plateau semi-arid (Dodoma 570 mm, 23°C; Tabora, Shinyanga), the highlands cool (Arusha 20°C, Mbeya 16°C; frost on the Kitulo plateau, snow on Kilimanjaro and ice on Meru), the lake shores wet (Bukoba 2,000 mm, the wettest town); two rain seasons in the north and the coast — the long rains (masika) of March–May and the short rains (vuli) of October–December — and one season of November–April in the south and center; the El Niño floods of 1997–98, 2019–20 and 2023–24 (the Hanang landslides of 3 December 2023, 89 dead; the Rufiji and the coast of April 2024, 155 dead) and the droughts of 2005–06 and 2022 (the Horn of Africa's), the Mbeya landslides of 27 March 2026 (more than 20 dead); the warming of about 1°C since 1960 by the Met Agency's count, the Kilimanjaro's glaciers and the Rufiji's flow the markers; the dry June–October the safari and the climbing season, the migration's crossing of the Mara in July–August |
| Natural hazards | The floods and landslides of the rains — Hanang (3 December 2023; 89 dead, the Katesh town buried), the Rufiji, Kibiti and the coast (April 2024; 155 dead, 200,000 displaced), Mbeya's Rungwe slopes (27 March 2026; more than 20 dead); the droughts of the plateau and the Maasai lands; the earthquakes of the Rift — Kagera (10 September 2016; M 5.9, 17 dead at Bukoba), the Rukwa swarm; Ol Doinyo Lengai's eruptions (1966, 2007–08); the lake disasters — MV Bukoba (21 May 1996; about 800 dead, Lake Victoria's worst), MV Nyerere (20 September 2018; 228 dead off Ukara), MV Spice Islander (10 September 2011; 203 dead by the official count and up to 1,500 by the estimates, between Unguja and Pemba, the worst of all — both stated); the Precision Air crash into Lake Victoria at Bukoba (6 November 2022; 19 dead), the Kilimanjaro rescue helicopter crash (24 December 2025; 5 dead); the disease — the Marburg outbreaks of Kagera (2023; January 2025, 10 dead), Ebola's scares, cholera, the malaria of the lowlands, HIV at about 4.4% of adults; the US embassy bombing of 7 August 1998 (11 dead in Dar es Salaam, 213 in Nairobi); the wildlife conflicts of the park edges (the elephants of the Rufiji, the crocodiles of the lakes); THE POLITICAL VIOLENCE OF 29–31 OCTOBER 2025 — 518 dead by the commission's count of April 2026, 245 missing, more than 800 with gunshot wounds; 700 to 2,000 by the opposition's counts and thousands by the rights groups' — both stated (LAW 2) |
| Natural resources | Gold (Africa's fourth producer — Geita (AngloGold Ashanti), Bulyanhulu and North Mara (Barrick's Twiga joint venture of 2019, the state's 16%), Buckreef, the Nyanzaga of 2027 and the artisans of Geita and Chunya; exports US$5.5 billion in the year to May 2026 by the Bank's count, the first export), tanzanite (Mererani below Kilimanjaro, the one place on Earth, since 1967), diamonds (Williamson at Mwadui since 1940), natural gas (about 57 trillion cubic feet proven offshore and onshore — Songo Songo since 2004, Mnazi Bay, the Mtwara–Dar pipeline of 2015; the US$42 billion LNG project of Shell, Equinor and ExxonMobil at Likong'o and its host government agreement in negotiation through 2026 — first gas in the 2030s by the plan), the oil of EACOP (the Ugandan crude to Tanga; no oil of its own yet), nickel (Kabanga, Lifezone's, among the world's largest undeveloped), graphite (Mahenge, Nachu; the batteries' ore), uranium (Mkuju River), rare earths (Ngualla), helium (Lake Rukwa; Helium One's finds of 2016–24), coal (Ngaka, Kiwira), iron (Liganga and Mchuchuma), phosphate (Minjingu), gypsum, salt, kaolin, the gemstones of the Umba valley, timber (the miombo, the mpingo), the fisheries of three lakes and the ocean, the wildlife and the scenery that bring US$4.4 billion a year, the hydropower of the Rufiji; the mining law of 2017 (the 16% free carried interest, the sovereignty acts) and the Acacia settlement of 2019–20 |
| Land use | Agricultural about 44% by the Factbook's count (arable 14.3% — the maize, cassava, rice, sorghum, millet and beans of the smallholders; permanent crops 2.3% — coffee, cashew, cloves, sisal, tea, bananas, coconut; pasture 27% — the cattle of 36 million, Africa's second herd after Ethiopia's, the Sukuma's and the Maasai's), forest and woodland about 37% (the miombo of the center and south, the Eastern Arc's rainforest, the mangroves; the deforestation of about 400,000 hectares a year by the FAO's counts — charcoal the cities' fuel), the protected areas about 38% of all land (the parks, the Ngorongoro, the game reserves, the game-controlled areas), the built-up under 2%; about 44 million hectares arable by the estimates with a quarter cultivated; the land the state's under the Land Acts of 1999 (the village land, the general land, the reserved land; 99-year rights of occupancy), the Maasai's evictions from Loliondo and the Ngorongoro relocations of 2022 the dispute; the irrigation of about 700,000 hectares (the Kilombero, Usangu, the rice schemes); the agricultural year's 8 August fair |
| National parks | Twenty-two under TANAPA (1959) — the Serengeti (1951; 14,750 km²; the migration of 1.5 million wildebeest and 250,000 zebra, the Mara crossings, Seronera, the kopjes), Nyerere (2019; 30,893 km², carved from the Selous — one of the largest of Africa; the Rufiji's boat safaris, the dam within), Ruaha (1964; 20,226 km²; the baobabs, the lions, the Great Ruaha), Katavi (the remote hippo pools), Mikumi (the Dar road), Tarangire (the elephants and baobabs), Lake Manyara (1960), Arusha (Meru, the Momella lakes), Kilimanjaro (1973), Mkomazi (the rhinos), Saadani (the beach), Udzungwa (the endemic monkeys), Kitulo (the orchids), Gombe (Goodall's chimpanzees since 1960; 52 km²), Mahale (the chimpanzees of the lake shore), Rubondo and Saanane (the Victoria islands; Saanane the smallest at 2 km²), Burigi-Chato, Ibanda-Kyerwa and Rumanyika-Karagwe (the Kagera's new three of 2019), Ugalla River; the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (1959; 8,292 km²; the crater, Olduvai, the Maasai's pastures and the eviction program of 2022–26) under its own authority; the game reserves of Selous's remainder, Moyowosi-Kigosi, Maswa; the Jozani-Chwaka Bay park of Zanzibar (the red colobus); the Mafia marine park (1995); the Serengeti–Mara ecosystem the model and the quarrel (the road, the cattle, the lodges) |
| UNESCO World Heritage | Seven on the list — the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (1979; the crater's 25,000 animals and the Olduvai and Laetoli sites of the hominins, a mixed site since 2010), the ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara (1981; the Great Mosque of the 11th–14th centuries, Husuni Kubwa's palace, the gold trade's capital of the 13th–15th), the Serengeti National Park (1981), the Selous Game Reserve (1982; 50,000 km² of miombo, the largest protected wilderness of Africa, on the List in Danger since 2014 for the poaching and the dam at Stiegler's Gorge), Kilimanjaro National Park (1987), the Stone Town of Zanzibar (2000; the House of Wonders of 1883 (its collapse of December 2020 and the rebuilding), the Old Fort, the carved doors, the slave market's Anglican cathedral of 1873, Freddie Mercury's house) and the Kondoa Rock-Art Sites (2006; the 150 shelters of the Irangi hills, the paintings of two millennia); the tentative list of the Eastern Arc, Gombe, the central slave route, Mikindani; no intangible heritage inscribed; the Memory of the World: none |
| Administrative divisions | Thirty-one regions (mikoa) — 26 on the mainland (Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Geita, Iringa, Kagera, Katavi, Kigoma, Kilimanjaro, Lindi, Manyara, Mara, Mbeya, Morogoro, Mtwara, Mwanza, Njombe, Pwani, Rukwa, Ruvuma, Shinyanga, Simiyu, Singida, Songwe, Tabora, Tanga) and five in Zanzibar (Urban West, North and South Unguja, North and South Pemba), each under a Regional Commissioner the President appoints; 139 districts (wilaya) with 184 local councils (the city, municipal, town and district councils of the elected councillors and the appointed District Commissioners), the wards (about 4,000), the villages (about 12,000) and the ten-cell units; the Union's two governments — the United Republic's for the mainland and the Union matters and Zanzibar's Revolutionary Government (the President, the Revolutionary Council, the House of Representatives of 50 constituencies plus the special seats, the Chief Minister's post abolished 2010) for the islands' own affairs; the local elections of 27 November 2024 (CCM 99% of the seats; the opposition's candidates struck off by the counts) and the general election of 29 October 2025; the capital at Dodoma, the regions' capitals the old bomas |
People
| Population | 61,741,120 at the census of 23 August 2022 (the mainland 59,851,347 and Zanzibar 1,889,773; women 51%; 44.9 million in 2012, 34.4 in 2002, 12.3 at independence), about 72.6 million in 2026 by the UN's estimate and about 70 million by the NBS projection by the reports (both stated) — the 20th or so of the world, the fifth of Africa; the growth of 3.2% a year (2012–22), the natural increase almost all of it (about 2.2 million births a year by the estimates against 400,000 deaths; the net migration small); the regions by the census — Dar es Salaam 5,383,728, Mwanza 3,699,872, Tabora 3,391,679, Morogoro 3,197,104, Dodoma 3,085,625, Kagera 2,989,299, Geita 2,977,608; Zanzibar's Urban West 893,169; the median age 17–18, the under-15s 43%, the under-25s two-thirds, the over-65s 3%; the diaspora small, the refugees hosted about 200,000; the 100-million mark in the 2040s and about 120 million by 2050 by the projections |
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| Population density | About 65 to the km² at the census of 2022 (77 by the 2026 estimates) — Dar es Salaam's 3,133 (the densest region; Kinondoni and Ilala above 5,000), Zanzibar's Urban West 3,800, Mwanza 150, Kilimanjaro's slopes 140, the Kagera and the lake shores crowded, the Southern Highlands, Mbeya and the Chagga and Haya countries full; the center and the west empty — Lindi 12, Katavi 15, Ruvuma 25, the tsetse and the parks the reason; about 35% urban by the census, the cities growing at 5% a year, Dar es Salaam toward 10 million by 2030 by the UN; Kenya's about 95 and Uganda's about 230 to the km² by the UN's counts, Tanzania's the lowest of the three |
| Population growth | About 3.2% a year by the censuses of 2012–22 (2.9% by the UN's estimate for 2026; 2.7% in the 2002–12 decade) — the natural increase of the high fertility (4.8 by the survey of 2022, 5.4 in 2010, 6.9 in 1978) and the falling mortality (the under-five rate 43 per 1,000 in 2022 from 112 in 1999; the maternal deaths 104 per 100,000 by the survey of 2022 from 556 in 2015), the net migration about nil (the Burundian and Congolese refugees' camps of Kigoma — Nyarugusu's 130,000 and Nduta closed 30 April 2026 — and the returns; the Tanzanians of Oman, Kenya and the West few); the median age 17–18; the demographic dividend the government's hope and the jobs the World Bank's question (its update of 2 October 2026: "Making Jobs Work" — 69% of the working-age employed, 800,000 to a million entering the labor market a year); the population doubling every 22 years at the rate; the family planning uptake 38% (the survey of 2022) |
| Median age | About 17.3 years by the statistics bureau's projection base and 18.6 by the UN's estimate for 2026 (both stated) — among the ten youngest countries of the world; the under-15s 43% of the people, the 15–24s a fifth, the over-65s 3%; the youth bulge of the "Gen Z" protests the talk of 2025–26 (the Saba Saba calls of July 2026, the Kenyan example of 2024); the schooling to 18 in principle (fee-free since 2016 to Form 4, since 2022 to Form 6), the universities' 250,000; the youth unemployment about 12% by the labor survey of 2020–21 with the underemployment of the informal economy the real figure; the old age of the villages, the pensions of the NSSF and the PSSSF few |
| Life expectancy | About 66 years by the WHO's count (2021) and 67.6 by the UN's estimate for 2026 (women about 70, men about 64), from 50 in 1990 and 43 at independence — the gains of the malaria nets, the ARVs (HIV prevalence about 4.4% of adults, from 7% in 2003; 1.7 million living with it, the treatment of 1.5 million), the vaccines and the clean water of the towns; infant mortality 33 per 1,000 and under-five 43 (the survey of 2022); the diseases — malaria (the leading killer still, falling), the tuberculosis, the cholera of the rains, the Marburg of Kagera (2023, 2025), the Rift Valley fever, the dengue of Dar; the health system of the dispensaries, the health centers and the district hospitals under the Health Ministry, the referral hospitals of Muhimbili (Dar), KCMC (Moshi), Bugando (Mwanza), Benjamin Mkapa (Dodoma) and the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute, the Mnazi Mmoja of Zanzibar; the universal health insurance act of 2023 beginning; the doctors about 0.1 per 1,000 (the shortage), the traditional healers; the Covid of 2020–21 — Magufuli's denial, the steam and the prayers, his own death of March 2021 and Samia's vaccines from July 2021; the obesity of the cities rising, the stunting of the villages at 30% |
| Fertility rate | About 4.8 children per woman by the Demographic and Health Survey of 2022 (4.6 by the UN's count for 2026 — both stated; 5.4 in 2010, 6.9 in 1978; Zanzibar 4.7, the Dar es Salaam of 3.0 and the rural 5.5), among the fifteen highest of the world; the mothers' first birth about 20, the teenage pregnancy 22% (the expelled schoolgirls' rule of the Magufuli years reversed in 2021); the births about 2.2 million a year; the contraception at 38% of married women; the polygamy of the villages and the Muslim coast (about a fifth of marriages by the census); the marriage age 18 by the court's ruling of 2016–19 on the 1971 act (the appeal upheld), the child marriages 29% by UNICEF's count; the population policy of the 1990s dormant, the 2050's 120 million the projection the ministers cite |
| Urban population | About 35% by the census of 2022 (37% by the UN's 2026 count; 23% in 2002) — Dar es Salaam's 5.4 million region (the Africa of the daladala, the Kariakoo market, the Masaki villas and the Tandale valley; two-thirds of its people in unplanned settlements by UN-Habitat's count), Mwanza, Dodoma, Arusha, Mbeya, Morogoro, Tanga, Zanzibar City, Kahama, Tabora, Kigoma, Moshi, Songea, Musoma, Iringa; the urban growth of 5% a year, the fastest of East Africa; the housing of cement block and iron sheet, the Swahili house of the coast with its baraza, the mud-and-thatch of the villages (the Maasai boma, the Chagga's banana groves), the planned towns of the ujamaa villages of the 1970s; the capital's new city at Mtumba and the Dodoma master plan; the Kigamboni new city stalled; the Tanzania Buildings Agency's apartments; the water of the towns about 80% served, the villages 60%; the electrification 46% (2022) rising on the Nyerere dam |
