Tanzania

• plains along coast;
• central plateau;
• highlands in north, south

agricultural land:

43.7%;

• arable land 14.3%;
• permanent crops 2.3%;
• permanent pasture 27.1%

forest:

37.3%

other:

19% (2011 est.)

• the largest and most populous East African country;
• population distribution is extremely uneven, but greater population clusters occur in the northern half of country and along the east coast

• soil degradation;
• deforestation;
• desertification;
• destruction of coral reefs threatens marine habitats;
• recent droughts affected marginal agriculture;
• wildlife threatened by illegal hunting and trade, especially for ivory

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

• Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa and one of only two mountains on the continent that has glaciers (the other is Mount Kenya);
• bordered by three of the largest lakes on the continent: Lake Victoria (the world's second-largest freshwater lake) in the north, Lake Tanganyika (the world's second deepest) in the west, and Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) in the southwest

noun:

Tanzanian(s)

adjective:

Tanzanian

• mainland - African 99% (of which 95% are Bantu consisting of more than 130 tribes), other 1% (consisting of Asian, European, and Arab);
• Zanzibar - Arab, African, mixed Arab and African

• the largest and most populous East African country;
• population distribution is extremely uneven, but greater population clusters occur in the northern half of country and along the east coast

at birth:

1.03 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.02 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

1 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

1.01 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

0.78 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.75 male(s)/female

total population:

0.99 male(s)/female (2016 est.)

degree of risk:

very high

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases:

malaria, dengue fever, and Rift Valley fever

water contact diseases:

schistosomiasis and leptospirosis

animal contact disease:

rabies (2016)

conventional long form:

United Republic of Tanzania

conventional short form:

Tanzania

local long form:

Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania

local short form:

Tanzania

former:

United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar

etymology:

the country's name is a combination of the first letters of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, the two states that merged to form Tanzania in 1964

name:

• Dodoma;
• note - officially changed in 1996;
• serves as the meeting place for the National Assembly;
• Dar es Salaam remains the de facto capital, the country's largest city and commercial center, and the site of the executive branch offices and diplomatic representation

geographic coordinates:

6 48 S, 39 17 E

time difference:

UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

• 26 April 1964 (Tanganyika united with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar);
• 29 October 1964 (renamed United Republic of Tanzania);
• notable earlier dates: 9 December 1961 (Tanganyika became independent from UK-administered UN trusteeship);
• 10 December 1963 (Zanzibar became independent from UK)

history:

• several previous;
• latest adopted 25 April 1977;
• note - progress enacting a new constitution drafted in 2014 by the Constituent Assembly has been stalled

amendments:

• proposed by the National Assembly;
• passage of amendments to constitutional articles including those on sovereignty of the United Republic, the authorities and powers of the government, the president, the Assembly, and the High Court requires two-thirds majority vote of the mainland Assembly membership and of the Zanzibar House of Representatives membership;
• House of Representatives approval of other amendments is not required (2017)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of Tanzania; if a child is born abroad, the father must be a citizen of Tanzania

dual citizenship recognized:

no

residency requirement for naturalization:

5 years

description:

• unicameral National Assembly or Parliament (Bunge) (393 seats; 264 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote, 113 women directly elected by proportional representation vote, 5 indirectly elected by simple majority vote by the Zanzibar House of Representatives, 10 appointed by the president, and 1 seat reserved for the attorney general; members serve a 5-year term);
• note - in addition to enacting laws that apply to the entire United Republic of Tanzania, the National Assembly enacts laws that apply only to the mainland;
• Zanzibar has its own House of Representatives or Baraza La Wawakilishi (82 seats; 50 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote, 20 women directly elected by proportional representation vote, 10 appointed by the Zanzibar president, 1 seat for the House speaker, and 1 ex-officio seat for the attorney general; elected members serve a 5-year term)

elections:

Tanzania National Assembly and Zanzibar House of Representatives elections last held on 25 October 2015 (next National Assembly election to be held in October 2020; next Zanzibar election NA; note the Zanzibar Electoral Commission annulled the 2015 election; no date for repoll announced as of early November)

election results:

National Assembly - percent of vote by party - CCM 55%, Chadema 31.8%, CUF 8.6%, other 2.2%; seats by party - CCM 253, Chadema 70%, CUF 42%, other 2; Zanzibar House of Representatives - election annulled

highest court(s):

• Court of Appeal of the United Republic of Tanzania (consists of the chief justice and 14 justices);
• High Court of the United Republic for Mainland Tanzania (consists of the principal judge and 30 judges organized into commercial, land, and labor courts);
• High Court of Zanzibar (consists of the chief justice and 10 justices)

judge selection and term of office:

• Court of Appeal and High Court justices appointed by the national president after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission for Tanzania, a judicial body of high level judges and 2 members appointed by the national president;
• Court of Appeal and High Court judges appointed until mandatory retirement at age 60 but terms can be extended;
• High Court of Zanzibar judges appointed by the national president after consultation with the Judicial Commission of Zanzibar;
• judges may serve until mandatory retirement at age 65

subordinate courts:

• Resident Magistrates Courts;
• Kadhi courts (for Islamic family matters);
• district and primary courts

• Alliance for Change and Transparency or ACT [Zitto KABWE]
• Alliance for Democratic Change or ADC [Miraji ABDALLAH]
• Civic United Front or CUF (Chama Cha Wananchi [Seif Shariff HAMAD, Secretary General]
• National Convention for Construction and Reform - Mageuzi or NCCR-M [James Francis MBATCA]
• Party of Democracy and Development or CHADEMA (Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo) [Freeman MBOWE]
• Revolutionary Party or CCM (Chama Cha Mapinduzi) [John MAGUFULI]
• Tanzania Labor Party or TLP [Augustine MREMA]
• United Democratic Party or UDP [John Momose CHEYO]

note: in March 2014, four opposition parties (CUF, CHADEMA, NCCR-Mageuzi, and the National League for Democracy) united to form Umoja wa Katiba ya Wananchi (Coalition for the People's Constitution) or UKAWA;

during local elections held in October, 2014, UKAWA entered one candidate representing the three parties united in the coalition

• Economic and Social Research Foundation or ESRF
• Free Zanzibar
• Tanzania Media Women's Association or TAMWA
• Tanzania Private Sector Foundation or TPSF
• Twaweza

chief of mission:

Ambassador Wilson Mutagaywa MASILINGI (since 17 September 2015)

chancery:

1232 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20037

telephone:

[1] (202) 939-6125

FAX:

[1] (202) 797-7408

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Inmi PATTERSON (since 5 July 2017)

embassy:

686 Old Bagamoyo Road, Msasani, Dar es Salaam

mailing address:

P.O. Box 9123, Dar es Salaam

telephone:

[255] (22) 229-4000

FAX:

[255] (22) 229-4970 or 4971

• divided diagonally by a yellow-edged black band from the lower hoist-side corner;
• the upper triangle (hoist side) is green and the lower triangle is blue;
• the banner combines colors found on the flags of Tanganyika and Zanzibar;
• green represents the natural vegetation of the country, gold its rich mineral deposits, black the native Swahili people, and blue the country's many lakes and rivers, as well as the Indian Ocean

name:

"Mungu ibariki Afrika" (God Bless Africa)

lyrics/music:

collective/Enoch Mankayi SONTONGA

note: adopted 1961; the anthem, which is also a popular song in Africa, shares the same melody with that of Zambia, but has different lyrics; the melody is also incorporated into South Africa's anthem

• agricultural processing (sugar, beer, cigarettes, sisal twine);
• mining (diamonds, gold, and iron), salt, soda ash;
• cement, oil refining, shoes, apparel, wood products, fertilizer

agriculture:

66.9%

industry:

6.4%

services:

26.6% (2014 est.)

lowest 10%:

2.8%

highest 10%:

29.6% (2007)

general assessment:

telecommunications services are marginal; system operating below capacity and being modernized for better service

domestic:

• fixed-line telephone network inadequate with less than 1 connection per 100 persons;
• mobile-cellular service, aided by multiple providers, is increasing rapidly and exceeds 75 telephones per 100 persons;
• trunk service provided by open-wire, microwave radio relay, tropospheric scatter, and fiber-optic cable;
• some links being made digital

international:

• country code - 255;
• landing point for the EASSy fiber-optic submarine cable system linking East Africa with Europe and North America;
• satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean, 1 Atlantic Ocean) (2016)

• a state-owned TV station and multiple privately owned TV stations;
• state-owned national radio station supplemented by more than 40 privately owned radio stations;
• transmissions of several international broadcasters are available (2007)

number of registered air carriers:

5; inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 17

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

1,239,707

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

2,337,440 mt-km (2015)

total:

4,567 km

narrow gauge:

1,860 km 1.067-m gauge; 2,707 km 1.000-m gauge (2014)

country comparison to the world: 40

total:

86,472 km

paved:

7,092 km

unpaved:

79,380 km (2010)

country comparison to the world: 55

total:

94

by type:

bulk carrier 6, cargo 66, carrier 4, chemical tanker 1, container 1, passenger/cargo 2, petroleum tanker 10, refrigerated cargo 1, roll on/roll off 3

foreign-owned:

42 (Japan 1, Romania 1, Saudi Arabia 1, Syria 23, Turkey 13, UAE 3)

registered in other countries:

3 (Panama 2, UK 1) (2010)

country comparison to the world: 54

• the International Maritime Bureau reports that shipping in territorial and offshore waters in the Indian Ocean remain at risk for piracy and armed robbery against ships, especially as Somali-based pirates extend their activities south;
• numerous commercial vessels have been attacked and hijacked both at anchor and while underway;
• crews have been robbed and stores or cargoes stolen

• dispute with Tanzania over the boundary in Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) and the meandering Songwe River;
• Malawi contends that the entire lake up to the Tanzanian shoreline is its territory, while Tanzania claims the border is in the center of the lake;
• the conflict was reignited in 2012 when Malawi awarded a license to a British company for oil exploration in the lake

current situation:

• Tanzania is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking;
• the exploitation of young girls in domestic servitude continues to be Tanzania’s largest human trafficking problem;
• Tanzanian boys are subject to forced labor mainly on farms but also in mines and quarries, in the informal commercial sector, in factories, in the sex trade, and possibly on small fishing boats;
• Tanzanian children and adults are subjected to domestic servitude, other forms of forced labor, and sex trafficking in other African countries, the Middle East, Europe, and the US;
• internal trafficking is more prevalent than transnational trafficking and is usually facilitated by friends, family members, or intermediaries with false offers of education or legitimate jobs;
• trafficking victims from Burundi, Kenya, South Asia, and Yemen are forced to work in Tanzania’s agricultural, mining, and domestic service sectors or may be sex trafficked

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List – Tanzania does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• however, it is making significant efforts to do so;
• in 2014, Tanzania was granted a waiver from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3 because its government has a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• the government adopted a three-year national action plan and implementing regulations for the 2008 anti-trafficking law;
• authorities somewhat increased their number of trafficking investigations and prosecutions and convicted one offender, but the penalty was a fine in lieu of prison, which was inadequate given the severity of the crime;
• the government did not operate any shelters for victims and relied on NGOs to provide protective services (2015)

• targeted by traffickers moving hashish, Afghan heroin, and South American cocaine transported down the East African coastline, through airports, or overland through Central Africa;
• Zanzibar likely used by traffickers for drug smuggling;
• traffickers in the past have recruited Tanzanian couriers to move drugs through Iran into East Asia