FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN TANZANIA

The population distribution of Tanzania is not uniform due to many factors and these factors can be classified into physical, economic and social factors, as a result some spatial areas have high population while in other places it is very low.

PHYSICAL FACTORS

Climate-favorable climate is considered as an important factor responsible for human habitation. Places which are extreme hot like those experienced in Singida, Dodoma and Dar es Salaam and extreme cold places discourage human settlement and consequently influence the population but places receiving enough rainfall are found to be densely populated example Kilimanjaro, Manyara and Kagera, this also influences agricultural activities.

Relief- Areas of high attitudes have low population because extreme low temperatures are experienced there, most of crops do not grow well beyond attitude of 2500m. However some communities choose to live in the mountain areas for security reasons.

Vegetation- Areas with dense forests are sparsely populated. It is difficult to develop communication line in such areas. They are also habitats for wild animals which may be danger to human habitation, livestock and crops. Example areas such as Miombo woodlands of Tanzania are infested with tsetse flies threat people and livestock; this has discouraged settlement in such areas.

Fertile land- Areas with fertile soil such as areas around Lake Victoria has attracted large scale of population. Unlike places with less fertile such as the leached soils are less densely populated because they are agriculturally unproductive.

ECONOMIC FACTORS

Population distribution in an area depends to a large extent on the type and scale of economic activities. People move and settle near established transport routes such as roads and industries, this accounts attraction of large population.

Kahama Urban district located in Shinyanga region is now experiencing rapid population growth due to increase of  development economic opportunities including the Isaka dry port and mining activities resulting to existence of employment from Buzwagi Gold mine and it is largely contributing to the government revenue.

Market is also the most effective engine of economic development, it is considered to be important activity for sales, distribution, branding and many more activities for business and a place where goods and services are produced for the society according to their needs. Therefore presence of market influences flow of people into that area to search market for their products. Example of Kariakoo market in Dar es Salaam region has largely influenced rapid growth of population due to existence of several business activities conducted in that specific area.

Transport system; Transport is also a critical component of economic development national and globally. It has a remarkable impact upon population movement and distribution, dense population can be found in areas with well transport routes where various goods or services can be easily transported but in areas with rough  and unwell developed roads especially in rural areas tend to have low density population.

So, in most rural areas where there are no economic opportunities, poor trading links and markets, poor infrastructures with few roads and services tend to have minimum number of people because they move to urban areas for employment opportunities so as to raise their standard of living.

SOCIAL FACTOR

Availability of water supply; Water is essential for life; the places which have abundant water for daily consumption and for agricultural purposes are moderately to densely populate. Even industries are established at places which have sufficient supply of water, for examples in cities such as Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Tanga have industries due to sufficient water supply. But on the hand, in areas experiencing scarcity of water have less number of populations.

Educational factor; people migrate from one place to other places for higher studies and knowledge. In case of Tanzania, most students study away from their home town to other regions for better studies leading spread of people where areas with presence of educational sectors are densely populated and other areas being low populated this result to uneven population distribution.

Availability of electricity supply; ready and sufficient supply of electricity is and essential feature in industrial development regions with high density of population and the demand for electric power increases. This can be found in major cities of Tanzania such Mwanza, Arusha, Dar es Salaam experience high number of people due to electricity supply. Unlike areas with no electricity experience low number of people, Tanzanian government has improve provision of electricity but all areas, rural regional areas in Kigoma, Singida, Rukwa, Lindi experience sparse population.