| Adult literacy | About 82% (2021; men 85%, women 79%) by UNESCO's count — from 17% at independence and the adult literacy campaign of the 1970s that made Tanzania Africa's model (90% claimed by 1986); the schooling: primary (seven years, Swahili medium) and lower secondary fee-free since January 2016, the upper secondary (Forms 5–6; English the medium throughout the secondary) since 2022, about 12 million in primary and 3 million in secondary, the Form Four examinations of the National Examinations Council, the National Service for the Form Six leavers; the universities ×50 or so — the University of Dar es Salaam (1961/1970; the Hill), Sokoine of Morogoro (agriculture), Muhimbili (medicine), the University of Dodoma (2007; the largest campus), Ardhi, Mzumbe, the Nelson Mandela Institute of Arusha, the State University of Zanzibar, the Open University, the Catholic and Muslim universities; about 250,000 students, the loans board, the brain drain to Kenya and the West; the teachers' shortage, the 60-pupil classes, the languages question (Swahili to the end of secondary the recurring proposal — the government's and the parents' cases both stated) |
| Ethnic groups | About 120 peoples, none dominant and none counted by the census since 1967 (the nation's choice) — the Sukuma of the lake's south the largest (about 16%; Mwanza, Shinyanga, Simiyu), the Nyamwezi of Tabora, the Chagga of Kilimanjaro (the coffee, the schools, the business), the Haya of Kagera, the Gogo of Dodoma, the Hehe of Iringa (Mkwawa's), the Nyakyusa of Mbeya, the Makonde of Mtwara (the carvers), the Zaramo of Dar es Salaam, the Ha of Kigoma, the Luguru, the Pare, the Sambaa, the Bena, the Fipa, the Ngoni of Songea (the Zulu's cousins), the Maasai and the Datoga (the Nilotic pastoralists), the Iraqw (Cushitic), the Sandawe and the Hadza (the click-speaking hunters of Eyasi, about 1,300); the Zanzibaris of Shirazi, Arab and African descent (the Omani families, the Comorians); the Asians of Gujarat, Punjab and Goa (about 50,000; the Ismailis, the Bohras, the Hindus, the Sikhs; the traders of Kariakoo and the industrialists — the Mohammed Enterprises, the Bakhresas, the Dewjis of the US$1 billion), the Arabs, the Europeans; the refugees of Burundi and the Congo (about 200,000); the national identity Nyerere built on Swahili and the one party — the one African country without ethnic parties, by its own account and most others' (both stated) |
| Languages | Kiswahili — the national language, spoken by about 90% of the people and the mother tongue of about 15% (the coast, the islands, the cities), the lingua franca of 200 million in East and Central Africa, the African Union's working language, the first African language with a World Day (7 July); English — the second official language, the medium of the secondary schools, the universities and the higher courts, spoken well by perhaps 10%; the vernaculars of the 120 peoples — Sukuma (about 10 million speakers), Gogo, Haya, Chagga, Nyamwezi, Makonde, Hehe, Nyakyusa, Ha, Maasai, Datoga, Iraqw, Sandawe and Hadza (the clicks), the Nilotic Luo of Mara; Arabic in Zanzibar's mosques and in the older families; Gujarati, Punjabi, Kutchi and Hindi of the Asians; the Comorian of the islands; the Sheng-like street Swahili of Dar ("Bongo"); the Swahili of Tanzania the standard (Kiunguja), of Kenya the variant; the Bongo Flava lyrics, the Taarab poetry and the Swahili novels of Shaaban Robert and Euphrase Kezilahabi; the Institute of Kiswahili Research of 1964, the BAKITA council of 1967; the Swahili of the AU's and the EAC's documents |
| Religion | Christian about 63% and Muslim about 34% by the Pew count of 2020 (the Wikipedia infobox's 57% and 37% the other estimate — both stated; the census asks no question of faith since 1967) — the Christians of the mainland's interior and the north (the Catholics about 30%, the largest church, the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam under Cardinal Pengo (died 19 February 2026) and his successors, the Lutherans of the Chagga and the Haya (the ELCT, Africa's largest Lutheran church), the Anglicans, the Pentecostals growing, the Moravians of the south), the Muslims of the coast, the islands (Zanzibar 99%) and the old caravan towns (the Sunnis of the Shafi'i school, the Ibadi Omanis, the Ismailis and Bohras of the Asians, the Ahmadis), the traditional religions of the villages beneath both; the secular state of Nyerere's design — the Christian–Muslim balance of the presidency's rotation by custom (Mwinyi, Kikwete, Samia the Muslims; Mkapa, Magufuli the Catholics), the Mufti and the National Muslim Council (BAKWATA), the Christian Council and the Episcopal Conference; the kadhi's courts of Zanzibar; the Catholic bishops' statements on the killings of October 2025 ("the punishment for protests is not to shoot and kill"), the churches' call for an inquiry; the Zanzibar OIC question of 1993; the mosques of Kariakoo and the churches of Upanga side by side |
| Human Development Index | 0.555 (2023) — the medium band's first rung, about 165th of 193 (UNDP, 2025; 0.549 in 2022 — "low" by the previous report's line, both stated), with Kenya at 0.628, Uganda at 0.582, Rwanda at 0.578 and Ethiopia at 0.497 the neighbors; the Gini about 40.5 (2017), the poverty 26.4% by the national line (2018; the Household Budget Survey) and about 45% below US$2.15 a day by the World Bank's count, Zanzibar's 25%; the income a head US$1,280–1,300 (2025), lower-middle income since July 2020; the inequality of the cities and the villages, of Dar es Salaam and the south (Lindi, Mtwara, Kigoma the poorest regions); the human capital of the schools the gap, the mobile money the leap; the Gender Inequality Index's rank in the 140s, the women in Parliament 37% by the special seats, the woman president |
| Housing and living | The Swahili house of the coast (the baraza bench, the carved door of Zanzibar), the cement-block-and-iron-sheet of the towns, the mud-and-thatch and the burnt brick of the villages, the Maasai boma, the Chagga homestead in the banana grove; home ownership high in the villages, the renters of the cities; two-thirds of Dar es Salaam in unplanned settlements by UN-Habitat's count, the Tandale and Manzese valleys, the Masaki and Oyster Bay of the rich; the National Housing Corporation and the Tanzania Buildings Agency, the Dodoma master plan and the Mtumba city of the ministries; electricity in 46% of homes (2022; the Nyerere dam's 2,115 MW the hope of the connection drive), the charcoal and firewood of 80% of cooking (the clean-cooking strategy of 2024 Samia's cause), the water of the standpipe and the vendors' jerrycans, the pit latrine of 90%; the daladala, the bodaboda and the bajaji; the mobile phone of 70 million SIMs and the mobile money of M-Pesa, Mixx by Yas and Airtel Money (60 million accounts); the kanga's proverbs, the kitenge, the kofia and the kanzu, the tea and the ugali, the pombe and the Konyagi; the prices of 2026 — the maize flour, the sugar (the shortage of 2024), the petrol at about 3,000 shillings a liter on the Middle East war's oil by the counts; the social media of Instagram and WhatsApp and the X block of May 2025, the bongo movies of Swahiliwood; the "Tyrant of the Year" of the Index on Censorship (January 2026) the other side of the quiet |
| Learning and letters | The Swahili canon — Shaaban Robert (1909–62; the poet of the language), Euphrase Kezilahabi, Said Ahmed Mohamed, Penina Muhando's theater, the Utenzi epics of Zanzibar; Abdulrazak Gurnah, born in Zanzibar in 1948, the Nobel laureate of 2021 ("Paradise," "Afterlives"); the Taarab of Siti binti Saad (the first East African to record, 1928) and Bi Kidude, the Bongo Flava of Diamond Platnumz (the WCB Wasafi empire), Ali Kiba, Harmonize, Zuchu and Rayvanny — the East African pop capital; the Makonde carving, the Tingatinga painting of Dar (Edward Tingatinga, 1968), the Kondoa rock art; the Sauti za Busara festival and the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF, since 1998), the Bagamoyo arts college (TaSUBa); the universities — Dar es Salaam (1961/1970), Sokoine, Muhimbili, Dodoma, Ardhi, Mzumbe, SUZA; the National Museum and the House of Culture, the Olduvai museum, the Village Museum; Nyerere's own Swahili translations of Shakespeare ("Julius Caesar" and "The Merchant of Venice"); the press of The Citizen, Mwananchi, the Daily News, the Guardian, The Chanzo; the broadcasters TBC, ITV, Clouds, Azam, Wasafi; the Media Services Act of 2016 and the amendments of 2023; the film "Tanzania: The Royal Tour" of 2022 with Samia as the guide; the Kiswahili of the AU and the UNESCO day; Freddie Mercury's Stone Town birth (5 September 1946, as Farrokh Bulsara) and the museum of 2019 |
| Sport | Football — the Taifa Stars' AFCON of 2025 in Morocco (the group of Nigeria 1–2 on 23 December, Uganda 1–1 on 27 December, Tunisia 1–1 on 30 December; the round of 16 as one of the best third-placed teams, the first knockout in the country's history; Morocco 1–0 on 4 January 2026), the World Cup of 2026 missed, the African Nations Championship of August 2025 co-hosted (the quarterfinal), AFCON 2027 to come at the Mkapa stadium and Arusha with Kenya and Uganda; the Kariakoo derby of Simba and Yanga (Yanga the champions of the 2020s' run, Simba the CAF Confederation Cup finalists of 2025), Azam FC; the Zanzibar league; athletics — Alphonce Simbu's world marathon title of 15 September 2025 at Tokyo (2:09:48, by 0.03 s over Germany's Amanal Petros; the first Tanzanian world champion) and his 2:02:47 second at Boston on 20 April 2026, Gabriel Geay, Filbert Bayi (the 1,500 m world record of 3:32.16 at Christchurch, 2 February 1974; the Olympic steeplechase silver of 1980) and Suleiman Nyambui (the 5,000 m silver of 1980; the country's two Olympic medals, both at Moscow), Juma Ikangaa (New York 1989), the Kilimanjaro Marathon; the Commonwealth Games of Glasgow 2026 (12 athletes in four sports, no medal; Makenji's 200 m record of 23.88), of Birmingham 2022 (Simbu's marathon silver); the basketball of Hasheem Thabeet (the NBA's second pick of 2009), the boxing of Francis Cheka and the Bongo fighters, the netball Taifa Queens, the rugby and cricket of the Asians, the swimming of Collins Saliboko; the Olympic committee of 1968, the Paris 2024 team of seven; the bao of the Zanzibar barazas; the National Sports Council and the Mkapa (60,000), Uhuru (23,000), Amaan (Zanzibar) and CCM Kirumba (Mwanza) stadiums |
| Diaspora | Small for the size — about 300,000 to 500,000 abroad by the UN's and the counts: Kenya and Uganda (the EAC's workers and traders), Oman (the Zanzibari Omanis of the 1964 exodus and the returns; Swahili spoken in Muscat), the United Kingdom (about 40,000), the United States (about 50,000; Minnesota, Texas), Canada, South Africa, the Gulf's workers, Rwanda and Burundi's returnees; the Zanzibari Arabs and Asians of 1964 in the Gulf, Britain and Canada; the dual citizenship not allowed (the diaspora's standing ask; the "special status" of 2023); the remittances about US$600–700 million a year by the World Bank's count; the refugees Tanzania hosts the larger story — about 200,000 Burundians and Congolese in Kigoma's camps (Nyarugusu, one of the world's oldest camps (1996); Nduta closed 30 April 2026), the 1972 Burundians naturalized (162,000 in 2010–14, the largest naturalization in Africa), the Mozambicans of the 1960s–70s, the liberation movements hosted (the ANC's Morogoro and Mazimbu, FRELIMO's Nachingwea, ZANU's Mgagao); the Swahili abroad — the AU's language, the BBC's, the Voice of America's; Freddie Mercury's and Gurnah's Zanzibar |
Government
| Form of government | A unitary presidential republic of two governments — the United Republic's for the mainland and the 22 Union matters, and Zanzibar's Revolutionary Government for the islands' own — under the constitution of 1977: the President the head of state and of government, elected by direct vote for five years, twice at most, who appoints the Vice President's running mate on the ticket, the Prime Minister from the National Assembly (the leader of government business, confirmed by the Assembly), the Cabinet, the regional and district commissioners and the judges; the National Assembly (Bunge) of 393 — the constituencies, the women's special seats (about 30% of the House), Zanzibar's five, the President's ten and the Attorney General — the law-maker for the Union and the mainland; Zanzibar's President, Revolutionary Council and House of Representatives (the government of national unity of 2010 — the runner-up party's First Vice Presidency); the Court of Appeal the apex court; the one-party state of 1965–92 and the dominant party since — Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), the heir of TANU and the ASP, in office without a break since 1961, the longest-ruling party of Africa since Botswana's BDP fell in 2024; the Independent National Electoral Commission (2024) the President appoints; the Political Parties Registrar; the local government of the councils under the President's Office; the state of 2026 by the two cases — a stable developmental democracy of record growth (the government's) and a one-party state behind a multiparty facade after the vote of 2025 (the opposition's and the observers') — both stated (LAW 2) |
