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About
Tanzania
Tanzania is one of the east African nations which are uniting to
form East African Community. It is bordered, to the north by Uganda
and Kenya Malawi, to the south by Mozambique and Zambia; to the
west by Zaire, Burundi, and Rwanda;; and to the east by the Indian
Ocean. Tanzania is the largest of the East African nations.
In the northeast of Tanzania it ha two important mountains: Mt.
Meru (14,979 ft/4,566 m) and Mount Kilimanjaro (19,340 ft./5,895
m). Mountain Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa. The
size of the country total size of the country is about 945,087 sq
km. It has great lakes namely:lake Tanganyika to the West, Lake
Victoria to the North and lake Nyasa to the south west. The climate
of Tanzania varies from tropical along coast to temperate in highlands.
History
Tanzania is a country formed by the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar
on 26th April 1964. Prior to this the two states were the British
colonies whereby Tanganyika received its Independence on 9th December
1961 and Zanzibar received its independence on 12th January 1962.It
was governed by one party sytem-TANU and later CCM up to 1995 where
the first multiparty election was held. Dispite the presence of
several opposition parties CCM has won all the 5 yearly elections.
The people
The population of Tanzania is estimated to be 39,384,223 people(July
2007). The main language for all Tanzanias is Swahili and English
as aprimary language of commerce, administration, and higher education
is used in colleges and for international matters. Both languages
are official The ethnic origin in the mainland is Bantu forming
about 130tribes and contributing to 99% of the the population such
that the remaining 1% is contributed by Asian, Arabs and European.
In Zanzibar the population is a mixture of Arabs, African and Asian
ethnic origins.
Their religious believes include: mainland - Christian 30%, Muslim
35%, indigenous beliefs 35%; Zanzibar - more than 99% Muslim.
Economy
The economy depends mainly on Agriculture employing more than 80%
of the population; however only 4% of the land is utilized. There
are few industries in major cities like d res salaam, Mwanza and
Arusha and there is a substantial increase in output of minerals
led by gold. Ther are reforms which have helped increase private-sector
growth and investment. Continued donor assistance still contributes
a large proportion in the budget of the Government.
Tanzania and Tourism
Areas of great attraction to tourism include:
1) The most spectacular lakes: In the north are the largest lake
of Africa and the source of Nile - Lake Victoria. Lake Tanganyika
the world's second deepest lake lies in the west.
2) In the Eastern coastline is the Indian Ocean providing Tanzania
with hundreds of kilometers of clean beaches and calm bays.
3) The island of Zanzibar is known, with ancient remains and pleasant
atmosphere and still retains the original Arab and Swahili culture.
4) The islands of Pemba and Mafia offer some of the finest deep
sea fishing and snorkeling in the world.
5) The National Park and game reserves of Selous, Rungwe, Ruaha,
Mikumi are situated both in partly Eastern and Southern part of
Tanzania while Mahale Mountains; Gombe stream, Rubondo and Katavi
are in the Western part of Tanzania. In the Northern part of Tanzania
there is the World famous Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater,
Lake Manyara, Tarangire and the snow caped Mount Kilimanjaro.
Health Parameters
The age structure:
0-14 years: 43.9% (male 8,666,227/female 8,624,387)
15-64 years: 53.3% (male 10,330,727/female 10,649,507)
65 years and over: 2.8% (male 491,252/female 622,123) (2007 est.)
Population Growth rate: 2.091 (2007 estimation)
Birth rates: 39.95 births / 1,000population
Death rates: 13.36 deaths/ 1,000population
Sex ratio: male to female:
At birth: 1.03:1
Under 15: 1.005:1
15-64years 0.97: 1
65years and above: 0.97:1
Total population: 0.98:1
Infant mortality rate : over all 71.69 deaths / 1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 50.71 years
male: 49.41 years
female: 52.04 years (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate
4.77 children born/woman (2007 est.)
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