Tanzania

Within a landscape that incorporates the Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Zanzibar, and Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania is also remarkable for the peaceful co-existence of 120 tribes, resulting in a unique blend of all aspects of life from food to language to tradition. Undergirding all of the cultural varieties found in Tanzania is an incredible religious dynamism and spiritual energy. Approximately 30% of the Tanzanian population identifies as Catholic, making Catholicism the most prominent Christian religion practiced in the country. Catholics coexist and at times compete with their religious brethren from a variety of Christian traditions, including historic Lutheran and Anglican mission churches as well as burgeoning Pentecostal churches. Catholics also practice their faith in the midst of a large number of other believers; Tanzania has some of the largest populations of Muslims and practitioners of traditional religion in East Africa. Read more...

    Religious Affiliation
    Chart source: Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 2010
    Total Population
    59,091,392 1
    Urban
    33.8% 1
    Rural
    66.2% 1
    Immigrants as % of Population
    0.7% 2
    Homicides
    3.70 per 100,000 people (global median: 5.8) 3
    Level of Public Corruption
    40 (100 is very clean, 0 is highly corrupt) 4
    Fertility Rate
    4.70 live births per woman 5
    Under-Five Mortality Rate
    47.00 deaths per 1,000 live births 5
    Life Expectancy at Birth
    66 years 5
    Adult Literacy Rate
    67.80% 6
    Internet Users
    32% 6
    GDP per Capita
    US$1,122 5
    Population Living Below US$2.15 per Day
    44.9% 7
    Gender Gap Ranking based on economy, health, education, and politics
    48 (146 is the lowest ranked country; 1 is the highest ranked country) 8
    Religious Freedom: Government Restrictions Index (GRI)
    5.2 - High
    Religious Freedom: Social Hostilities Index (SHI)
    2.6 - Moderate

    These statistics are derived from the Vatican's official publication, Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2020 (Vatican City: Librera Editrice Vaticana, 2022). The numbers may differ from data reported by other sources on this site.

    Baptized Catholics
    17,528,000
    Baptized Catholics as % of Total Population
    30.41
    Baptisms per Year (Under age 7)
    252,872
    Baptisms per Year (Over age 7)
    110,379
    First Communions per Year
    214,306
    Confirmations per Year
    149,967
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Primary Schools
    322,866
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Secondary Schools
    127,267
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Higher Education
    66,204
    Church Marriages per Year
    35,225
    Church Marriages in Which Both Spouses are Catholics
    32,413
    Priests
    3,105
    Women Religious (Nuns & Sisters)
    12,730
    Catholics per Priest
    5,645
    Parishes
    1,251
    Mission Stations (no resident priests)
    4,715
    Catholic Hospitals
    67
    Homes for Aged, Handicapped, Invalids
    34