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| Head of state | President Samia Suluhu Hassan (born 27 January 1960 at Makunduchi, Zanzibar; the statistician and the Zanzibar minister of the 2000s, the Constituent Assembly's vice-chair of 2014, the MP for Makunduchi, Magufuli's running mate and Vice President of 2015–21) — President since 19 March 2021 on Magufuli's death (sworn at State House, Dar es Salaam, the first woman and the first Zanzibari in the office since Ali Hassan Mwinyi), the CCM's candidate by acclamation of January 2025, elected on 29 October 2025 with 97.66% (31.9 million votes; the turnout 86.8% by the commission's count) against CHAUMMA's Salum Mwalimu's 0.65% and fourteen others after CHADEMA's exclusion, sworn in on 3 November 2025 at the Dodoma military parade ground with the public kept out; the two-term question of 2030 (her partial first term the lawyers' debate — both readings stated); the 4Rs of 2022 and the Royal Tour film, the rallies' return of 2023 and their ban of 26 June 2026, the commission of inquiry she set up on 14 November 2025 and its report of 23 April 2026, the reconciliation commission and the criminal probe she promised on receiving it; the Index on Censorship's "Tyrant of the Year" of January 2026 and the Forbes lists of the earlier years — both stated; her husband Hafidh Ameir, the Zanzibar agriculture official, died on 7 September 2026; the Chief Secretary and the State House at Chamwino; the presidents before — Nyerere (1964–85), Mwinyi (1985–95), Mkapa (1995–2005), Kikwete (2005–15), Magufuli (2015–21) |
| Prime Minister | Mwigulu Lameck Nchemba (born 7 January 1975; the MP for Iramba West since 2010, the agriculture minister of 2015–16, the home affairs minister, the justice minister of 2020–21, the Minister of Finance of 31 March 2021 – 3 November 2025 — five budgets, the SGR and the dam's money, the IMF program of 2022) — nominated by the President on 13 November 2025 and confirmed by the National Assembly, in office since (Kassim Majaliwa, 2015–25, before him), the leader of government business in the Bunge and the chairman of the Cabinet's committees, not the head of government (the President is); the Vice President since 29 August 2026 Deogratius John Ndejembi (born 12 July 1983; the University of Lincoln graduate, the minister of state for labor and youth of 2023–24 and the Minister of Lands of 26 July 2024 – August 2026; confirmed by the Assembly on 28 August and sworn at Chamwino on 29 August), after Emmanuel Nchimbi (born 24 December 1971; the CCM secretary-general of 2024–25, the ambassador to Brazil, the home affairs minister of 2012–13) — elected on the ticket, in office 3 November 2025 – 25 August 2026, resigned by an Instagram post without a stated reason, expelled by CCM on 26 August for "disciplinary and ethical violations" (the ethics committee's summons ignored, the party said), and out of public sight for weeks after by the reports; the Zanzibar line — President Hussein Mwinyi, the Second Vice President Hemed Suleiman Abdalla, the First Vice Presidency the opposition's seat under the unity government (ACT-Wazalendo's Othman Masoud held it in 2020–25; the party's return the talks of 2026 by the reports) |
| Cabinet | The Cabinet of November 2025 (the President's, with the Vice President and the Prime Minister; about 25 ministers and the deputies; the reshuffle of 17 November 2025 that changed seven) — Finance and Planning Khamis Mussa Omar (since 17 November 2025; the Zanzibari economist), Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Leonard Akwilapo (since the summer of 2026, after Ndejembi), Energy's deputy Salome Makamba (the LNG agreement's voice), the Home Affairs ministry of the police and the rally ban, Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Defence and National Service, Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Minerals, Natural Resources and Tourism, Works and Transport, Health, Education, Science and Technology, Industry and Trade, Information, Communication and IT, Water, Constitution and Legal Affairs, Community Development and Gender, the President's Office for Regional Administration and Local Government, Public Service, Planning and Investment; the Chief Secretary the civil service's head; the Attorney General; the Zanzibar cabinet of about 18 under President Mwinyi; the ministers named here are those confirmed by two reports as of 3 October 2026 — the full list the Government's own (the owner's audit at the review) |
| The last election | The general election of 29 October 2025 — the President, the National Assembly, Zanzibar's President and House, the councillors, on one day: Samia Suluhu Hassan (CCM) 97.66% (31,913,866 votes) and Salum Mwalimu (CHAUMMA) 0.65% (213,414) of 32.7 million cast by the Independent National Electoral Commission's count of 1 November, the turnout 86.8% of 37.6 million registered — in a field without CHADEMA (disqualified on 12–13 April 2025 for refusing to sign the electoral code of conduct; its chairman Tundu Lissu, arrested on 9 April at Mbinga after calling for reform ("no reforms, no election"), charged with treason, barred and held since) and without ACT-Wazalendo's Luhaga Mpina (struck off); the National Assembly — CCM 383 of the 393 seats by the count, ACT-Wazalendo 2, CHAUMMA 2; Zanzibar — Hussein Mwinyi (CCM) 74.8%, Othman Masoud (ACT-Wazalendo) 23.2%, the House of Representatives' CCM majority with ACT's seats (four of the special seats); THE DAYS AFTER — the protests of Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Arusha, Mbeya and Tunduma from the morning of 29 October, the curfew of Dar (29 October – 10 November), the internet cut for five days (29 October – 3 November) and the social media after, the tires, the police and the army's live fire, the Namanga border's trade stopped; the verdicts — SADC (3 November: "did not meet the standards for a credible, free and fair process"), the European Union (4 November: "serious concerns"), the African Union (5 November: "did not meet its standards"), the UN human rights office's alarm (31 October), the Catholic archbishop of Dar's "the punishment for protests is not to shoot and kill"; the toll — 518 dead by the Chande Othman commission's report of 23 April 2026 (more than 800 shot and wounded, 245 missing, 39 families who saw bodies vanish from morgues; "planned and coordinated" protests by paid recruits the commission's finding; a further investigation of the firearms its recommendation), about 700 by CHADEMA's first count and 1,000–2,000 by its second, "hundreds" by the UN's estimate, thousands by the African rights groups' — all stated (LAW 2); 240 charged with treason by 7 November (the charges' course the trials of 2026); the government's case (a mandate of 32 million, a plot of hired rioters, the commission's answer, the reconciliation commission promised) and the opposition's (a vote without a contest, a massacre, a whitewash, the ICC petitions of December 2025) — both stated |
| Parliament | The National Assembly (Bunge la Tanzania) of 393 — the constituency members of the mainland and Zanzibar (about 264), the women's special seats (113 by the parties' shares), five members of the Zanzibar House, ten the President nominates and the Attorney General, elected for five years; the 13th Parliament of November 2025 under the Speaker Mussa Azzan Zungu (CCM; the Ilala MP, elected on the Parliament's opening) and the Deputy Speaker; CCM's 383 by the count, ACT-Wazalendo's 2, CHAUMMA's 2 — the opposition bench of a handful, the first Parliament since 1995 without CHADEMA; the Parliament building at Dodoma (the chamber of 1996, the new one of 2017), the Prime Minister's questions on Thursdays, the budget sessions of April–June (the 2026/27 budget read in June 2026, the first of Khamis Mussa Omar), the Controller and Auditor General's reports; the House of Representatives of Zanzibar (Baraza la Wawakilishi) of about 85 — 50 constituencies, the women's seats, the appointees — under its Speaker, at Chukwani; the Parliament's history — the Legislative Council of 1926, the one-party Bunge of 1965–95, the opposition's 10-year high of 2015–20 (CHADEMA's 70), the fall of 2020 (the 20 and the walkout) and of 2025 (the 4); the EALA members in Arusha; the Parliament's live broadcast cut in 2016 and restored in 2021 |
| The politics of the year | The year of the vote and its wake — THE ROAD TO 29 OCTOBER 2025: Lissu elected CHADEMA's chairman (22 January 2025) on "no reforms, no election," Nchimbi named Samia's running mate (January), Lissu arrested at Mbinga (9 April) and charged with treason, CHADEMA barred (12–13 April), Martha Karua deported (18 May), X blocked after the cyberattacks (20 May), the campaign of August–October without a contest; THE VOTE AND THE VIOLENCE: 97.66% by the commission, the protests of 29–31 October, the curfew, the blackout, the dead; Samia sworn behind closed doors (3 November), SADC, the EU and the AU's verdicts (3–5 November), 240 charged with treason (7 November), Nchemba Prime Minister (13 November), the commission of inquiry under the retired Chief Justice Mohamed Chande Othman (14 November), the reshuffle (17 November), the ICC petitions (December), the US travel restriction (16 December); 2026: the Index on Censorship's "Tyrant of the Year" (January), Cardinal Pengo's death (19 February), THE COMMISSION'S REPORT (23 April: 518 dead, 245 missing, the protests "planned" by the paid, the firearms to be investigated; the reconciliation commission and the criminal probe promised), the Nduta camp closed (30 April), the US sanctions on the police commander Faustine Mafwele (21 May), the rally ban (26 June) and the Saba Saba of 7 July (130 arrested by 9 July, two dozen charged with terrorism on 24 July, the Dodoma lecturer freed on 10 September when the DPP dropped the case), the BoT's rise to 6.25% (2 July), the Nyerere dam complete (22 August), THE VICE PRESIDENCY: Nchimbi's resignation (25 August) and expulsion (26 August), Ndejembi confirmed (28 August) and sworn (29 August), the first gentleman's death (7 September), THE LISSU TRIAL: the three-judge High Court, the state's witnesses, the three security chiefs summoned and unserved (10 September), John Heche's testimony (16 September), the defense closed and the final submissions (late September), the verdict to come and the death penalty the maximum; the economy's 6% and the inflation's 4%; the government's case (a mandate, order, growth, the inquiry done and reconciliation offered) and the opposition's (a stolen vote, a massacre uncounted, a show trial, a party in exile) — both stated (LAW 2) |
| Next elections | The general election of October 2030 (the President, the Bunge, Zanzibar; the five years from October 2025) — Samia's eligibility the constitutional question (two terms; her 2021–25 partial term's status argued both ways — stated), the CCM's succession the talk of 2026 (the new vice president's rise, the prime minister's); the local government elections of November 2029 (the councils' chairs and the village councils); the Zanzibar vote of 2030; the opposition's demands — a new constitution, an electoral commission not of the President's appointing, the restoration of CHADEMA's registration, the Lissu case's end — and the government's electoral laws of 2024 as its answer; the by-elections of 2026 as seats fall vacant; the voter roll of 37.6 million (the 2025 update) and the registration of the 2030 cohort; the Commonwealth and AU observers' recommendations of 2025 the yardstick |
| Parties | Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM; 5 February 1977, the merger of TANU of 1954 and the Afro-Shirazi Party of 1957; the chair the President by custom — Samia since April 2021; the secretary-general Amos Makalla since January 2025 after Nchimbi; green and gold; 383 MPs; in office since 1961), CHADEMA (Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo; 1992; Tundu Lissu chairman since 22 January 2025 after Freeman Mbowe's twenty years, John Heche the vice-chairman; red, white and blue; barred from the 2025 vote, its leader on trial, no MPs; the main opposition of 2010–25 — 70 MPs in 2015), ACT-Wazalendo (Alliance for Change and Transparency; 2014, Zitto Kabwe's; the leader Dorothy Semu since 2024 and Zanzibar's Othman Masoud; purple; the islands' opposition and the GNU's partner of 2020–25; 2 MPs), CHAUMMA (Chama cha Ukombozi wa Umma; Hashim Rungwe's; the 2025 runner-up with 0.65%; 2 MPs), the Civic United Front (CUF; 1992; Zanzibar's old opposition of Seif Sharif Hamad, split in 2019), NCCR-Mageuzi (1991; Augustine Mrema's), the United Democratic Party, TLP, DP, the 19 registered parties of the Registrar; the Political Parties Act of 1992 and the amendment of 2019 (the Registrar's powers), the Elections Act and the INEC Act of 2024, the public funding by seats; the party membership of CCM's claimed 10 million; the trade union TUCTA; the youth wings (CCM's UVCCM, CHADEMA's BAVICHA) the street's players |
| Legal system | English common law of the colonial inheritance with the customary law of the villages and the Islamic law of the kadhi's courts of Zanzibar (family matters) — the Court of Appeal of the United Republic (the apex since 1979; Chief Justice George Masaju), the High Court of the mainland (the divisions of Dodoma, Dar es Salaam, the Commercial, Land and Labour divisions, the Corruption and Economic Crimes division of 2016) and the High Court of Zanzibar, the Resident Magistrates' and the primary courts, the Judicial Service Commission; the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions; the death penalty on the statute for murder and treason (no execution since 1994; the sentences commuted by the presidents; the Lissu charge's maximum); the laws of the clampdown — the Cybercrimes Act of 2015, the Media Services Act of 2016 (amended 2023), the Statistics Act, the Online Content Regulations of 2018–20, the Political Parties Amendment of 2019; the same-sex relations criminalized (life imprisonment, the Penal Code's section 154); the Anti-Corruption Bureau (PCCB), the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2002 (the Saba Saba charges of 24 July 2026 under it; the Mbowe case of 2021–22 dropped), the treason charges of November 2025 (240) and THE TRIAL OF TUNDU LISSU (the High Court's three judges, the charge of inciting rebellion to obstruct the election, the prosecution's case closed, the defense's five civilian witnesses and the summoned security chiefs, the final submissions of late September 2026, the verdict awaited; "a political case" by his word, a case "meeting the threshold" by the prosecution's — both stated); the abductions and the disappearances of 2024–25 (Ali Kibao's murder of September 2024, the Mdude case) the rights groups' file; the US sanction of 21 May 2026 on the police's Faustine Mafwele; the Legal and Human Rights Centre, the Tanganyika Law Society; the land courts; the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights sits at Arusha (Tanzania withdrew the individuals' direct access in 2019) |
