Religions:
mainland: Christian 45%, Muslim 35%, indigenous beliefs 20%
Zanzibar: Muslim more than 99%
Languages: Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguju (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages note: Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources, including Arabic and English, and it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages
Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write Kiswahili (Swahili),
English, or Arabic (1995 est.)
total population: 67.8%
male: 79.4%
female: 56.8%
Government —————
Name of country:
conventional long form: United Republic of Tanzania
conventional short form: Tanzania
former: United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar
Data code: TZ
Type of government: republic
Capital: Dar es Salaam
note: some government offices have been transferred to Dodoma, which
is planned as the new national capital by the end of the 1990s
Administrative divisions: 25 regions; Arusha, Dar es Salaam,
Dodoma, Iringa, Kigoma, Kilimanjaro, Lindi, Mara, Mbeya, Morogoro,
Mtwara, Mwanza, Pemba North, Pemba South, Pwani, Rukwa, Ruvuma,
Shinyanga, Singida, Tabora, Tanga, Zanzibar Central/South, Zanzibar
North, Zanzibar Urban/West, Ziwa Magharibi
Independence: 26 April 1964; Tanganyika became independent 9
December 1961 (from UK-administered UN trusteeship); Zanzibar became
independent 19 December 1963 (from UK); Tanganyika united with
Zanzibar 26 April 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and
Zanzibar; renamed United Republic of Tanzania 29 October 1964