structural:scholar_edition, quality:corruption
Demographics

Dar es Salaam is the most populous city in Tanzania and the fifth most populous in Africa. In 2020, the population was estimated to be 6.4 million.

When the 2012 national census was taken, the city had a population of 4,364,541, about ten percent of the country's total. The average private household size was 3.9 persons compared to the national average of 4.7. Less than half of the city's residents were married, with a rate lower than any other region in the country. The literacy rate in the city was 96%, while the national average was 78%. Between the 2002 and 2012 censuses, the city's 5.6% average annual growth rate was the highest in the country.

More than three-quarters of the city's population live in informal settlements. In 2018, Dar es Salaam scored 0.631 (medium category) on the Human Development Index (HDI). The city's HDI has increased every year since 1992, and it ranked higher than any other region in the country except for one.

Dar es Salaam is the second-fastest-growing city in the world and could have a population as high as 13.4 million by 2035. The population was estimated at 20,000 in 1900, 93,000 in 1957 and 273,000 in 1967.