| Defense | The Tanzania People's Defence Force (Jeshi la Wananchi wa Tanzania, JWTZ; 1 September 1964, after the mutiny of January 1964 and the British marines' disarming of the old Tanganyika Rifles) — about 27,000 active (the Land Force about 23,000, the Naval Command 1,000, the Air Force Command 3,000) and 80,000 reserves by the IISS's counts, the National Service (JKT) of the Form Six leavers and the volunteers (compulsory again since 2013), the budget about 1.1% of GDP; the Chief of Defence Forces General Jacob John Mkunda (since June 2022); the Chinese kit of the Nyerere years (the Type 59 and 63 tanks, the F-7 and the K-8 jets) and the newer buys (the Chinese and Russian helicopters, the Serbian trainers), the navy's patrol craft on three lakes and the ocean, the Mapinduzi barracks; the wars — Uganda (1978–79; Kampala taken 11 April 1979), the Mozambique and Zimbabwe liberation wars' bases, the Comoros intervention (2008), the Congo's Force Intervention Brigade under the UN (2013–; the M23 fights; the SADC mission of 2023–25 withdrawn after the fall of Goma in January 2025, two Tanzanians dead), Mozambique's Cabo Delgado (SAMIM, 2021–24), the UN missions in Lebanon, the Central African Republic and Darfur; the police (the Inspector General under Home Affairs; the Field Force Unit of the riots) and the army's deployment of October 2025 — the commission's call for a firearms inquiry; the prisons; the intelligence service TISS; the Tanzania Military Academy of Monduli; the Defence Ministry under its minister and the Defence Forces' seat in Dodoma's Ngome |
| Foreign policy | Non-alignment of Nyerere's school — the Frontline State of the liberation wars (the ANC, FRELIMO, ZANU, SWAPO and the PAC hosted; the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation), the Arusha of the East African Community (its headquarters since 1967, refounded 2000; the Customs Union, the Common Market, the eight members with Somalia; the Arusha tribunal and the African Court), SADC (a founder of 1980; the chair of 2019–20), the African Union (the Addis votes; the AU's observers' verdict of 2025 taken badly), the Commonwealth (1961), the Non-Aligned Movement; China the builder (TAZARA of 1970–75, the Mkapa stadium, the Bagamoyo port talks, the TAZARA revival of 2024–25, the loans), Turkey the railway's (Yapı Merkezi's SGR), the Gulf the port's (DP World's Dar concession of 2023; the UAE and Oman's Zanzibar), India the trade partner (the first buyer of the cashews and the gold), the United States (PEPFAR's US$5 billion of HIV money, the Millennium Challenge of 2008 and 2013, the Royal Tour; the partial travel restriction of 16 December 2025 and the sanctions of 21 May 2026 after the election — the relations cooled), the European Union (the concerns of 4 November 2025, the aid), the United Kingdom (the travel advice of November 2025), Russia (the wheat, the Soviet schooling of the generals, the 2023 summit), Israel (the embassy of 2018 and the Gaza vote), the Arab world (the Zanzibar question, the OIC bid of 1993 withdrawn); the neighbors — Kenya (the Namanga border, the trade quarrels, the AFCON of 2027 and the East African spirit), Uganda (EACOP's oil to Tanga, the 1979 war's memory), Rwanda and Burundi (the refugees, the Rusumo dam, the SGR branch), the Congo (the lake, the FIB, the minerals), Malawi (the lake dispute), Mozambique (the Cabo Delgado war, the Unity Bridge); the Foreign Affairs ministry's 40 missions; the Tanzanian of the UN — Salim Ahmed Salim's OAU (1989–2001), Asha-Rose Migiro's deputy secretary-generalship (2007–12), Anna Tibaijuka's UN-Habitat, Chande Othman's panels |
| United Nations | A member since 14 December 1961 (Tanganyika; Zanzibar joined 16 December 1963; the one seat from 1964), the Security Council seat of 1975–76 and 2005–06; the host of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda at Arusha (1994–2015; the 93 indicted, the Akayesu genocide judgment of 1998) and of the UN Mechanism's Arusha branch since, the African Court beside it; the peacekeeper of about 1,500 troops by the counts (MONUSCO's Force Intervention Brigade in the Congo since 2013 — the Tanzanian commander's command, the M23 battles, the deaths of 2013 and 2025; MINUSCA in the Central African Republic; UNIFIL in Lebanon; UNAMID's Darfur; the Mozambique and Comoros missions outside the UN), the UN's Development Programme's offices of Dar es Salaam, the UNHCR's camps of Kigoma, the WFP's regional hub; the Tanzanians of the system — Salim Ahmed Salim (the Secretary-General race of 1981 the United States vetoed sixteen times), Asha-Rose Migiro (Deputy Secretary-General 2007–12), Anna Tibaijuka (UN-Habitat 2000–10), Chande Othman (the Hammarskjöld inquiry's eminent person); the UNESCO's seven sites and the Kiswahili Day; the UN's "hundreds" and the OHCHR's alarm of 31 October 2025 answered by the government's commission; the Sustainable Development Goals' middle rank; the UN's population estimate of 72.6 million the one this page states beside the census |
| Other memberships | The East African Community (1967–77 and since 2000; the Arusha headquarters, the EAC Customs Union of 2005, the Common Market of 2010, the eight partner states — Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, the DRC and Somalia beside it; the monetary union on paper, the political federation Nyerere's dream), SADC (1980 as the SADCC, a founder; the Dar es Salaam summit of 2019; the mission to the Congo of 2023–25), the African Union (the OAU of 1963 a founder; the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights at Arusha since 2006; the AfCFTA ratified 2021), the Commonwealth (1961; the Games since 1962), the Non-Aligned Movement (1961), the G77, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (its executive secretariat in Bujumbura; the Great Lakes' quarrels), the Indian Ocean Rim Association (1997), the WTO (1995), the IMF and the World Bank (1962; the ECF and RSF programs of 2022–26), the African Development Bank, the Kimberley Process (the Williamson diamonds), the International Criminal Court (the Rome Statute of 2002 — the ICC petitions of December 2025 the opposition's), FIFA (1964), the IOC (1968), CAF, the Lusaka Agreement on wildlife, the Nile Basin Initiative and the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, the Lake Tanganyika Authority; the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation never (the 1993 attempt of Zanzibar reversed); the Chinese Belt and Road's agreements; the Commonwealth's observers of 2025 |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$87–89 billion for 2025 by the IMF's counts (US$87.44 billion by the one Wikipedia page's figure, US$88.98 billion by the other — both stated; about 250 trillion shillings at home by the statistics bureau's count) — the 80th or 81st economy of the world, the third of East Africa after Kenya and Ethiopia and among the ten largest of sub-Saharan Africa, past Uganda's, Rwanda's and Burundi's together; US$4.9 billion in 1990, US$31 billion in 2010, about US$63 billion in 2019 by the counts — the fastest-growing big economy of Africa over the 2010s at 6–7% a year (the World Bank's lower-middle-income line crossed in July 2020); the gold, the tourism, the construction of the dam, the railway and the roads, the agriculture of the 65%, the gas; the Dar es Salaam region about a fifth of it; the shadow economy about half of the whole by the estimates (the informal 89% of the jobs by the labor surveys) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$1,280–1,300 (2025) by the IMF's counts (both stated) — about 160th–165th of the world, below Kenya's US$2,200 and Ivory Coast's, above Uganda's US$1,100 and Rwanda's; US$1,200 of gross national income a head by the World Bank's Atlas count of 2024 (lower-middle income since 1 July 2020, the US$1,036 line then); about 3.4 million shillings a head at home; the median far lower — the farmer's cash income a few hundred dollars, the Dar es Salaam professional's a few thousand; the minimum wage of the public service 370,000 shillings a month (2023) and the private sectors' scales; the north–south and town–village divides (Dar es Salaam's income a head three times Kigoma's by the counts); the growth of about 3% a head a year after the 3% of the population |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$4,370 (2025) by the IMF's count — the PPP economy about US$293.6 billion, the 69th of the world and the fifth or sixth of sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and perhaps Angola by the counts; about 158th a head; the prices low — the ugali plate at 2,000 shillings, the daladala fare at 500, the rent of a room at 50,000, the petrol at about 3,000 a liter in 2026 by the counts (the Middle East war's), the beer at 3,000; the dollar's PPP worth about 950 shillings against the 2,640 market rate; the Zanzibar tourism's dollar prices the other economy |
| GDP growth | 5.9% in 2025 by the Bank of Tanzania's and the World Bank's counts (6.0% by the IMF's; the mainland 5.9%, Zanzibar 6.8%), about 6% in the first half of 2026 (the mainland by the Bank's July estimate; Zanzibar 6.6%), 5.9% projected for 2026 by the IMF (May 2026) and 6.1% by the World Bank (its update of 2 October 2026; 6.5% in the medium term) — the sixth year above 4.5% since the pandemic's 4.8% of 2020 (one of the few African economies that did not shrink that year), 5.1% in 2023, 5.5% in 2024; the drivers — agriculture, construction (the dam, the railway, the roads, the Dodoma city), mining (the gold at record prices), tourism (2.3 million arrivals), financial services and transport, the credit growth of 23–24% a year; the drags of 2026 — the Middle East war's oil, fertilizer and freight (the inflation's rise to 4.2%, the rate's rise to 6.25%), the post-election chill of the donors' and the investors' by the opposition's reading and the "business as usual" of the government's (both stated), the climate's floods; the 1990s' 3% and the 2000s' 7% the record; the Five-Year Development Plan IV of 2026/27–2030/31 and the Vision 2050 (adopted 2025) the targets |
| Economy by sector | Agriculture about 26% of GDP and about 65% of the workers — the maize, cassava, rice, sorghum, bananas and beans of the smallholders, the cash crops (cashew, coffee, cotton, tobacco, tea, sisal, cloves, sunflower, sesame, avocado), the cattle of 36 million (Africa's second herd), the Nile perch and the dagaa of the lakes, the forestry; industry about 29% — construction (the dam, the railway, the roads, the cement of Dangote's Mtwara and Twiga's Wazo Hill), mining (gold about 7% of GDP alone; the tanzanite, the diamonds, the coal, the gas), the manufacturing of about 8% (the breweries of TBL and Serengeti, the sugar of Kilombero and Mtibwa, the cement, the textiles of the cotton, the cashew processing, the Bakhresa mills, the fertilizer plant of Dodoma, the steel of Kamal and the Chinese parks of Kibaha), the electricity and water; services about 45% — the trade and the markets (Kariakoo, the Dar port's transit trade to six countries), transport (the port, the railway, the trucks of the central corridor), tourism (about 17% of GDP by the government's counts with its multipliers; US$4.4 billion in receipts), finance (the banks of CRDB and NMB, the mobile money), telecoms, the public service, the real estate of Dar; the informal economy about half of the output and 89% of the jobs; the state's companies — TANESCO, TPDC, the railway, the port, Air Tanzania, the Tanzania Breweries' state share sold, the National Microfinance Bank's listing |
| Currency and prices | The shilling at about 2,640 to the dollar (3 October 2026; the Bank's indicative 2,626–2,652), 2,617 the May average against 2,538 a year before (about 3% weaker over the year on the oil bill), after the strong 2025 in which the shilling gained on the gold, the tourism and the Bank's dollar sales; the Bank's gold purchases (the reserve's 20% target) and its foreign-currency rules of 2025 (the shilling only for domestic payments); inflation 4.2% in May 2026 (4.0% in April, 3.2% in March, 3.5% the fourth quarter of 2025's average; food 5.6%, core 3.4%; Zanzibar 5.5%) — inside the 3–5% band since 2017, the 16% of 2012 and the 30%+ of the 1980s–90s the memory; the drivers of 2026 — the fuel (the Energy Regulatory Authority's monthly caps; petrol about 3,000 shillings a liter in Dar by the counts after the Middle East war's crude), the fertilizer, the freight, the maize of the harvest the brake; THE CENTRAL BANK RATE 6.25% — raised from 5.75% on 2 July 2026 by the Monetary Policy Committee for the third quarter ("to contain inflation driven by high energy, fertilizer and transportation costs"), after the cut to 5.75% in October 2025 and the holds of 8 January and 3 April 2026; the 5.5% of the rate's start in January 2024 and the 6% of April 2024 – October 2025; the interbank rate about 6–6.8%, the treasury bills about 8–10%, the banks' lending about 15%; the reserves US$5.5–6.0 billion (4.3 months of imports; US$6.3 billion at the start of 2026 by the Bank's count), the Governor Emmanuel Tutuba; the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (1998; the DSE index, the 28 listings, CRDB and NMB the heavyweights); the mobile money's 60 million wallets and the Tanzania Instant Payment System; the next MPC in October |
| Tourism | About 2.3 million international arrivals in the year to May 2026 (2,298,900, +5.9%) by the Bank's count and US$4.4 billion of receipts (the largest earner with gold) — the record of 2024's 2.1 million passed, the 5 million target of 2030 in the Five-Year Plan; the Serengeti (the migration of July–August and January–February's calving), the Ngorongoro crater, Tarangire and Manyara (the Northern Circuit of Arusha's lodges and the Kilimanjaro airport), Kilimanjaro's 50,000 climbers, Zanzibar's beaches and Stone Town (the islands' 700,000 visitors and their own count), the Southern Circuit of Nyerere, Ruaha and Mikumi, Mahale and Gombe's chimpanzees, Mafia's whale sharks, the Eastern Arc's forests; the Americans, Kenyans, Italians, Germans, French, British, Chinese and Indians the markets; the park fees (the Serengeti at US$70 a day, the crater at US$250 a vehicle; the TANAPA and the Ngorongoro authority's revenue), the hunting blocks' quarrel, the Loliondo evictions of the Maasai (June 2022) the human-rights file; the Royal Tour of 2022 (Samia as the guide of the film) and the 2023 return of the rallies' ban's lifting; the hotels of about 100,000 beds, the Zanzibar investments of the Gulf and the Europeans, the Air Tanzania Dreamliners; the October 2025 violence's cancellations (Emirates' suspended flights of 1 November, the travel advisories) and the recovery of 2026 by the reports; the Natural Resources and Tourism ministry and the Tanzania Tourist Board; the EAC's single tourist visa the ambition |
