An estimated 42.9% of Tanzanian’s survive at the International Poverty Line on US$2.15 a day.

Macro Poverty Outlook 2025
World Bank

“Growth has not been sufficiently inclusive and has not led to a commensurate poverty reduction. Limited structural transformation has kept two-thirds of Tanzanian workers in theagriculture sector, which accounts for less than 30 percent of total economic output.”

The World Bank
2024

Economic growth is hindered by a mismatch between jobs and skills, and is much higher among women (12.7%) than men (5.8%).  Only 20% of the new entrants in the job market find employment.

African Development Bank Group
2024

The percentage of the population who are paid regularly has only increased slightly, to 13%; most rely on seasonal or occasional work, or have to ask others to give or send money.

Financial Sector Deepening Tanzania (FSDT)
2023

“Women’s dread of violence in public settings where they reside is a reflection of the pervasiveness of violence against women. The persistence of these crimes may be attributed to gaps in the legislation on violence against women. For instance, there is currently no legislation that expressly targets gender-based violence against women, and the use of violence against children is permitted.”

UN WOMEN AFRICA
2022

“38% of girls and women have experienced some form of violence by a partner in the past year. Of those, only 46% sought help. Again, education plays a crucial role in changing this, because  ”girls and women… are more likely to justify wife-beating than boys and men and there is a significant association between mothers’ attitudes justifying wife beating and children’s experience of violent discipline.”

UNICEF
2023

“Girls and young women in Tanzania continue to suffer from gender inequality in education and harmful stereotypes. It was only in 2022 that Tanzania repealed a decades-old law banning young married women, or those who have a child, from returning to school.”

Human Rights Watch
2023

Literacy rates in rural areas are much lower (70.5%) than in cities (94.2%), and the national average literacy rates for women are much lower than for men (72.7% compared to 83.2%).

United Nations Development Programme
2023

“Adolescent girls and young women account for 80 percent of all new HIV infections.”

U.S. Agency for International Development
2023

“In Tanzania, 38 per cent of women of reproductive age do not use contraception despite not wishing to have more children or wanting to delay having a child. This represents women’s unmet demand for family planning.”

UN Women Africa
2022

Research conducted in the Arumeru district has concluded that there are major entrepreneurship challenges in Arumeru, including a lack of collateral and start-up capital, strict microfinance conditions, high interest rates, small loan sizes, and negative attitudes towards women entrepreneurs. This is despite entrepreneurship positively influencing female wellbeing. The best way to increase entrepreneurialism is through education.

Samwell J. Kabote, ‘Influence of women entrepreneurs’ characteristics on personal well-being in Arumeru District in Tanzania’, African Journal of Business Management, June 2018

Tanzanian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) face limited access to finance and credit, unfavourable legal frameworks, underdeveloped infrastructure, poor business development services, low education and skills, lack of managerial and marketing capabilities, and challenges in obtaining legal status.

They also struggle to secure bank loans due to high interest rates, insufficient collateral, short repayment terms, and limited loan information.

Tanzania Invest
2024

“Women are often excluded from inheriting, evicted from their lands and homes by in-laws and stripped of their possessions. Women who get divorced from their husbands are often expelled from their homes with only their clothing.”

African Law Matters
2024

Lack of secure land rights for women is hurting agricultural productivity and the economy; for widows, the absence of spousal co-ownership of property means losing everything.”

Down to Earth
2024

“In Tanzania, 79 percent of women participate in the labor force. However, only 10 percent are employed in the formal sector and they face a 35 percent gender wage gap.”

MASSA Institute of Social Science Research (MISSR)
2022-2023

“In Tanzania, women comprise 70 % of the health workforce, but occupy only 17.4 % of senior and middle-management positions. This disparity highlights the presence of barriers to women's leadership advancement.”

Science Direct
2024

Research shows that men often view themselves as inherently capable leaders, while women may experience self-doubt or feel pressured to adopt masculine traits to succeed.

Science Direct (Heilman et al)
2024

Teenage pregnancy interferes with education and skill development, which has a detrimental impact on Tanzania’s overall human capital levels and economic empowerment.

Difficulties connected to adolescent pregnancy and childbirth are among the world’s leading causes of death for teenage girls.

Teenage moms may be shunned and socially isolated, which affects Tanzanian society by undervaluing human capital.

UN Women Africa
2022

Climate change, including extreme and more frequent droughts, floods, sea level rise and saltwater contamination already affect millions of Tanzanians and have a severe impact on the country’s economic growth, since agriculture represents 69.7% of all employment.

African Development Bank Group
2024