Transport and infrastructure in Tanzania
Our listing of the primary types of transport compares the infrastructure of Tanzania with the average of all countries in Africa. The traffic routes have noticeable defects in many places and are often not in particularly good condition.In terms of the length of its rail network, Tanzania ranks 90th in the world with 0.07 meters per inhabitant. In total, the rail network is 4,567 kilometers long.
The waterways listed refer to inland traffic on rivers and canals. The number of ports includes those located on the 1,424 km of coastline. In 2020, about 709,881 freight containers were transported.
› Airports in Tanzania
Back to overview: Tanzania
Road traffic
The network of roads and highways has a total length of 145,203 km. For each of the country's 63.59 million inhabitants, this corresponds to 2.28 meters. This puts Tanzania in 166th place in the global ranking. However, it is also important to note that the country's population density is very low at around 67 inhabitants per km². In this case, disproportionately long distances generally have to be covered to reach the more remote parts of the country.With an average of 17255 traffic fatalities per year (2013 - 2019), road traffic in Tanzania is considered very dangerous. This corresponds to 30.8 accident fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year. By comparison, this figure is 12.3 in the USA and 17.0 worldwide.
In Tanzania, left-hand traffic is the rule on the roads, i.e. you drive in the left lane and overtake on the right. Oncoming traffic comes to meet you on the right side. Here you can also find an overview of all countries with left-hand traffic.
Tanzania | |||
| total | per 1 mio inhabitants | per km² | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways | 145,200 km | 2,283.48 km | 153.28 m |
| Railroads | 4,600 km | 71.82 km | 4.82 m |
| Waterways | 1,594 km | 25.07 km | 1.68 m |
| Commercial harbors | 314 | 4.94 | 0.000 |
| Airports | 14 | 0.22 | 0.015 |
Africa | |||
| total | per 1 mio inhabitants | per km² | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways | 2,997,800 km | 2,151.40 km | 98.86 m |
| Railroads | 88,600 km | 63.57 km | 2.92 m |
| Waterways | 68,400 km | 49.09 km | 2.26 m |
| Commercial harbors | 7,949 | 5.70 | 0.000 |
| Airports | 413 | 0.30 | 0.000 |
Data sources used
• Global Health Observatory Data Repository (World Health Organization)• UNCTAD
• Internation Union of Railways (UIC)
• CIA Factbook
• OECD Statistics
• Wikipedia (german)
Largest airports and airlines in Tanzania
Climate details in Tanzania
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