| Finance, industry and energy | The banks — CRDB (the largest; the Burundi and Congo branches), NMB (the National Microfinance Bank of the privatization), the Tanzania Commercial Bank, the Exim, the Standard Chartered and the Absa of the foreigners, the Islamic windows, about 45 banks under the Bank of Tanzania's supervision; the mobile money of M-Pesa (Vodacom, 2008), Mixx by Yas, Airtel Money and HaloPesa — 60 million accounts, the financial inclusion of 76% (2023); the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (28 listings; the cross-listings of the EAC); the insurers of about 30; the National Social Security Fund and the PSSSF; the industry — the gold mines (Geita, Bulyanhulu, North Mara, Buckreef), the Williamson diamonds, the tanzanite of Mererani's state wall, the cement (Dangote Mtwara 3 million metric tons, Twiga, Tanga, Lake), the breweries (TBL of AB InBev, Serengeti of EABL), the sugar (Kilombero, TPC, Mtibwa, Kagera; the shortage of 2024), the Bakhresa flour and juice, the MeTL textiles and soap, the Dodoma fertilizer plant (Itracom, 2024), the Kibaha and Kwala industrial parks, the Mtwara cashew factories, the pharmaceutical hopes; energy — the Julius Nyerere dam (2,115 MW; fully commissioned 22 August 2026, the largest of East Africa), the gas plants of Kinyerezi (Dar; the Songo Songo and Mnazi Bay gas by the 542-km pipeline of 2015), the hydro of Kidatu, Mtera, Kihansi, Pangani and Rusumo (80 MW, 2024), the Kakono (87 MW) building, the solar of Shinyanga and the wind of Singida planned, the grid of about 4,000 MW installed after the dam against a demand of about 2,000; the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (1,443 km from Hoima to the Chongoleani terminal at Tanga; 92.7% built by September 2026, the first tanker set for February 2027 by TPDC's word), the US$42 billion LNG of Lindi (Shell, Equinor, ExxonMobil; the host government agreement the target of 2026, the first gas in the 2030s), the 57 trillion cubic feet; the Energy ministry and TPDC, the Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority, EWURA's price caps; the Business Registration and Licensing Agency, the Tanzania Investment Centre's US$10.9 billion of registered projects in 2025 by the minister's count |
| Agriculture and fisheries | About 26% of GDP, 65% of the workers and a third of the exports — maize (about 7 million metric tons; the staple, the export bans of the shortages), cassava, rice (about 3 million; the Kilombero and Usangu schemes, among Africa's largest producers with Nigeria, Egypt and Madagascar), sorghum and millet of the dry center, bananas of the Chagga and the Haya, beans, sweet potatoes, sunflower (the cooking oil push), sesame, the cash crops — cashews (Mtwara, Lindi, Ruvuma; about 400,000 metric tons in the record 2024/25 season, among Africa's largest raw exporters with Ivory Coast, US$479 million in the year to May 2026), coffee (Kilimanjaro's arabica and Kagera's robusta; about 80,000 metric tons; US$392 million), cotton (Mwanza, Simiyu), tobacco (Tabora; about 125,000 metric tons, Africa's largest grower by the 2024 counts), tea (Iringa, Tanga), sisal (Tanga; once the world's first), cloves (Pemba; the Zanzibar State Trading Corporation's monopoly; the world's third exporter), pyrethrum, avocado (Rungwe's exports to India and China), the horticulture of Arusha's flowers and vegetables; the livestock of 36 million cattle, 25 million goats, 9 million sheep (the Maasai, the Sukuma, the Barabaig) and the meat exports to the Gulf, the dairy of Tanga; the fisheries — Lake Victoria's Nile perch (the fillets to Europe, the Mwanza factories), the dagaa, the tilapia farms, the Indian Ocean's tuna and prawns, Zanzibar's seaweed farming of the women; the Agricultural Sector Development Programme, the fertilizer subsidy of 2022–26 (the Middle East war's prices the 2026 shock), the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank, the warehouse receipts of the cashew auctions, the land of the smallholders' 2–3 hectares; the Nane Nane fair of 8 August; the Agriculture ministry and the crop boards; the food self-sufficiency of 120% in the good years and the hunger of the dry regions in the bad |
| Services and finance | Trade and transport the engines — the Dar es Salaam port's transit trade for Zambia, the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Malawi (the central and the Dar–Tunduma corridors; the trucks of the TAZARA road), the Kariakoo wholesale market of Dar, the Chinese and Indian shops, the Mlimani and the Dodoma malls, the Azam and Bakhresa empires, the Mohammed Enterprises (MeTL) of the Dewjis; tourism's US$4.4 billion; telecoms — Vodacom, Yas (the Tigo of 2024's rebrand), Airtel, Halotel (Viettel's), TTCL; about 70 million SIMs, internet use about 36%, the 4G of the cities and the 5G trials, the national fiber backbone (NICTBB), the data centers; finance (above); the real estate of Dar es Salaam's towers (the Tanzanite Bridge's skyline), Dodoma's new city and Zanzibar's hotels; the health and education of the private sector growing; the public service of about 700,000; the media of the Azam, Clouds and Wasafi groups; the professional services of the law firms and the Big Four's offices; the gig economy of the bodaboda and the Uber of Dar; the diaspora remittances about US$600–700 million; the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange's US$7 billion of market value; the Tanzania Revenue Authority's collections of about 15% of GDP the government's push |
| Trade | Exports about US$19.7 billion of goods and services in the year to May 2026 (gold US$5.5 billion — the first; tourism US$4.4 billion; the transit transport; cashews US$479 million; coffee US$392 million; tobacco, cloves, sisal, cotton, tanzanite, diamonds, the horticulture, the fish, the manufactured goods up 40%+ to the neighbors — the iron and steel, the glass, the cement), imports about US$20.4 billion (refined petroleum US$2.66 billion the first; the machinery of the dam and the railway, the vehicles, the wheat and palm oil, the fertilizer, the pharmaceuticals, the Chinese goods), the goods deficit about US$5 billion and the current account's about US$2.2 billion (2.4–2.9% of GDP; the tourism and the transit the offsets), the exports up 16% in the year to August 2026 by the Bank's review; the partners — India (the first buyer; the cashews, the gold, the pulses), China (the first seller; the machinery, the textiles), the United Arab Emirates (the gold's refineries), Kenya, South Africa, Switzerland (the gold), Rwanda, the Congo and Zambia (the neighbors' markets), Japan, the European Union (the coffee, the fish, the flowers); the EAC's Common Market and the SADC Free Trade Area (the dual membership's quarrel), the AfCFTA, the AGOA of the US (its lapse and renewal the 2025–26 question), the EU's Everything But Arms; the Tanzania Trade Development Authority, the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair of Saba Saba; the US tariff of 10% (April 2025) on the little that goes there; the port's 20 million metric tons |
| Energy | About 4,000 MW installed after the Julius Nyerere dam (2,115 MW from nine turbines of 235; the Rufiji's Stiegler's Gorge, the 134-m dam, the 100-km reservoir; US$2.9 billion, the Egyptian Arab Contractors and El Sewedy, 2019–26; the first units of 2024, the full commissioning of 22 August 2026 — the largest power station of East Africa and the fourth of Africa by capacity by the record) against a peak demand of about 2,000 MW — the gas plants of Kinyerezi I–II and Ubungo (the Songo Songo and Mnazi Bay fields; the Mtwara–Dar pipeline of 2015), the older hydro of Kidatu (204 MW), Mtera, Kihansi, Pangani Falls, New Pangani and Hale, the shared Rusumo (80 MW, 2024), the Kakono (87 MW) on the Kagera building, the Kinyerezi III and the Mtwara gas plants planned, the solar farms of Shinyanga (150 MW) and Kishapu, the wind of Singida; the Zambia–Tanzania–Kenya interconnector (2024–25) and the East African Power Pool's exports to begin; the electrification about 46% of households (2022) and the Rural Energy Agency's 12,000 villages connected; the transmission's weakness and the blackouts of 2023's drought the memory, the 2026 surplus the new fact (the power to Kenya and Zambia); the gas reserves of 57 trillion cubic feet, the LNG's US$42 billion and the 2030s, the EACOP crude of Uganda to Tanga from 2027 by the plan, the Ngaka coal, the helium of Rukwa, the uranium of Mkuju; TANESCO's debts and tariffs, EWURA the regulator, the Energy ministry's deputy Salome Makamba on the LNG; the charcoal of 80% of kitchens and the clean-cooking plan of 2024–34; the petrol at about 3,000 shillings a liter (2026) |
| Labor and wages | A labor force of about 31 million (2022) — the employment rate about 69% of the working-age by the World Bank's update of October 2026 ("Making Jobs Work"), unemployment about 9% by the Integrated Labour Force Survey of 2020–21 (the youth 12%, the women 10%), the informal economy 89% of the jobs (the farms, the bodaboda, the market stalls, the mama ntilie food stands), the formal wage jobs about 3 million; the agriculture's 65%, the services' 25%, the industry's 10%; the minimum wages by sector (the public service 370,000 shillings a month since 2023; the private from 150,000 to 400,000), the median wage of the formal about 500,000; the Employment and Labour Relations Act of 2004, the trade unions of TUCTA (the Tanzania Teachers' Union, TUGHE), the strikes rare (the doctors' of 2012, the teachers' threats); the National Service (JKT) of the youth, the Building a Better Tomorrow youth program, the Chinese and Indian contractors' local-content rules; the child labor of the mines and the farms (about 25% of the 5–17s by the survey); the migration to the Gulf's domestic work (the Oman and Dubai cases), the Kenyan professionals of Dar; the civil service of 700,000 and the ghost-worker purges of 2016; the World Bank's million entrants a year the jobs question; the labor ministry under its minister and the Commission for Mediation and Arbitration |
| Public finances | The budget of 2026/27 (read in June 2026 by the Finance Minister Khamis Mussa Omar, the first of the new term, after the 56.49 trillion shillings of 2025/26; the new total in the owner's audit at the review) — revenue about 15% of GDP (the Tanzania Revenue Authority's 2.5–3 trillion shillings a month; the VAT of 18%, the income taxes, the fuel levies, the mining royalties of 6%), the deficit about 3% of GDP, the public debt US$51.5 billion in May 2026 by the Bank's count (71% external — the World Bank, the AfDB, China, the Eurobonds none yet, the commercial loans of Standard Chartered for the railway; 49% of GDP by the World Bank's update, "moderate" risk of distress by the IMF); the IMF's Extended Credit Facility of 2022–26 (US$1.05 billion) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (US$564 million) — the May 2026 review's US$375.5 million; the spending — the development budget's third (the dam, the SGR, the roads, the Dodoma city, the Msalato airport), the salaries, the debt service of a fifth, the fee-free schools, the health insurance; the local governments' own sources; the Controller and Auditor General's annual reports (the lost billions of the parastatals); the sovereign ratings B+ (Fitch) and B2 (Moody's) stable; the Vision 2050 and the Five-Year Plan IV from July 2026; the Zanzibar budget of about 5 trillion; the fiscal year July–June |
| Income classification | Lower-middle income by the World Bank since 1 July 2020 (US$1,080 a head then, the line US$1,036; about US$1,200 by the 2024 count); medium human development (0.555, about 165th) by UNDP's 2025 report — the previous "low"; a least developed country still by the UN's list (the graduation review the 2027 question); a developing economy of the IMF's and the WTO's lists; the "frontier market" of the investors' lists; the AU's and the EAC's middle-income ambition of 2025 met by the Bank's measure, the poverty of 26% by the national line and 45% by the world's the other measure — both stated |
Transport & infrastructure
| Airports | Julius Nyerere International (DAR; Dar es Salaam, about 3 million passengers; Terminal 3 of 2019; the Air Tanzania hub), Kilimanjaro International (JRO; between Arusha and Moshi, the safari gateway, about 1.3 million; KLM, Qatar, Ethiopian, Turkish), Abeid Amani Karume International (ZNZ; Zanzibar's Terminal 3 of 2020, the charters of Europe, about 1.5 million), Mwanza (the lake), Dodoma (the old airfield; the Msalato international airport building with the AfDB's money for the capital, opening by 2027 by the plan), Arusha, Mbeya (Songwe), Kigoma, Tabora, Mtwara, Bukoba, Pemba, Mafia's and the Serengeti's airstrips (Seronera, Grumeti); the airlines — Air Tanzania (ATCL; 1977, revived 2016 with the Dreamliners, the A220s and the Dash 8s; the Mumbai, Guangzhou, Dubai and Johannesburg routes; the EU blacklist of 2025), Precision Air (the Kilimanjaro-born; the Bukoba crash of 2022), Auric Air, Coastal, Regional and the safari carriers, Zan Air; the Tanzania Airports Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority; the Emirates, Qatar, Ethiopian, Kenya Airways, KLM, Turkish and Flydubai of the long haul (Emirates' suspension of November 2025 the week of the violence) |
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| Ports | Dar es Salaam (the port of the six landlocked neighbors; about 20 million metric tons a year, the container terminal under DP World's 30-year concession of 2023 (the intergovernmental agreement with Dubai the controversy of 2023–24; the throughput up by the counts), the Kurasini oil jetty, the TAZARA and the SGR heads), Tanga (the Chongoleani crude terminal of EACOP and the deepened old port), Mtwara (the deepwater port of the cashews and the gas), Bagamoyo (the US$10 billion Chinese plan of 2013 shelved by Magufuli and revived in talks since 2023), Kilwa, Lindi; Zanzibar's Malindi port (the Azam ferries of the Dar run, the cruise ships) and Pemba's Mkoani; the lake ports — Mwanza, Bukoba and Musoma on Victoria (the MV Victoria, the new MV Mwanza Hapa Kazi Tu ferry, the wagon ferries), Kigoma on Tanganyika (the MV Liemba of 1913 — the Graf von Götzen — the oldest passenger ship in service, the Kalemie and Bujumbura runs), Itungi and Mbamba Bay on Nyasa; the Tanzania Ports Authority, the Marine Services Company, the Shipping Agencies Corporation (the single agency of 2017); the dhows of the coast; the fishing fleets; the Mafia Channel; the Indian Ocean's piracy watch; the central corridor's rail-and-road race with Mombasa |
