Tanzania

Tanzania: sluggish, near-stagnant growth, 1980–2025

A relatively stable East African economy built on agriculture, tourism, and gold mining, Tanzania has grown steadily since market-oriented reforms in the 1990s, though from a low starting base. Between 1980 and 2025, Tanzania's GDP per capita grew from $611 to $1,319 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 1.7% — sluggish, near-stagnant growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 4.7% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 2.3 points, reflecting relatively stable macroeconomic conditions. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 29.0% to 22.9% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 22.9% to 28.8% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 51.3 to 67.2 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 0.3% to 4.0%, while the urban population share grew from 14.8% to 36.9%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 0.09 to 0.31 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) widened from 35.3 to 40.5; the poverty headcount ratio fell from 73.5% to 51.3%.