Population and Development

Several attempts to count the population of Tanzania have been made since 1913 when the first count was made. Other counts were done in 1921, 1928, and 1931 and they were based on the taxpayers' records and native administrators' reports. The data obtained from these counts were considered inaccurate in detail and statistically incorrect due to their poor coverage and reporting system ( Tanganyika, 1932). The first scientific census was conducted in 1948, followed by other censuses in 1957, 1967, 1978, 1988 and 2002. Population grew fourfold between 1957 and 2002. While almost 16 million people were added to the population in a period of 40 years during 1948 and 1988, 17 million people were added to the population in a period of only 24 years i.e from 1978 and 2002.

It has been observed that the population nearly doubled between 1978 and 2002 in period of 14 years. Interestedly the population almost doubled in a period of 21 year, that is, 1967 and 1988. The data also demonstrate that the population increased by 16.9% in the 1948-57 inter-censual period, by almost 4296 in 1957-67 and 1967-78 by 32.3% in 1978-88 and now by 3396 in 1988-2002. Moreover, the rate of population growth increased from 1.896 in 1948-57 to 3.0% in 1957-67, 3.296 in 1967-78, then declined to 2.896 in 1978-88 and now increased to 2.9% in 19882002 (URT, 1958 and URT 2002). The slow growth rate between 1948 and 1957 may be a function of under-estimation or under-counting of the population. Based on the 1988-2002 intercensal growth rate, the projection for the year 2010 is around 43 million people.