| Railways | The standard gauge railway (SGR; 1,435 mm; electrified at 25 kV, 160 km/h for the passengers, the first electric standard gauge of East Africa) — Dar es Salaam–Morogoro (300 km; opened 14 June 2024) and Morogoro–Dodoma–Makutupora (426 km; the Dar–Dodoma trains since 25 July 2024, the capital in five hours), the Makutupora–Tabora (368 km) and Tabora–Isaka (130 km) under Yapı Merkezi, Isaka–Mwanza (341 km) under the Chinese CCECC and CRCC, Tabora–Kigoma (506 km) to the lake, the branches to Rusumo (Rwanda) and Uvinza–Malagarasi (Burundi) planned; US$1.2 and 1.46 billion for the first two sections, the Hyundai Rotem locomotives and the EMU trains, about 1,800 km planned, the Tanzania Railways Corporation the operator; the meter-gauge central line of 1905–14 (Dar–Kigoma, 1,254 km; the Mwanza and Mpanda branches) and the Tanga line of 1893–1911 (the German colony's first railway) still running the freight and the slow trains; the TAZARA (the Tanzania–Zambia Railway of 1970–75, 1,860 km, Chinese-built, Cape gauge; the Chinese revival concession of 2024–25 of US$1.4 billion); the Dar es Salaam commuter trains; the TRC's 2,700 km of meter gauge; the SGR's US$10 billion the biggest project of the state after the dam; the Isaka dry port |
| Roads | About 145,000 km by the counts (the trunk and regional roads of TANROADS about 36,000 km, the district roads of TARURA about 110,000) with about 12,000 km paved — the Dar es Salaam–Morogoro–Dodoma–Mwanza Great North Road, the Dar–Mbeya–Tunduma road of the TAZARA corridor to Zambia, the Arusha–Namanga road to Nairobi, the Mtwara–Masasi–Songea of the south, the Kigoma road completed in the 2010s, the Dar–Chalinze expressway building; the Magufuli Bridge (Kigongo–Busisi across the Mwanza gulf; 3.2 km, opened 19 June 2025 — the longest bridge of East Africa), the Kigamboni (Nyerere) Bridge of 2016, the Tanzanite Bridge of Dar's bay (2022), the Unity Bridge to Mozambique (2010), the Mkapa Bridge over the Rufiji (2003), the Ubungo interchange; the drive on the left, the speed cameras and the police roadblocks, the 70-km/h trunk limit, the about 4,000 road deaths a year by the police's count (the bodaboda the half); the vehicles about 2 million (the Toyota kingdom of the used Japanese imports), the fuel caps of EWURA; the Dar es Salaam congestion (the BRT the answer), the Dodoma ring road; the East African Road Network and the Trans-African highways; the Chinese and Japanese financing; the Works ministry |
| City transport | Dar es Salaam's DART bus rapid transit (the first of East Africa; Phase 1 of 2016 on the Morogoro road, 21 km; Phase 2 to Mbagala opened 2025, the phases 3–6 building), the daladala minibuses of the 20,000 (the shouting conductors, the 500-shilling fare), the bajaji tuk-tuks, the bodaboda motorcycles of the whole country (the millions; the deaths), the Kigamboni ferry and the Magogoni crossing, the commuter trains of the TRC (Ubungo, Pugu), the Uber and Bolt and the Ping; Dodoma's new city's roads, Mwanza's ferries and the Magufuli bridge, Arusha's daladala, Zanzibar's Stone Town on foot and the dala-dala to the beaches; the plans — the Dar commuter rail's expansion, the Mwanza BRT; the traffic police's chaos and the "foleni" (the jam) of Dar |
| Utilities | Electricity — TANESCO (the state utility; the Nyerere dam's 2,115 MW on the grid, the gas plants, the 46% of homes connected and the rural agency's drive, the tariffs and the debts, the exports to Kenya and Zambia on the new lines); Zanzibar's ZECO on the mainland's undersea cable (the blackouts of 2008 and 2009 the memory); water — DAWASA of Dar (the Ruvu and the Kidunda dam building; 80% of the city served, the vendors the rest), the Lake Victoria pipeline to Shinyanga, Tabora and Igunga (2021), the Dodoma supply from the Makutupora boreholes and the Farkwa dam planned, the water authorities of the regions, the village boreholes and the 60% rural access; sanitation — the pit latrines of 90%, the sewers of a tenth of Dar; telecoms — Vodacom, Yas, Airtel, Halotel, TTCL; 70 million SIMs, the fiber backbone, the undersea cables of SEACOM and EASSy at Dar, the 5G of 2022's launch, the Starlink license refused by the regulator by the reports; the broadcasting of TBC, ITV, Azam, Clouds; the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (the internet shutdown of 29 October – 3 November 2025 and the social media's throttling after); the postal corporation; the waste of Dar's Pugu dump and the ban on plastic bags (2019); the gas pipeline of Mtwara–Dar (542 km, 2015); the EWURA regulator of fuel, power and water; the digital ID (NIDA) and the e-government of Dodoma |
| The country | Kilimanjaro's snow above the plains; the Serengeti's migration crossing the Mara; the Ngorongoro crater at dawn; the Olduvai gorge of the first humans; Lake Manyara's tree-climbing lions; Tarangire's baobabs and elephants; Arusha's clock tower midway between Cairo and Cape Town; the Maasai boma and the red shuka; Lake Natron's flamingos below the Mountain of God; the Stone Town's carved doors, the House of Wonders and Forodhani's night market; Nungwi's dhows and Pemba's cloves; Prison Island's tortoises; Bagamoyo's old port and the Kaole ruins; Dar es Salaam's harbor, the Kariakoo market and the Mkapa stadium's derby; the Rufiji's hippos in Nyerere park; Ruaha's lions; Mikumi on the road; Kilwa Kisiwani's Great Mosque; the Makonde carvers of Mtwara; Mbeya's Southern Highlands and the Kitulo orchids; Lake Tanganyika's Gombe chimpanzees and the MV Liemba at Kigoma; the Kalambo Falls; Mwanza's rocks and the Victoria ferries; the Kondoa rock art; Dodoma's new parliament and the Gogo country's baobabs; the Uhuru Torch's run; the Taarab of Zanzibar and the Bongo Flava of Dar |
History in dates
| c. 2 million BC – c. 1000 BC | The cradle — the hominins of Olduvai Gorge (Homo habilis and Paranthropus boisei, the "Zinjanthropus" skull Mary Leakey found on 17 July 1959; the stone tools of 1.8 million years), the Laetoli footprints of 3.66 million years ago (Mary Leakey, 1978; the oldest trail of upright walkers), the Isimila hand axes near Iringa, the Kondoa rock paintings of the hunters; the Khoisan-speaking hunters (the Sandawe and Hadza their heirs), the Cushitic herders from the north by 1000 BC (the Iraqw their heirs), the pastoral Neolithic of the Rift |
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| c. 1000 BC – c. 800 | The Bantu arrive — the farmers and ironworkers from the west in the first centuries of the era (the Urewe ware of the lake, the iron of the Haya's furnaces at Katuruka, the early dates of the first millennium BC argued), the peoples of the plateau formed, the Swahili coast's first towns; the "Rhapta" of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century) and Ptolemy — the Azanian trade of ivory and tortoiseshell with Arabia and India; the Nilotic Maasai and Datoga later (the 15th–18th centuries); the Bantu languages' Kiswahili born on the coast of the Arab, Persian and Indian traders |
| c. 800 – 1498 | The Swahili city-states — Kilwa Kisiwani (the Shirazi dynasty of the 10th century's legend; the Kilwa Sultanate's gold trade of Sofala, the Great Mosque, the coins, Husuni Kubwa's palace of the 14th century, Ibn Battuta's visit of 1331 — "one of the most beautiful towns"), Zanzibar, Pemba, Mafia, Kaole and the Mrima coast, Mombasa and Lamu to the north; the dhows of the monsoon, Islam from the 8th–9th centuries, the Swahili language and the stone towns; the interior's chiefdoms of the Sukuma, Nyamwezi and Chagga, the Engaruka terraces; the Ming fleet's giraffe of 1414 (from Malindi); the gold, ivory, slaves and mangrove poles outward, the cloth, beads and porcelain in |
| 1498 – 1698 | The Portuguese — Vasco da Gama at Kilwa and Mombasa (1498), Kilwa sacked and garrisoned (1505), Zanzibar's tribute, Fort Jesus at Mombasa (1593), the Portuguese chapel of Zanzibar (1612), the coast's decline and revolts; the Omani Arabs' expulsion of the Portuguese (Mombasa taken 1698) and the coast under Muscat's sultans; the Maasai's arrival on the plains; the Kilwa of the French slavers of the 18th century |
| 1698 – 1856 | Omani Zanzibar — Sultan Said bin Sultan's cloves (planted from 1818; the plantations' slaves), his move of the court from Muscat to Zanzibar (1840), the Zanzibar slave market (the caravans of Tippu Tip's generation to Tabora, Ujiji and the Congo; about 50,000 a year through the market by the estimates), the Indian merchants' finance, the Nyamwezi's porters and Mirambo's state (1860s–84), the American consul of 1837 and the British of 1841, the Moresby (1822) and Hamerton (1845) treaties against the trade; Said dies (1856) and Zanzibar separates from Oman (1861, by Canning's award) |
| 1856 – 1884 | The explorers and the missions — Burton and Speke to Lake Tanganyika (February 1858) and Speke to Victoria (August 1858; the Nile's source claimed), Livingstone's last journeys and Stanley's "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" at Ujiji (10 November 1871), the Holy Ghost Fathers at Bagamoyo (1868), the Universities' Mission and the Anglican cathedral on the slave market (1873–79); Sultan Barghash's treaty closing the market (5 June 1873; the trade's end at sea, the slavery's in 1897), Zanzibar's prosperity, the German adventurers |
| 1884 – 1905 | German East Africa — Carl Peters' treaties with the chiefs (1884) and the Society for German Colonization, the Berlin Conference (1885; the Kaiser's charter), the Abushiri revolt of the coast (1888–89; crushed by Wissmann), the German East Africa Company's colony taken over by the Reich (1 January 1891; Dar es Salaam the capital), the Anglo-German Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty (1 July 1890; Zanzibar a British protectorate, the mainland strip bought), the Hehe war of Chief Mkwawa (the Lugalo ambush of 1891, Kalenga's fall 1894, his death 1898 and his skull's journey to Bremen and back in 1954), the Anglo-Zanzibar War (27 August 1896; 38 minutes, the shortest war in history), the Usambara railway from Tanga (1893), the Central Line begun (1905), the sisal, the cotton, the hut tax |
| 1905 – 1918 | The Maji Maji rebellion (July 1905 – 1907; the water-medicine of Kinjikitile Ngwale, the south in revolt from the Rufiji to Songea, the German scorched earth, 75,000 to 300,000 dead by the counts — the founding martyrdom of the nation's story), the reforms of Governor Rechenberg, the Central Line reaches Tabora (1912) and Kigoma (1914), the Graf von Götzen launched on Tanganyika (1915; the MV Liemba); the First World War — the Battle of Tanga (November 1914; the bees), the Königsberg in the Rufiji delta (sunk July 1915), Lettow-Vorbeck's four-year guerrilla campaign across the colony, the British–South African–Belgian–Indian armies, the famine and the carriers' deaths (about 100,000 Africans), the surrender at Abercorn (25 November 1918, after the Armistice) |
| 1919 – 1945 | The Tanganyika Territory — the Versailles mandate to Britain (1919–22; Ruanda-Urundi to Belgium), Governor Byatt and Sir Donald Cameron's indirect rule (1925–31; the native authorities), the Legislative Council (1926), the Tanganyika African Association (1929; the clerks and teachers of the future TANU), the Depression, the Chagga coffee cooperatives (KNCU, 1932), the Asian traders, the Groundnut Scheme's folly (1946–51; £36 million of the British taxpayers' money at Kongwa), the King's African Rifles in Burma and Abyssinia; Zanzibar under its sultans and the British residents, the clove economy, the Arab association and the Shirazi; the UN trusteeship (1946) |
| 1946 – 1961 | The road to Uhuru — Julius Kambarage Nyerere (born 1922 at Butiama; Makerere and Edinburgh; the teacher — Mwalimu) founds the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) on 7 July 1954 (Saba Saba), the UN visiting missions, the elections of 1958–59 (TANU sweeps), the Cambridge-trained constitutional talks, responsible government and Nyerere Chief Minister (1 September 1960), the Mau Mau next door and the peaceful path here; INDEPENDENCE 9 DECEMBER 1961 — Nyerere Prime Minister, Sir Richard Turnbull the Governor-General, the Uhuru Torch lit on Kilimanjaro's summit that night ("to shine beyond our borders, giving hope where there was despair"), the Commonwealth's and the UN's newest member (14 December) |
| 1962 – 1964 | The republic (9 December 1962; Nyerere President, Rashidi Kawawa Prime Minister; Nyerere's resignation of January 1962 to build the party), Zanzibar's independence under Sultan Jamshid (10 December 1963; the ZNP–ZPPP government, the ASP's majority of votes and minority of seats), THE ZANZIBAR REVOLUTION (12 January 1964; John Okello's 600, Abeid Karume's Afro-Shirazi Party in power, the sultan to exile, the killings of Arabs and Asians — the counts from 2,000 to 20,000 — the People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba), the army mutiny at Colito barracks (20 January 1964; the British marines from HMS Centaur disarm it, the army rebuilt as the TPDF), THE UNION OF 26 APRIL 1964 (Nyerere and Karume's articles; the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, renamed Tanzania on 29 October; the Cold War's shadow — the East German and Chinese presence in Zanzibar the West's alarm), the flag of 30 June |
| 1965 – 1967 | The one-party state by the constitution of 1965 (TANU on the mainland, the ASP in Zanzibar; the elections of September 1965 with two TANU candidates a seat), the break with Britain over Rhodesia (December 1965; the first to go), the Chinese friendship (Zhou Enlai's visit of 1965, the TAZARA agreement of 1967), the Bank of Tanzania and the shilling (June 1966), the University College of Dar es Salaam (1961; the university of 1970), THE ARUSHA DECLARATION (5 February 1967) — ujamaa (familyhood) and self-reliance, the nationalization of the banks, the insurers, the mills and the plantations, the leadership code, the Education for Self-Reliance; Nyerere's "Mwalimu" at the height of his world |
