| GENERAL
STATISTICS
Population:
31,270,820
(January 2000 est.)
Ethnic groups:
Mainland-native
African 99% (of which 95% are Bantu consisting of more than 130 tribes),
other 1% (consisting of Asian, European, and Arab); Zanzibar-Arab, native
African, mixed Arab and native African
Religions:
Mainland-Christian
45%, Muslim 35%, indigenous beliefs 20; Zanzibar-more than 99% Muslim
Languages:
Kiswahili
or Swahili (official), Kiunguju (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English
(official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education),
Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages
Note:
Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in
Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure
and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources, including Arabic
and English, and it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern
Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages |
