Population and Development

The Tanzania National Population Policy (TNPP) was adopted in 1992. The adoption of the policy was followed by a development of a Program of Implementation in 1995.

Goals and Objectives of the NPP

The main overriding concern of the NPP is to enable Tanzania to achieve sustainable improvement of the standard of living and quality of life of all the people. These include good health, education, adequate food, housing, stable and friendly environment, equity, gender equality, participation in everyday life, dignity and security.

The main goal of the policy is to influence policies, strategies and programmes that ensure sustainable development of the people. For other goals of the policy please refer to the,pohcy document. In fulfilling the goals stipulated in the policy some of the objectives are:

Integrate population concerns into all aspects of sustainable development planning, development Strategies, decision making and resource allocation;
Promote social justice and to eradicate poverty through sustained economic growth and, equity.
Promote and expand primary health care services especially for reproductive health.

Achievements of the NPP

A number of achievements have been realized by both implicit and explicit population policies. Some of these achievements are:

Considerable awareness of population issues particularly those related to reproductive health and child survival by the masses of the people;

The adoption of an explicit population policy in 1992 which recognised the links and interrelationships between population, resources, the environment and development;

Increased number and capacity of NGOs engaged in population related activities including advocacy and social mobilisation, service delivery and capacity building.

However, among the constraints and limitations, which have been encountered during the implementation of the NPP, include:

Inadequate financial resources from the Government coupled with inconsistent commitment by some officials/leaders;
Poor communication systems;
Non establishment of planned institutional arrangements;
Inadequate recognition of the causal relationship between poverty, population, environment, gender and development;
Limited distribution of the 1992 NPP document.

New Developments and Continuing Challenges

Since the adoption of the Population Policy in 1992, there have been new developments arising from national and international developments. These include the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 and international conferences including the 1992 conference on Environment and Development, the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women (F'WCW), Copenhagen Social Summit of 1995, the Istanbul City Summit of 1996 and the 1997 World Food Summit. These new developments have necessitated major review of the NPP which was done in 2000 to accommodate current and emerging issues in population and development as agreed in various international and regional fora.

National Population Policy, 2006