Country Flag of South Africa Map of South Africa, Courtesy of WorldAtlas.com

Local time in Dodoma:


Facts and Figures

arrow Official Name United Republic of Tanzania.

arrow Capital City Dar es Salaam; Note - legislative offices have been transferred to Dodoma, which is planned as the new national capital; the National Assembly now meets there on regular basis.

arrow Languages Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguju (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages. Note: Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources, including Arabic and English, and it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages.

arrow Official Currency Tanzanian shilling (TZS).

arrow Ethnic Groups Mainland - Native African 99% (of which 95% are Bantu consisting of more than 130 tribes), other 1% (consisting of Asian, European, and Arab); Zanzibar - Arab, native African, mixed Arab and native African.

arrow Religions Mainland - Christian 30%, Muslim 35%, indigenous beliefs 35%; Zanzibar - more than 99% Muslim.

arrow Population 37,187,939. Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2002 est.).

arrow Land Area 886,040 sq km (342,100 sq miles).

History

Shortly after independence, Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form the nation of Tanzania in 1964. One-party rule came to an end in 1995 with the first democratic elections held in the country since the 1970s. Zanzibar's semi-autonomous status and popular opposition have led to two contentious elections since 1995, which the ruling party won despite international observers' claims of voting irregularities.

UNAIDS Epidemiological
Fact Sheets

[English] [French]

Global Surveillance of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is a joint effort of WHO and UNAIDS. The UNAIDS/WHO Working Group on Global HIV/AIDS and STI Surveillance, initiated in November 1996, guides respective activities. The primary objective of the working group is to strengthen national, regional and global structures and networks for improved monitoring and surveillance of HIV/AIDS and STIs. For this purpose, the working group collaborates closely with national AIDS programmes and a number of national and international experts and institutions. The goal of this collaboration is to compile the best information available and to improve the quality of data needed for informed decision-making and planning at national, regional and global levels. The Epidemiological Fact Sheets are one of the products of this close and fruitful collaboration across the globe.

Web Sites

U.S. Government Agencies

World Fact Book Tanzania Fact Sheet
The Factbook was created as an annual summary and update to the encyclopedic NIS studies. The first classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first unclassified version was published in June 1971. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO).

Travel Advisories
U.S. citizens living in or planning to visit Tanzania should be aware of threats to their safety from insurgent groups, particularly in the northern region near the border with Sudan, and the western region near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These groups have at times specifically targeted U.S. citizens. They have engaged in murder, armed attacks, kidnapping, and the placement of land mines. Although isolated, incidents occur with little or no warning. Armed banditry is common in Karamoja (northeastern Tanzania).

Catholic Relief Services


021111
Tanzania

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