Demographic determinants of poverty in Tanzania

Poverty has been a thorny and persistent problem in Sub-Saharan Africa. Several research studies have been done to identify the root causes, effects and ways to reduce or alleviate poverty in Sub-Saharan countries (Tanzania inclusive). The general objective of this study is to determine demographic factors for poverty in Tanzania. Specifically the study assesses the extent to which demographic factors lead to poverty and examines the impact of demographic changes on poverty in Tanzania. HBS data 2007 were used to analyse the demographic determinants of poverty in Tanzania by using Logit model. Household size, age of household head, household head with no education, household head with secondary education and household head with tertiary education were the statistically significant variables in influencing percapita food expenditure among the models estimated. The study concluded that fertility reduction is not a sufficient condition for economic growth but it can be a necessary condition in establishing conditions for which governments can invest more per capita in education and health for creating human capital to sustain economic growth. It has further found out that family planning programmes are also crucial for sustaining good standard of living. All these measures once adopted will enhance the improvement of the economic and social infrastructure in remote areas.