Population: 44,929,002 (est.)
Language(s): Swahili, English
- The Tanzanian shilling is the official currency of Tanzania.
- It’s estimated around 62% of the population of Tanzania is Christian, 35% is Muslim, and 3% are members of other religious groups.
- Mt. Kilimanjaro, which is the tallest African peak, is located in Tanzania.
- It’s estimated one out of every ten people in Tanzania is affected with HIV/AIDS.
- Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world.
- The current GDP per capita of Tanzania grew more than 40% between 1998 and 2007.
- It’s thought about 33% of the Tanzanian population is illiterate.
- The earliest remains of humans including the legendary 2 million years old Homo habilis was recovered in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.
- Tanzania has more than a 100 different tribal groups.
- Tanzanian economy is largely an agricultural one with its primary cash crops being coffee, cotton, sisal and tea.
- The short rainy season of Tanzania is called Vuli while the long rainy season is called Masika.
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is the country that was formed by the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964. It is located in East Africa, bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north; Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west; and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south. The country’s eastern border lies on the Indian Ocean.
The country is divided into 30 regions: five on the semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar and 25 on the mainland in the former Tanganyika. The head of state is President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, elected in 2005. Since 1996, the official capital of Tanzania has been Dodoma, where the country’s parliament and some government offices are located. Between independence and 1996, the main coastal city of Dar es Salaam served as the country’s political capital. Today, it remains Tanzania’s principal commercial city and de facto seat of most government institutions. It is the major seaport for the country and its landlocked neighbours.
The name Tanzania derives from the first syllables of the names of the two states, Tanganyika and Zanzibar, that united to form the country.