Tanzania (Somali diaspora)

How many Somalis live in Tanzania?

Tanzania's 2022 Population and Housing Census counted 657 Somali citizens: 341 men and 316 women (NBS Tanzania, Migration and Urbanization in Tanzania, table 3.7). Of these, 454 lived in urban areas and 203 in rural areas. By territory, 633 lived on the mainland and 24 in Zanzibar (same report, table 5.5).

The same census counted 428 non-Tanzanians born in Somalia, 364 of them in towns (table 3.11). It also counted 558 immigrants whose previous country of residence was Somalia (table 3.12). All non-Tanzanians together numbered 283,267, about half of them in Kigoma region (same report).

These counts leave out Somalis who have become Tanzanian citizens. UNHCR counted 151 Somali refugees and no Somali asylum seekers in Tanzania at the end of 2025 (UNHCR Refugee Data Finder API, Tanzania).

What papers do Somalis in Tanzania hold?

The census asked non-citizens which documents they held. Of the 657 Somali citizens, 235 had a travel passport, 85 a national ID and 36 both a passport and a Tanzanian NIDA identity number (NBS Tanzania, table 3.17).

On that basis the bureau classed 284 Somalis (43.2%) as of "potential regular status" and 373 (56.8%) as of "potential irregular status" (same table). For all non-citizens the shares were 12.0% and 88.0%.

How did Somali refugees come to Tanzania?

UNHCR's refugee count for Somalis in Tanzania rose quickly after the central state collapsed in 1991 (UNHCR API, Tanzania):

• 1991: 1,000
• 1993: 2,513
• 1996: 4,829, the highest
• 1998 to 2003: between 2,991 and 4,200
• 2013: 2,136
• 2014: 150

Many were Somali Bantu farmers from the Jubba valley. A 2003 profile for the US State Department says several thousand Bantu fled Somalia directly by sea to the Mkuyu refugee camp near Handeni in northern Tanzania (Van Lehman and Eno, The Somali Bantu: Their History and Culture, CAL, 2003). Others reached camps in Kenya.

Why did Somali Bantu refugees look to Tanzania?

Many Somali Bantu trace their ancestry to peoples of present-day Tanzania. The 2003 profile names the Zigua and Zaramo of north-east Tanzania, and the Makua, Yao, Ngindo and Nyasa of the south (Van Lehman and Eno, 2003). It says their ancestors were taken to Somalia in the 19th century through the slave trade of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, some by sea from Bagamoyo.

The profile says Bantu refugees sought resettlement to Tanzania in 1993 and 1994 (Van Lehman and Eno, 2003). In January 1994, by its account, 75% of an estimated 10,000 Bantu in Kenya's camps wanted to resettle in Tanzania and not return to Somalia. The profile says they then sought resettlement to Mozambique in 1997 and 1998, before the United States considered them in 1999 (same source). See Somali Bantu resettlement.

How did Somali refugees become Tanzanian?

Tanzania settled Somali Bantu refugees of Zigua ancestry at Chogo and later granted them citizenship. UNHCR reported that about 3,000 such refugees were settled at Chogo and naturalised (UNHCR, "Somali Bantus gain Tanzanian citizenship in their ancestral land").

UNHCR's yearly records count Somali refugees naturalised in Tanzania as 732 in 2007, 490 in 2008 and 1,514 in 2014, or 2,736 in all (UNHCR solutions API, Tanzania). The 2014 step matches the fall in Somali refugees counted in Tanzania, from 2,136 in 2013 to 150 in 2014 (UNHCR API).

Some went home instead. UNHCR records 400 Somali refugees returning from Tanzania in 1992 (UNHCR solutions API).

How do Somali migrants cross Tanzania?

Tanzania lies on the southern route from the Horn of Africa to South Africa. In 2009 an estimated 17,000 to 20,000 people a year from Ethiopia and Somalia took this route, about 5,000 to 6,000 of them Somalis, according to a 2017 paper by the Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat (RMMS, Smuggled South, March 2017).

From Nairobi, the paper says, people head south to the Tanzanian border, or east to Mombasa and then down the coast into Tanzania (same source). In 2012 smugglers in Tanzania were estimated to charge US$100 to US$250 per migrant to move people through the country. In early 2015, 49% of migrants interviewed went from Tanzania straight into Zambia, 29% to Mozambique and 22% through Malawi.

Some Somalis now skip Tanzania. In 2014, 11% of migrants from the Horn did not pass through Kenya or Tanzania, mostly flying or sailing to Mozambique, against 1.6% before 2013 (RMMS, 2017). The Institute for Security Studies put 2017 numbers on the whole route at 13,400 to 14,050 Ethiopians and Somalis (ENACT, ISS, 2018).

What risks do migrants face in Tanzania?

RMMS reported that in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia large numbers of migrants are held in prisons and long-stay detention centres (RMMS, 2017). In its 2015 interviews, 68% of migrants said they or someone in their group had been detained or jailed by police on the way south (same source).

The route can be deadly. In December 2017 the bodies of 13 Somali migrants, believed to have suffocated in a container truck, were found in bush in Mozambique, the ISS reported (ENACT, ISS, 2018). For the full route, see Migration routes and South Africa (Somali diaspora).

How is Tanzania tied to Somalia today?

People move both ways. Somalia's National Bureau of Statistics counted Tanzanian asylum seekers in Somalia at 118 in 2020, 219 in 2022 and 140 in 2023 (NBS Somalia, Migration Statistics Report 2024). Its 2025 report put the figure at 278 in 2024 (NBS Somalia, Migration Statistics Report 2025).

The same 2025 report recorded 17 Somali migrant returns from Tanzania to Somalia from 2020 to 2024 (same source). For other movements into Somalia, see Immigration to Somalia.

Related pages

• Somali diaspora hub
• Somali Bantu resettlement
• Kenya (Somali diaspora)
• Uganda (Somali diaspora)
• South Africa (Somali diaspora)
• Migration routes
• Minority communities

Sources

1. National Bureau of Statistics, Tanzania. "Migration and Urbanization in Tanzania," 2022 Population and Housing Census, tables 3.7, 3.11, 3.12, 3.17 and 5.5. nbs.go.tz. Checked 12 November 2026.
2. UNHCR. Refugee Data Finder API, Somalia to Tanzania, 1985 to 2025. api.unhcr.org. Checked 12 November 2026.
3. UNHCR. Refugee Data Finder API, solutions (returns and naturalisation), Somalia to Tanzania. api.unhcr.org. Checked 12 November 2026.
4. Van Lehman, D. and Eno, O. "The Somali Bantu: Their History and Culture." Culture Profile No. 16. Cultural Orientation Resource Center, Center for Applied Linguistics, for the US State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. February 2003. ERIC ED482784. Checked 12 November 2026.
5. UNHCR. "Somali Bantus gain Tanzanian citizenship in their ancestral land." unhcr.org. Checked 12 November 2026.
6. Frouws, B. and Horwood, C. "Smuggled South." RMMS Briefing Paper 3. Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat, March 2017. mixedmigration.org. Checked 12 November 2026.
7. Aucoin, C. and Hlase, E. "Africa's southern-bound migrants." ENACT, Institute for Security Studies, 2018. issafrica.org. Checked 12 November 2026.
8. Somalia National Bureau of Statistics. "Migration Statistics Report," first edition. 2024. nbs.gov.so. Checked 12 November 2026.
9. Somalia National Bureau of Statistics. "Migration Statistics Report," second edition. 2025. nbs.gov.so. Checked 12 November 2026.