Tanzanians in the United Kingdom

There is a long and complex history of Tanzanians in the UK, with various individuals of various ages, occupations and races migrating to the UK for numerous reasons.[2] Central Tanzania is predominantly Christian whilst the coastal areas are largely Muslim.[2] Prior to the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964, the Arab and South Asian diasporas in Tanzania (then two separate nations named Tanganyika ad Zanzibar) had a hard and tough lifestyle, but when violence erupted during the revolution they were targeted and attacked even more so.[1] During the 1970s a large percentage of the nation's South Asian community were forced out, with ultimately 50,000 seeking refuge in the UK and Canada.[1] This alongside the expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972 significantly increased the number of South Asians in the United Kingdom. Besides the early migration of East African Asians from Tanzania to the UK, since the 1990s there has been an increasing presence of the nation's indigenous Black African population.[2] Despite this there were already numerous Black Africans who had migrated to the UK during the country's rule over Zanzibar and Tanganyika between the mid-19th century and 1964. Tanzanians in the UK tend to have a lower average age than the average of British people as a whole, the majority of Tanzanian-born individuals in the UK are youths and young adults who came to the country for economic reasons, to study or simply escape the Tanzanian political regime.[2] Despite being in general more peaceful than some of its neighbouring nations, Tanzania has been known for significant amounts of political unrest during election periods. The country became a dangerous place to be in 1995, 2000 and again in 2004.[2] This each time has forced many youths to flee the nation,[2] with the UK being a popular choice of destination due to its already long established Tanzanian diaspora which is the largest on earth.[3]

The 2001 UK census recorded 32,630 Tanzanian-born people in the country.[3] In the 2011 census, 34,798 people born in Tanzania were recorded as living in England, 439 in Wales,[4] 681 in Scotland[5] and 76 in Northern Ireland.[6] These figures do not include British-born people of Tanzanian origin.

Community organisations have put the figure of Tanzanians in the UK at roughly 100,000, with the vast majority of these located in the British capital.[2][7] An International Organization for Migration mapping exercise published in 2009 suggests that besides the 20,000-25,000 in London, the community is fairly spread out.[2]

Within London, the largest concentration of Tanzanians can be found in the boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth, Lewisham, Hackney and Camden.[2] Birmingham in the West Midlands follows with an estimated 4,500-5,000 residents of Tanzanian origin, some 3,500-4,000 individuals live in Reading, the figure for Manchester is slightly lower at 3,000-3,500.[2] It is thought that some 2,500-3,000 Tanzanians live in Milton Keynes, whilst the nearby settlements of Coventry and Northampton are home to roughly 1,500-2,000 Tanzanian residents. Slough and Leicester are both noted for having in the range of 800 and 1,500 Tanzanian residents each, whilst the cities of Leeds, Glasgow, Cardiff and Edinburgh all have a presence of Tanzanian individuals in their hundreds.[2]

The majority of Tanzanian people in the UK, are ethnically Black African although a significant proportion of the population, like the Ugandan British community are of Asian origin seeking political refuge in the 1960s and 1970s.[8] Despite political unrest in Tanzania from time to time, the actual figure of Tanzanians applying for asylum in the UK is low, with only 390 applications (excluding dependents) made over the period 1999 to 2008, the lowest number from any African nation.[9]

• Black British
• British Asian
• Foreign-born population of the United Kingdom
• Demography of Tanzania

• The British-Tanzanian Society