Family in Tanzania

Family relationships in Tanzania include marriage, parenthood, child maintenance, caregiving, family support, conflict, separation, dependency and death. Formal systems operate alongside religious, customary and extended-family arrangements, but their legal effect depends on the responsible register, court or authorized provider. Mainland Tanzania uses institutions such as the Registration Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA), district registrars, courts, local government authorities and Social Welfare Officers. Zanzibar uses its own institutions, including the Zanzibar Civil Status Registration Agency (ZCSRA), Children’s Courts and social welfare services; Mainland procedures do not automatically apply there. On Mainland Tanzania, marriage may be civil, religious or customary and may be monogamous, polygamous or potentially polygamous depending on the form and applicable rules. Free and voluntary consent is required. The general minimum marriage age is 18 for men and 15 for women, while a court may authorize marriage from age 14 in special circumstances and additional consent rules apply to a girl under 18. RITA services include marriage certificates, certificates of no impediment, registration of an existing unregistered marriage and registration of foreign marriages. Listed Mainland fees include TZS 40,000 for a marriage certificate or existing unregistered marriage, TZS 300,000 for a certificate of no impediment and TZS 200,000 for a foreign marriage registration, but fees can change. Zanzibar records civil status through ZCSRA and its electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics system, known as eCRVS. A Zanzibar marriage record can include the parties, place and date, licensed officiant, dowry, nationality and identity details. Marriage and divorce procedures in Zanzibar follow the Zanzibar Revolutionary Government system. A divorce registration generally must be submitted to the relevant agency within 30 days after the divorce is pronounced. On the Mainland, the Law of the Child Act treats a child as a person below 18 and makes the child's best interests the primary consideration. A parent can be biological, adoptive or someone who has formally committed to care for the child. Parentage may be shown through marriage, the birth register, a customary ceremony, public recognition or DNA evidence. A parent with established parentage has responsibility for the child's welfare and maintenance, including basic survival and development needs. Courts can consider income, wealth, earning capacity, other children and local living costs, and may request a social inquiry report. A maintenance order normally lasts until age 18 and can continue where the child remains in education or training. Enforcement should generally be sought within 45 days after an amount becomes due. Custody and contact decisions focus on the child's best interests, including the child's age and sex, relationship with each parent, the child's views, sibling relationships, continuity of care and the rights of the child. A parent, guardian, child acting through a next friend, Social Welfare Officer or another eligible relative may bring a maintenance matter, with court permission where required. Unlawfully removing a child can have criminal consequences. Foster care, approved residential homes and adoption provide alternative care when family care is unavailable or unsafe. An adoption normally requires a court order, parental or guardian consent unless an exception applies, the child's consent from age 14 and a social investigation report; paying a reward for adoption is not permitted. Foreign adoption applicants may also face requirements such as three years of residence, three months of foster care and criminal-record and home-country documents. Family health services include family planning, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, contraception, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and immunization. Access usually runs through health facilities and council health systems, while costs are not uniform nationwide. The 2022 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey and Malaria Indicator Survey found that among women aged 15 to 49, 27% had never married and 61% were married or living together; among men, the figures were 44% and 51%. The total fertility rate was 4.8, and 22% of women aged 15 to 19 had ever been pregnant. Among married women, 38% used contraception, including 31% using a modern method, while 21% had an unmet need for contraception. These figures combine Mainland and Zanzibar and do not remove local differences. The Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups supports services such as family mediation, psychosocial support, elder services and safe homes. Councils and ward-level social welfare services often provide the practical entry point. The Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN), administered through TASAF, supports poor and extremely vulnerable households through fixed transfers and other payments. A Vulnerable Groups Transfer can support a household with a child or a person with a disability, while a variable Human Capital Transfer can be linked to health or education conditions. These programmes are targeted and are not a universal family-care allowance. A June 2023 policy record listed 1,347,361 beneficiary households and 5,111,477 members. Violence affecting women or children can require police, health, social welfare, court, legal and safe-home referrals. Safe homes require registration and licensing, social welfare investigation, health inspection and protection standards, including separate areas for women, men and children; their locations are not publicly disclosed. Tanzania's National Plan of Action to End Violence Against Women and Children II covers prevention, referral, psychosocial, legal and medical support, alternative care and parenting support. The reviewed Mainland material does not establish one nationwide emergency number, while Zanzibar social welfare services provide Call Center 116. On Mainland Tanzania, divorce generally cannot begin before two years of marriage unless a court grants leave for exceptional hardship. A matrimonial dispute normally goes first to a Marriage Conciliation Board, which may function through a ward-level body, although exceptions include an unknown spouse location or extraordinary impracticability. Evidence of marital breakdown can include cruelty, willful neglect, desertion for at least three years or separation for at least three years. The court also considers maintenance, arrangements for children and whether the breakdown is irreparable. RITA divorce registration uses the judgment or annulment decision, the decree after the appeal period and the marriage certificate; the listed fee for a Mainland divorce certificate is TZS 40,000 and for a foreign divorce TZS 200,000. Processing times are not guaranteed. Births and deaths also establish family status. On the Mainland, a birth should generally be registered within 90 days through a hospital or health facility, or through a Ward Executive Officer or district registrar after a home birth. Late registration may require a clinic card, baptismal certificate or local official letter. Listed birth-registration fees are TZS 8,000 when the birth is under 10 years old and TZS 20,000 after 10 years; correction costs TZS 13,000 and a duplicate TZS 7,000. A death should generally be registered within 30 days using a hospital burial permit or a Ward Executive Officer or district registrar. Late registration can require death notification, family-meeting minutes and a local official letter. Zanzibar uses ZCSRA and eCRVS for births, deaths, marriages and divorces. Practical access may be digital through eRITA on the Mainland, eCRVS in Zanzibar and the National Legal Information System (NaLIS) for legal-aid applications. Offline routes include hospitals, Ward or Village Executive Officers, district registrars, RITA branches, ward tribunals, Marriage Conciliation Boards, council Social Welfare Officers, courts, police and health referrals. The Legal Aid Act 2017 allows eligible people on the Mainland to seek free legal aid, subject to an eligibility and financial assessment; services can cover custody, maintenance, divorce and violence. The Mama Samia Legal Aid Campaign operates on the Mainland and in Zanzibar, but provider coverage differs by location. Business or family arrangements made through custom or religion should not be assumed to have automatic legal recognition without the relevant evidence, registration or court process.