Social policy
We aim to reduce child poverty in Tanzania for all children, especially the most marginalized.
Context
In July 2020, Tanzania reached a milestone by attaining lower-middle-income status. Despite the nation's remarkable economic growth, the pace of reducing poverty has slowed. For instance, in Mainland Tanzania, the poverty rate decreased modestly from 28% in 2012 to 26% in 2018. However, the dual impact of rapid population growth and the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare deep-seated inequalities, pushing nearly 2 million people into poverty.
In Zanzibar, progress has been notable in alleviating basic needs poverty, dropping by 10% to 25% from 2009/10 to 2019/20. Similarly, food (extreme) poverty also saw a decline of 2%, reaching 9%.
Despite declines in basic needs poverty overall, the absolute number of poor individuals remained constant due to rapid population growth.
These statistics underscore the critical importance of prioritizing efforts to reduce poverty and vulnerability, ensuring that the benefits of economic growth enhance the living standards for all children in Tanzania.
UNICEF in action
UNICEF is cultivating a culture of evidence generation (including data use and sharing) across national stakeholders to inform decision-making and foster strong national data systems and analytical capacity. Leveraging the power of data and analytics, UNICEF plays a key role in supporting the Government’s efforts to enhance national budget monitoring and accountability functions, strengthen the link between national planning and budgeting processes at both national and local levels, and address socio-economic inequities through inclusive social protection systems, heightened efficiencies, and a healthier balance between social and economic investments.