Poverty in Tanzania

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Tanzania has a current population of 55.57 million people.[1] Current statistics form the World Bank show that in 2011, 49.1% of Tanzanians lived below US$1.90 per day. This figure is an improvement over 2007's report indicating a poverty rate of 55.1%.[2] Tanzania has seen annual GDP gains of 7% since 2010 and this economic growth is attributed to this positive trends for poverty alleviation in Tanzania.[1] The 2019 World Bank report showed that in the last 10 years, poverty has reduced by 8 percent, from 34.4% in 2007 to 26.4% in 2018.[3]

Recently there has been statistical reductions in the levels of extreme poverty, basic needs poverty, and food poverty. However, these reductions are occurring faster in urban areas as compared to rural areas.[4]

Indicators of Poverty

GDP

Trends in GDP per capita also break along the same divisions, with Dar es Salaam's GDP per capita at TSh 1,600,000/= as compared to the Tanzania Mainland's of 600,000/=. High levels of economic growth in Tanzania has been sustained since 2001, yet the current high rates of poverty challenge whether pure economic growth can be realized in human development.[4]

Food Poverty

The split between rural and urban poverty is most extreme in terms of food insecurity. As of 2012 only 1% of Tanzanian's in Dar es Salaam experience food poverty as compared to 11.3% of Tanzania's living in rural areas.[4]

HDI

Utilizing the Human Development Index, urban areas Dar es Salaam and Arusha are classified as having Medium levels of HDI, while the remainder of Tanzania has Low HDI. HDI indicators also show the life expectancy is on the rise, as well as declines in infant mortality.[4]

Rural poverty

Trends in poverty alleviation in Tanzania vary greatly between urban and rural areas in which about 70% of Tanzania's population dwells. Endowments play a large part in distributing economic growth unevenly, with urban households having better access to infrastructure, health services, and education. Migratory trends towards urbanization, which have risen from “5.6% in 1967 to 29.1% in 2012,” are only increasing the inequality.[4] Another main factor of rural poverty in Tanzania is the lack of infrastructure to provide energy to a huge part of the population. Which means the electricity sector poses a significant liability to the government.[5]

With most of Tanzania's population living in rural areas, there is a heavy dependency on rain-fed agriculture. 76% of Tanzanian's rely on agriculture or on access to natural resources for their livelihood. The reliance on agriculture leaves Tanzanian's especially susceptible to

economic shocks due to climate change.[6]

Child poverty

Slow economic growth is a contributory factor for child poverty in Tanzania.[7] Based on 2012 estimates, more than a third of households "live below the basic needs poverty line" earning less than $1 a day, while 20% of the total population "live below the food poverty line".[7] However, it is the rural communities of Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar who are mostly affected.[7] This disparity in wealth between urban and rural is a key factor for child poverty in the rural areas, with 48% lacking basic needs compared to 10% of their peers in the urban areas.[7]

Leadership systems at the community-level

The

leaders lasts for five years. Accountability is the problem in all these leadership levels as it is also pinpointed by Tim Kelsall, Siri Lange, Simeon Mesaki and Max Mmuya (June, 2005)
.

Good Leadership and governance as prerequisite for development

Tanzania, like other poor countries such as

public expenditures in these areas". Anwar Shah and Mark Schacter (2004) further mentioned the key corruption drivers, that include: The legitimacy of the state as the guardian of the “public interest” is contested – whereby public office holders focus on serving particular client groups linked to them by ethnic, geographic, or other ties; The rule of law is weakly embedded - public sector corruption thrives where laws apply to some but not to others, and where enforcement of the law is often used as a device for furthering private interests rather than protecting the public interest; Institutions of accountability are ineffective - there are glaring weaknesses in institutions of accountability in highly corrupt countries; The commitment of national leaders to combating corruption is weak - widespread corruption endures in the public sector when national authorities are either unwilling or unable to address it forcefully.[9]

Political Commitment to Poverty Alleviation

Tanzania has aligned their goals to alleviate poverty with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations. Implementation of these goals on the domestic level has been introduced into both long and medium term policies.[10]

The medium-term policies include the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction in Poverty (NSGRP) for mainland Tanzania and the Zanzibar Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (ZSGRP) for the island of Zanzibar. These policies focus poverty alleviation through building up national infrastructure, production capabilities, creating employment opportunities, increasing governmental accountability, and by improving upon quality of life metrics.[10]

Endowed resources

About 90% of Tanzania's population dwells in impoverished rural areas.

villages are endowed with resources, such as minerals,[12] natural forests, rivers, lakes, ocean et cetera. As of 2007 65.7% of people live off of $1.25 or less a day.[13]

Stable peace in Tanzania

Stable

civil wars
for many years, but their economies are picking up.

Financial and technical support from international organizations

International Financial Institutions (including International Monetary Fund advised Tanzania to do retrenchment and stop employment even in the key sectors, such as education, health and agriculture as a precondition for financial assistance; as a result the economy
paralyzed, and now it has a long walk towards achieving socio-economic improvement.

General elections

Political crises in many

votes) during general election period in order to either get or maintain their leadership positions; but on the other hand, little effort is made towards poverty
alleviation initiatives in the communities.

See also

References

  1. ^
    S2CID 3645808. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 19 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Tanzania Mainland Poverty Assessment: A New Picture of Growth for Tanzania Emerges". World Bank. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  3. ^ "Tanzania's Path to Poverty Reduction and Pro-Poor Growth". World Bank. 1 December 2019.
  4. ^
    OCLC 945734586
    .
  5. ^ "Tanzania. Poverty Report" (PDF). Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  6. S2CID 1203353
    .
  7. ^
    Unicef
    , "Childhood Poverty in Tanzania: Deprivations and Disparities in Child Well-Being", pp 3, 10 (Report : September 2009)     [1] (Retrieved : 21 June 2012)
  8. S2CID 143889967
    .
  9. ^ Anwar Shah; Mark Schacter (December 2004). "Combating Corruption: Look Before You Leap" (PDF). IMF. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  10. ^
    ISSN 2065-3883
    .
  11. ^ "Rural poverty in the United Republic of Tanzania". IFAD. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  12. ^ "Tanzania National Website". Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  13. ^ "World Bank Open Data". World Bank Open Data. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  14. ^ "Study Swahili – Language Orientantion school under Evangelical lutheran church in Tanzania". 31 May 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Sources

External links
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