| 1967 – 1977 | Ujamaa — the villagization of the countryside (voluntary to 1973, compulsory from November 1973 to 1976; about 11 million people moved into 8,000 villages, the agriculture's fall), the TAZARA railway built by 50,000 Chinese and Tanzanian workers (1970–75; the lifeline for Zambia around Rhodesia), the Pan-African hosting (the ANC, FRELIMO, the liberation committee of the OAU in Dar es Salaam), the universal primary education and the adult literacy campaign (the literacy from 17% toward 90%), Abeid Karume assassinated at Zanzibar (7 April 1972; Aboud Jumbe succeeds), the capital's move to Dodoma decided (1 October 1973), the oil shocks and the economic decline, the East African Community's collapse (1977; the border with Kenya closed to 1983), CHAMA CHA MAPINDUZI founded by the merger of TANU and the ASP (5 February 1977), the constitution of 25 April 1977 |
| 1978 – 1985 | The Kagera War — Idi Amin's Uganda invades the Kagera salient (October 1978), Tanzania's counter-offensive with the Ugandan exiles (January 1979), Kampala taken (11 April 1979) and Amin gone, the Tanzanian garrison to 1981 (the cost about US$500 million the economy could not bear); the economic crisis of the 1980s (the shortages, the black market, the IMF standoff of 1979–85; the Mwinyi 'ruksa' to come), the Bill of Rights (1984), the Zanzibar constitution of 1984 and Jumbe's fall (1984; Ali Hassan Mwinyi president of Zanzibar), NYERERE RETIRES (5 November 1985; the first African leader to leave voluntarily — Ali Hassan Mwinyi the second President, Nyerere the CCM chairman to 1990) |
| 1986 – 1995 | The opening — the IMF and World Bank agreement (1986) and the liberalization (the markets, the shops filled, the parastatals' decline), the Zanzibar Declaration (1991) that ended the leadership code, the Nyalali Commission and MULTIPARTY POLITICS (1 July 1992; CHADEMA, CUF, NCCR and the rest registered), the Zanzibar OIC crisis (1993), the first multiparty general election (29 October 1995) — Benjamin Mkapa (CCM) 62% over Augustine Mrema's NCCR, Zanzibar's disputed count (Salmin Amour over Seif Sharif Hamad by 0.4%), the Burundi and Rwanda refugees of 1993–94 (the camps of Kigoma and Ngara — a million at the peak), the ICTR at Arusha (1994) |
| 1996 – 2005 | Mkapa's decade — the privatizations (the banks, the breweries, the mines' arrival: Geita's gold of 2000), the HIPC debt relief (2001), the MV Bukoba's sinking (21 May 1996; about 800 dead), THE US EMBASSY BOMBING (7 August 1998; al-Qaida's truck at Dar es Salaam, 11 dead, with Nairobi's 213), the Zanzibar vote of 2000 and the killings of 27 January 2001 (Pemba; 35 dead by the official count, the Muafaka accords after), Nyerere dies in London (14 October 1999; the state funeral, Butiama), the Tanzania Development Vision 2025, the mobile phones' arrival, the Rufiji Mkapa Bridge (2003), Jakaya Kikwete elected (14 December 2005; 80%) |
| 2006 – 2010 | Kikwete's first term — the Richmond power scandal (Prime Minister Edward Lowassa resigns, 7 February 2008), the global crisis weathered at 6–7% growth, the gas discoveries offshore begin (2010; the 57 trillion cubic feet of the decade), the Obama-era PEPFAR and the Millennium Challenge compact (2008), the Dar es Salaam port congestion, the Zanzibar government of national unity (the referendum of 31 July 2010; Ali Mohamed Shein president, Seif Sharif Hamad first vice president), the election of 31 October 2010 — Kikwete 63%, CHADEMA's Willibrod Slaa 27% and the party's rise to 48 seats, the first real opposition |
| 2011 – 2015 | The Constitutional Review (the Warioba commission of 2012–14, the draft of a three-government union, the Constituent Assembly's text of 2 October 2014 and the referendum never held), the Chinese Bagamoyo port deal (March 2013; shelved 2019), the Zanzibar acid attacks on the British girls (August 2013), the Mtwara gas riots (May 2013) and the Mtwara–Dar pipeline (2015), the Dar es Salaam BRT building, the EAC's revival and the single customs territory, the Obama visit (July 2013), the escrow scandal (2014; the ministers out); THE ELECTION OF 25 OCTOBER 2015 — John Pombe Magufuli (CCM) 58% over Edward Lowassa (CHADEMA's convert) 40%, CHADEMA's 70 seats the opposition's high, Zanzibar's vote annulled by its commission and rerun in March 2016 under the CUF boycott (Shein 91%) |
| 2015 – 2017 | The bulldozer — "Hapa Kazi Tu": the anti-corruption purges, the ghost workers struck off, the ministers sacked on television, the free primary and secondary schooling (January 2016), the rallies banned (June 2016) and the Parliament's live broadcasts cut, the Cybercrimes Act of 2015 in use and the Media Services Act of 2016, the newspapers suspended, the Dar es Salaam capital's move ordered (2016), the Acacia gold export ban and the US$190 billion tax bill (July 2017), the mining laws of July 2017 (the sovereignty acts, the 16% free carried interest, the Mererani wall), the SGR contract (February 2017) and the first sod, the Air Tanzania revival (the Dreamliners of 2018), TUNDU LISSU SHOT 16 TIMES at Dodoma (7 September 2017; he survives in Nairobi and Belgium) |
| 2018 – 2020 | The Nyerere dam begun at Stiegler's Gorge (2019; the Egyptian contractors), the Barrick settlement and the Twiga joint venture (2019–20; the state's 16%), the government moved to Dodoma (2019–20; Magufuli's State House at Chamwino), the Statistics Act and the Online Content rules, the abductions and the Azory Gwanda disappearance, the pregnant schoolgirls' expulsion rule, the local elections' boycott (November 2019), the lower-middle-income status (1 July 2020); THE COVID DENIAL (2020; the steam inhalation, the three days of prayer, the "Covid-free" claim of June 2020, no data published from May 2020); the election of 28 October 2020 — Magufuli 84%, Lissu 13% by the count, the internet throttled, Zanzibar's dead (ACT-Wazalendo's nine by its count) and Seif Sharif Hamad's arrest, the opposition's 20 seats and the walkout from Parliament, Lissu back to exile |
| 2021 – 2022 | MAGUFULI DIES (announced 17 March 2021; the heart condition after weeks of absence and the rumors of Covid) — SAMIA SULUHU HASSAN sworn in on 19 March 2021, the first woman; the turn: the Covid vaccines (July 2021), the data back, the IMF's US$567 million (September 2021), Mbowe's terrorism charges (July 2021; dropped March 2022), the "4Rs" of reconciliation, the opposition's talks, the media's reopening, Abdulrazak Gurnah's Nobel Prize in Literature (7 October 2021); the Royal Tour film premiered (April 2022) and the tourism's rebound, the IMF Extended Credit Facility (July 2022), the Loliondo evictions (June 2022; the Maasai shot at), THE CENSUS OF 23 AUGUST 2022 (61,741,120), the Precision Air crash at Bukoba (6 November 2022; 19 dead), the Rusumo dam, the Kibaha industrial parks; Lissu returns from exile (25 January 2023) to the rallies' ban lifted (3 January 2023) |
| 2023 – 2024 | The DP World port deal and its intergovernmental agreement with Dubai (ratified June 2023; the protests and the arrests of the critics, the court cases), the Hanang landslides (3 December 2023; 89 dead at Katesh), the Nyerere dam's first unit (February 2024), THE STANDARD GAUGE RAILWAY OPENS — Dar–Morogoro (14 June 2024) and Dar–Dodoma (25 July 2024; the capital in five hours), the Rufiji and coast floods (April 2024; 155 dead), the Marburg of Kagera (March 2023), the abductions and the murder of CHADEMA's Ali Kibao (6 September 2024), the Tigo–Yas rebrand, the TAZARA revival deal with China, the local government elections (27 November 2024; CCM 99% of the seats after the opposition's disqualifications), the CHADEMA leadership race won by Lissu (22 January 2025) over Mbowe |
| January – June 2025 | The Marburg outbreak of Kagera (14 January; ten dead), Nchimbi named Samia's running mate and Amos Makalla the CCM secretary-general (January), LISSU ARRESTED at Mbinga (9 April) and charged with treason (10 April) — the "no reforms, no election" campaign — CHADEMA DISQUALIFIED (12–13 April) for refusing the code of conduct, the Kenyan Martha Karua deported from Dar's airport (18 May), the cyberattacks on the government's accounts and the X block (20 May), the budget of 56.49 trillion shillings (12 June), the Magufuli Bridge opened across the Mwanza gulf (19 June; 3.2 km), the IMF's ECF reviews; the Nchemba budget's fuel levies |
| July – October 2025 | Saba Saba's fair and the Kiswahili Day (7 July), the African Nations Championship co-hosted with Kenya and Uganda (2–30 August; Tanzania's quarterfinal at the Mkapa stadium), ALPHONCE SIMBU'S WORLD MARATHON GOLD at Tokyo (15 September; by 0.03 s), the campaign of 28 August – 28 October (Samia's rallies, the sixteen candidates, no CHADEMA, ACT's Mpina struck off), the Zanzibar campaign of Mwinyi and Othman Masoud; THE ELECTION OF 29 OCTOBER — the protests from the morning in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Arusha, Mbeya and Tunduma, the tires and the police's live fire, the curfew of Dar from 29 October, the internet cut, the counting behind the blackout, CHADEMA's 700 (31 October), the OHCHR's alarm; the result of 1 November — 97.66% |
| November – December 2025 | SAMIA SWORN IN at the Dodoma parade ground behind closed gates (3 November; the internet back the same day, the social media throttled), SADC's verdict (3 November), the EU's (4 November), the AU's (5 November), CHADEMA's 1,000–2,000 (5 November), Nchimbi Vice President (3 November), 240 charged with treason (7 November), Amani Golugwa arrested (8 November), the curfew lifted (10 November; the Catholic archbishop's words), Mwinyi opens Zanzibar's House (10 November), MWIGULU NCHEMBA NOMINATED PRIME MINISTER (13 November), THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY under Chande Othman (14 November), the reshuffle (17 November; Khamis Mussa Omar at Finance), The Economist's "Tiananmen moment," the ICC petitions (December), Amnesty's report (19 December), the US partial travel restriction (16 December), the AFCON opens in Morocco (Nigeria 1–2 on 23 December, Uganda 1–1 on 27 December, Tunisia 1–1 on 30 December), the Kilimanjaro rescue helicopter crash (24 December; five dead) |
| January – March 2026 | THE FIRST AFCON KNOCKOUT — Morocco 1–0 in the round of 16 (4 January); the Bank holds 5.75% (8 January); the Index on Censorship names Samia its "Tyrant of the Year" (January); the Zanzibar Revolution's 62nd (12 January); the LNG host agreement's June target set (January); EACOP at 81% (February); Cardinal Polycarp Pengo dies (19 February; 81); TPDC's briefing on the pipeline and the gas (11 March); the Lissu trial's prosecution case; the Mbeya landslides (27 March; more than 20 dead); William Lukuvi dies (25 March); Eid al-Fitr and Selemani Bungara's death (30 March) |
| April – June 2026 | The Bank holds again (3 April), Karume Day (7 April), Bishop Mfumbusa dies (14 April), Simbu second at Boston in 2:02:47 (20 April), THE COMMISSION'S REPORT (23 April; 518 dead, 245 missing, more than 800 shot; the protests "planned and coordinated"; a reconciliation commission and a criminal investigation promised), Union Day's 62nd (26 April), Nduta camp closed (30 April; the Burundians home), the IMF's staff agreement on US$375.5 million (May; 5.9% and 4.7% for 2026), the US sanctions on the police's Faustine Mafwele (21 May), Eid al-Adha (6 June), the budget of 2026/27 (June; Khamis Mussa Omar's first), the Magufuli Bridge's first anniversary, THE RALLY BAN (26 June; the Home Affairs minister, ahead of the Saba Saba calls) |
| July – September 2026 | THE BANK RAISES TO 6.25% (2 July; the Middle East war's costs), Saba Saba (7 July; the protests called online, the arrests — 130 by 9 July, the Mwanza 23 of 8 July, two dozen charged with terrorism on 24 July), the Glasgow Commonwealth Games (23 July – 2 August; 12 athletes, no medal, Makenji's 23.88), Nane Nane (8 August), THE NYERERE DAM FULLY COMMISSIONED (22 August; 2,115 MW), NCHIMBI RESIGNS (25 August) and is expelled from CCM (26 August), NDEJEMBI VICE PRESIDENT (confirmed 28 August, sworn 29 August at Chamwino), Maulid (4 September), the first gentleman Hafidh Ameir dies at Zanzibar (7 September), the security chiefs summoned in the Lissu trial (10 September) and the Dodoma lecturer freed (10 September), John Heche testifies (16 September), the defense closes and the final submissions begin (late September; the "courageous verdict" Lissu asks of the court on 23 September), EACOP at 92.7% and the first oil set for February 2027 (21 September), the lands minister's 120 million of 2050 (24 September), the World Bank's "Making Jobs Work" (2 October); the state as of 3 October 2026 — the eleventh month after the vote, the verdict awaited, the Bank's October meeting due, the Union of two governments and one party |
| The union | 62 years since the Union of 26 April 1964, 64 since Uhuru, 62 since the revolution, 59 since Arusha, 49 since CCM, 34 since the parties returned, 11 months since the vote of 29 October 2025 and 35 days since the new vice president — the longest-lived union of two sovereign states in Africa, the one-party inheritance in a multiparty dress, the sixth-year growth of 6%, the gold, the gas and the safaris, a people of 72 million with a median age of 18 and a capital that moved; the state as of 3 October 2026 with the two cases stated (LAW 2) |
Records & firsts
| The roof of Africa | Kilimanjaro, 5,895 m — the highest mountain of Africa, the highest free-standing mountain of the world (its base to summit about 4,900 m) and the highest volcano outside the Andes; snow and glaciers three degrees from the equator; first climbed 6 October 1889; about 50,000 climbers a year, the most of any big mountain |
|---|---|
| The migration | The Serengeti–Mara migration of about 1.5 million wildebeest, 250,000 zebra and the gazelles — the largest overland migration of mammals on Earth, the Mara crossings of July–September, the calving of 500,000 in January–February on the southern plains; the Serengeti the park of 14,750 km² and the World Heritage of 1981 |
| The crater | Ngorongoro — about 260 km² and 610 m deep, the largest intact, unflooded volcanic caldera of the world, with about 25,000 large animals on its floor and the densest lion population known; the conservation area of 8,292 km² where the Maasai live inside a World Heritage Site (1979) |
| The deepest and the longest lake | Lake Tanganyika — 1,470 m deep (the second-deepest lake of the world after Baikal and the deepest of Africa), 673 km long (the longest freshwater lake of the world), about 16% of the world's fresh surface water, 250 endemic cichlids; its floor about 1,471 m below sea level, the lowest point of Africa by that count |
