Zanzibar girls in Nungwi Tanzania

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² (11.7 million sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With 1.0 billion people (as of 2009, see table) in 65 territories (including 54 recognized states), it accounts for about 14.72% of the world's human population.

The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagoes and has 54 sovereign states ("countries") and two states with limited recognition.

Africa, particularly central Eastern Africa, is widely regarded within the scientific community to be the origin of humans and the Hominidae clade (great apes), as evidenced by the discovery of the earliest hominids and their ancestors, as well as later ones that have been dated to around seven million years ago – including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens (modern human) found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago.

The United Republic of Tanzania ( /ˌtænzəˈniːə/ Swahili: Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania) is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Tanzania, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Population distribution in Tanzania is extremely uneven. Density varies from 1 person per square kilometre (3 per sq. mi.) in arid regions to 51 per square kilometre (133 per sq. mi.) in the mainland's well-watered highlands to 134 per square kilometre (347 per sq. mi.) on Zanzibar. More than 80% of the population is rural. Dar es Salaam is the capital and largest city; Dodoma, located in the centre of Tanzania, has been designated the new capital, although action to move the capital has stalled.

The African population consists of more than 120 ethnic groups, of which the Sukuma, Haya, Nyakyusa, Nyamwezi, and Chagga have more than 1 million members. The majority of Tanzanians, including such communities as the Hehe, Sukuma and the Nyamwezi, are Bantu speaking groups. Groups of Nilotic or related origin include the nomadic Maasai and the Luo, both of which are found in greater numbers in neighbouring Kenya. Two small groups speak languages of the Khoisan family peculiar to the Bushman and Khoikhoi peoples. Cushitic-speaking peoples, originally from the Ethiopian highlands, reside in a few areas of Tanzania. Other Bantu speaking were refugees from Mozambique.

Zanzibar ( /ˈzænzɨbɑr/; Arabic: زنجبار Zanjibār), Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" (iron after rust); is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 kilometres (16–31 mi) off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as Zanzibar), and Pemba. Other nearby island countries and territories include Comoros and Mayotte to the south, Mauritius and Réunion to the far southeast, and the Seychelles Islands about 1,500 km to the east. Arab and Portuguese traders visited the region in early times, and it was controlled by Omanis in the 18th and 19th centuries. Britain established a protectorate (1890) that became an independent sultanate in December 1963 and a republic after an uprising in January 1964. In April 1964 it joined Tanganyika to form a new republic that was renamed Tanzania in October 1964. (Frommers, 2002) The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City, and its historic centre, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site.

The Zanzibar Archipelago consists of several islands lying off the coast of East Africa in the Indian Ocean. There are two main islands, plus a host of smaller islets that surround them.