The population of Tanzania

Tanzania counted 61,741,120 people in its 2022 census. Of those, 59,851,347 live on the mainland and 1,889,773 on Zanzibar. These are the official figures from the National Bureau of Statistics, and it is the most recent census.

Mainland and Zanzibar

The country is growing fast and the population is young. Drive through any village and you see it straight away: children along the road, walking to school in uniform, or with a herd of goats behind them.

Where people live

Most Tanzanians live in the countryside and make their living from farming. The largest city is Dar es Salaam, on the coast. After that come cities such as Mwanza on Lake Victoria, Arusha in the north and Dodoma, the capital.

Moshi, where we live, lies at the foot of Kilimanjaro. On the slopes above it live the Chagga, who have grown coffee and bananas there for generations.

Many peoples, one language

Tanzania is home to many ethnic groups, each with its own history and often its own language. There is no official count. What connects them is Swahili, which almost everyone speaks.

Who those groups are, you can read on our page about tribes in Tanzania. More on the language at what language they speak in Tanzania.

Faith

Tanzania has Christians and Muslims, living side by side and often within the same family. On Zanzibar around 95 per cent of the population is Muslim, and you dress with that in mind.

The country behind the parks

If you only see the parks, you miss most of Tanzania. That is why our trips begin with a few days in Moshi, among the people who live here. What that looks like is in our itineraries.

View our itineraries