| The largest lake of Africa | Lake Victoria — 68,800 km², the largest lake of Africa and of the tropics, the second-largest freshwater lake of the world by area after Superior, the source of the White Nile; Tanzania's 49% the largest share; the Magufuli Bridge of 3.2 km across its Mwanza gulf (19 June 2025) the longest bridge of East Africa |
| The cradle of mankind | Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli — the Leakeys' Zinjanthropus of 1959 and Homo habilis of 1960, the 1.8-million-year tools, and the Laetoli footprints of 3.66 million years ago, the oldest known trail of bipedal hominins (1978); the Ngorongoro area's mixed listing of 2010 |
| The one-place gem | Tanzanite — the blue-violet zoisite found in 1967 at Mererani below Kilimanjaro, mined nowhere else on Earth (the deposit about 7 km by 2 km), named by Tiffany in 1968, the December birthstone since 2002; the state's 24-km wall around the mines (2018) |
| The shortest war | The Anglo-Zanzibar War of 27 August 1896 — about 38 to 45 minutes from the British ships' first shell at 9:02 to the sultan's palace's surrender at 9:40, the shortest war in recorded history; Khalid bin Barghash to the German consulate and exile, Hamoud the British choice |
| The union that lasted | The United Republic of 26 April 1964 — the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar the only union of two independent African states still standing (the Senegambia of 1982–89, the United Arab Republic and the rest dissolved); 62 years, two governments, one president, the structure the constitutional review of 2014 could not change |
| The biggest power station of East Africa | The Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station on the Rufiji — 2,115 MW from nine turbines, the 134-m dam at Stiegler's Gorge, the reservoir of 100 km; the first units in 2024, fully commissioned on 22 August 2026, the largest power station of East Africa and the fourth of Africa by capacity; the doubling of the country's grid |
| The electric railway | The standard gauge railway of 2024 — Dar es Salaam to Dodoma in five hours at 160 km/h, the first electrified standard-gauge line of East Africa (25 kV), 726 km open and 1,800 planned; the TAZARA of 1975 (1,860 km) the earlier record, China's largest foreign project of its day |
| The world champion | Alphonce Simbu — the gold medal of the marathon at the World Championships of Tokyo on 15 September 2025, by three hundredths of a second (2:09:48), the first world championship gold of any Tanzanian; his 2:02:47 second at Boston on 20 April 2026 the fastest by a Tanzanian; Filbert Bayi's 1,500 m world record of 3:32.16 (Christchurch, 2 February 1974) the first great record, and the two Olympic silvers of Moscow 1980 (Bayi's steeplechase, Nyambui's 5,000 m) the country's only medals |
| The first knockout | The Taifa Stars' round of 16 at the Africa Cup of Nations of 2025 (Morocco 1–0 on 4 January 2026) — the first time past the group stage in four tournaments (1980, 2019, 2023, 2025); AFCON 2027 the first hosted, with Kenya and Uganda; Mbwana Samatta the first Tanzanian of the English Premier League (Aston Villa, 2020) |
| The Nobel and the voice | Abdulrazak Gurnah, born in Zanzibar on 20 December 1948, the Nobel laureate in literature of 2021 ("Paradise," "Afterlives") — the first Tanzanian Nobel; Freddie Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara in Stone Town on 5 September 1946; Siti binti Saad the first East African to record (Bombay, 1928); Bongo Flava's Diamond Platnumz among the most-streamed African artists by the counts |
| The language of 200 million | Kiswahili — the most widely spoken language of Africa south of the Sahara (about 200 million speakers), the African Union's working language (2022), the East African Community's and the SADC's, the first African language with a UNESCO world day (7 July, since 2022); Tanzania's standard the model; Nyerere's Shakespeare in Swahili |
| The 97.66% | The presidential vote of 29 October 2025 — 97.66% by the electoral commission's count, the highest winning share of any multiparty election in Tanzania (the 84% of 2020, the 80% of 2005 before it; the 96.5% of the one-party plebiscite of 1965 the old mark); the commission's figure and the opposition's rejection both stated (LAW 2); the longest-ruling party of the continent, CCM and its forebears in office since 1961 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Tanzania?
The United Republic of Tanzania — Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania in Kiswahili — the union of 26 April 1964 between Tanganyika, independent since 9 December 1961, and Zanzibar, independent since 10 December 1963 and under its revolutionary government since 12 January 1964; the name itself, coined from Tanganyika, Zanzibar and the Latin ending, replaced the "United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar" on 29 October 1964. A unitary presidential republic of the mainland and the semi-autonomous islands (Zanzibar keeps its own president, House of Representatives and courts for the matters that are not the Union's), the largest country of East Africa by area and among its most populous, a member of the East African Community, SADC, the African Union and the Commonwealth, and, on 3 October 2026, a country in the eleventh month after the election of 29 October 2025 that returned President Samia Suluhu Hassan with 97.66% by the electoral commission's count, under a new vice president since 29 August and with the opposition leader Tundu Lissu awaiting the verdict of a treason trial; the government calls the vote a mandate and the opposition and the African Union's, SADC's and the European Union's observers found it short of their standards — both stated (LAW 2).
What is the capital of Tanzania?
Dodoma — the capital by the decision of 1973, the seat of the National Assembly since 1996 and of the whole government since the move of 2019–20, with State House at Chamwino, the ministries' new city at Mtumba, the University of Dodoma and the Msalato airport under construction; about 765,000 people in the city council and 3.1 million in the region by the census of 2022, on the dry central plateau at 1,120 m, 450 km inland from the coast and five hours by the new standard gauge railway. Dar es Salaam — "the abode of peace," the sultan's harbor town of 1865 and the German capital of 1891 — remains the largest city, the port and the commercial capital: about 5.4 million in the region by the census of 2022 and some 7 million in the metropolis by the estimates, the banks, the Bank of Tanzania, the stock exchange, the Julius Nyerere airport and the Mkapa stadium, the embassies not yet moved. Zanzibar City (Stone Town and Ng'ambo; about 890,000 in the Urban West region) is the capital of Zanzibar; Mwanza (about 1.1 million) on Lake Victoria, Arusha (about 620,000) the safari and diplomatic town at the East African Community's headquarters, Mbeya (about 540,000) in the Southern Highlands, Morogoro, Tanga, Moshi and Tabora the other cities by the census's count.
How big is Tanzania, and how many people live there?
947,303 km² (365,756 sq mi) by the statistics bureau's count and 947,300 km² by the Factbook's (both stated) — the 31st country of the world, about four times the size of the United Kingdom and a little larger than Nigeria, with land of 885,800 km² and water of 61,500 km² (the shares of Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa; 6.5%); the mainland of 26 regions and the islands of Zanzibar (Unguja and Pemba, 2,461 km²); 1,424 km of Indian Ocean coast and 4,161 km of land borders with eight countries by the Factbook's count — Kenya 775 km, Uganda 391, Rwanda 222, Burundi 589, the Democratic Republic of the Congo 479 across Lake Tanganyika, Zambia 353, Malawi 512 and Mozambique 840 along the Ruvuma — with Kilimanjaro at 5,895 m the roof of Africa. The census of 23 August 2022 counted 61,741,120 people (the mainland 59,851,347, Zanzibar 1,889,773), growing at 3.2% a year from the 44.9 million of 2012; the United Nations estimates about 72.6 million for 2026 and the National Bureau of Statistics' projection runs to about 70 million by the reports (both stated), the 20th or so of the world and the fifth of Africa after Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt and the Congo; the median age about 18, half the people under 18, 65 to the square kilometer at the census (77 by the 2026 estimates), about 35% in towns and cities, Dar es Salaam the one city past five million; the fertility rate about 4.8 children per woman by the demographic survey of 2022, the UN's projection past 120 million by 2050 the lands minister's figure of 24 September 2026.
What are the highest and lowest points of Tanzania?
Kilimanjaro — Uhuru Peak on the Kibo cone, 5,895 m (19,341 ft; 5,891.8 m by the GPS survey of 2008, the lower figure the surveyors' and the higher the one on the summit sign — both stated), the highest point of Africa and the highest free-standing mountain of the world, a dormant stratovolcano of three cones (Kibo, Mawenzi 5,149 m and Shira) rising 4,900 m from the plains of the Kenyan border, first climbed by Hans Meyer and Ludwig Purtscheller on 6 October 1889, a national park since 1973 and a World Heritage Site since 1987, about 50,000 climbers a year on the Marangu, Machame and Lemosho routes, its glaciers shrunk by about 85% since 1912 and forecast to vanish by the 2040s. Mount Meru (4,566 m) above Arusha is the second summit, Loolmalasin, Ol Doinyo Lengai (2,962 m; the only volcano on Earth erupting natrocarbonatite lava, last in 2007–08), Rungwe and the Livingstone Mountains the others, the Eastern Arc (the Usambara, Uluguru and Udzungwa ranges) the old mountains of the endemic species. The lowest point is the Indian Ocean shore at 0 m by the Factbook's convention, or the floor of Lake Tanganyika at about 1,471 m below sea level (the lake's surface at 773 m, its depth 1,470 m, the deepest in Africa and the second-deepest in the world) if the lake bed is counted — both stated (LAW 2); the mean elevation is 1,018 m by the Factbook's count. The Rufiji (600 km) is the longest river wholly in the country, the Ruvuma (800 km) the longest on its borders; Lake Victoria (68,800 km²; 49% Tanzanian) the largest lake of Africa, Lake Tanganyika (32,900 km²) the deepest and longest, Lake Nyasa (Malawi) the third of the great lakes, Natron, Manyara, Eyasi and Rukwa the soda lakes of the Rift.
What currency does Tanzania use?
The Tanzanian shilling (ISO code TZS; TSh; shilingi), of 100 senti, issued by the Bank of Tanzania (1966) since 14 June 1966 in place of the East African shilling, in notes of 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 shillings (the 2010 series — Nyerere on the 1,000, Karume on the 500, the elephant, the lion and the rhino) and coins of 50 to 500 shillings; Zanzibar uses the same money. About 2,640 shillings to the U.S. dollar on 3 October 2026 by the Bank's indicative rate (2,626 buying, 2,652 selling; about 2,970 to the euro, 3,490 to the pound, 20.3 to the Kenyan shilling) — 2,617 the May average against 2,538 a year before by the Bank's review, the shilling about 3% weaker over the year on the oil bill after the gains of 2025 — and the Bank's indicative rate, not a peg: the rate floats under the Bank's interventions and its gold purchases. The Central Bank Rate — the policy rate that replaced the money-supply targets in January 2024 — stands at 6.25% since the Monetary Policy Committee of 2 July 2026, raised from 5.75% (cut to that in October 2025 and held in January and April 2026) against the energy, fertilizer and transport costs of the Middle East war; inflation ran at 4.2% in May 2026 (3.2% in March, 4.0% in April; food 5.6%, core 3.4%; Zanzibar 5.5%), inside the Bank's 3–5% band, the IMF's 4.7% the projection for the year; foreign reserves about US$5.5–6 billion (4.3 months of imports), the next rate decision the Bank's October meeting; the economy grew 5.9% in 2025 by the Bank's and the World Bank's counts and about 6% in the first half of 2026; the Governor Emmanuel Tutuba since January 2023; the mobile money of M-Pesa, Mixx by Yas and Airtel Money the everyday currency of 60 million accounts.
Who governs Tanzania?
The President — head of state, head of government and commander-in-chief, elected for five years by direct vote under the constitution of 1977 with a two-term limit: Samia Suluhu Hassan, 66, born 27 January 1960 in Zanzibar, vice president from 2015 and president since 19 March 2021 on John Magufuli's death, the first woman in the office and the first Zanzibari since Ali Hassan Mwinyi, returned on 29 October 2025 with 97.66% of 32.7 million votes by the National Electoral Commission's count in a race from which CHADEMA and its leader Tundu Lissu had been barred, sworn in on 3 November 2025 at the Dodoma military parade ground behind closed gates after three days of protests and the five-day internet blackout. The Vice President since 29 August 2026 is Deogratius Ndejembi, 43, the lands minister of 2024–26, sworn in at Chamwino after Emmanuel Nchimbi — elected on the ticket in 2025 — resigned on 25 August 2026 and was expelled from the ruling party the next day; the Prime Minister since 13 November 2025 is Mwigulu Nchemba, 51, the finance minister of 2021–25 and the leader of government business in the National Assembly, which Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) dominates with 383 of 393 seats under the Speaker Mussa Zungu; the Cabinet of about 25 ministers includes Khamis Mussa Omar at Finance (since 17 November 2025), Leonard Akwilapo at Lands and Salome Makamba as the deputy at Energy; the Chief Justice is George Masaju. Zanzibar is governed by its own President Hussein Mwinyi (CCM; since 3 November 2020, re-elected in 2025 with 74.8% to ACT-Wazalendo's Othman Masoud's 23.2%) with the Revolutionary Council and a House of Representatives, under the Union's constitutional arrangement of 1964 and the government of national unity of 2010. The opposition — CHADEMA under Lissu (held since 9 April 2025, his treason trial at the High Court in its final submissions by late September 2026, the death penalty the charge's maximum), ACT-Wazalendo, CHAUMMA — sits all but outside Parliament; the government's case (a landslide, a plot of paid rioters, order restored, a commission of inquiry that counted 518 dead and a reconciliation commission promised) and the opposition's (a vote without a contest, a massacre of 700 to 2,000 by its counts, a whitewash) are both stated here (LAW 2); the next general election is due in October 2030.
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