1 Rethinking Poverty and Population Dynamics in Tanzania 1 Samwel J. Kabote, Justin J. Ringo, Justin K. Urassa and Tumaini Allan 1.0 Introduction The definition of poverty varies depending on level of education, communication, gender, age, location, social and economic context (Semboja, 1994; Narayan et al., 2000). Narayan et al. (2000) stresses that men and women, young and old as well as rural poor and urban dwellers may define poverty differently. For instance, Cooksey (1994) and Omari (1994) are of the view that poverty encompasses physical and material deprivation including complex social, economic, cultural and political dimension. However, all of the definitions reflect lack of minimum income as well as non- income material well being necessary for improving living standards. A person whose standard of living falls below a minimum acceptable level (poverty line) is said to be living in poverty (Mtatifikolo, 1994). Based on various definitions some scholars (see for example Cooksey 1994; Semboja, 1994; Narayan et al., 2000; URT, 2003) have categorized poverty as income, non-income poverty, absolute and relative poverty. The United Republic of Tanzania (URT) (2003) defines income poverty as a condition of low income reflected in peoples’ consumption patterns. Such income is very minimal in such a way that it might not be sufficient for achieving minimum societal basic needs including food, shelter and clothing. A person who is unable to buy minimum goods necessary for minimum living standards is said to be living in absolute poverty. Poverty is also a relative concept depending on the acceptable standard of living established by a particular society. In other words, relative poverty is measured based on judgements by members of a particular society. On the other hand, non-income poverty refers to lack of access to things necessary to move people from ill-being to well-being. Such things include: education, health, nutrition, access to safe drinking water, social exclusion, and vulnerability. In comparison with general poverty, poverty and population dynamics have not been extensively investigated in Tanzania. This can largely be attributed to the methodological and data availability issues. While studying poverty levels and/or incidence entirely depends on cross-sectional data, investigating poverty and population dynamics requires availability of panel data. In Least Developed Countries such as Tanzania, lack of panel data is a serious problem causing difficulties in investigating poverty and population dynamics. In Tanzania for instance, there is lack of data on poverty and population dynamics since independence to the early 1970s. Nevertheless, towards the end of the 1980s data began to be readily available due to the government’s introduction of national surveys namely: Household Budget Surveys, Demographic and Health Surveys as well as Economic Surveys. This chapter therefore examines trends of poverty and population dynamics in Tanzania, fifty years after independence using secondary data from various sources. The chapter also tries to examine the links between poverty and population trends. The chapter draws two major conclusions: first, over 50 years after independence, poverty levels have been relatively higher in rural than in urban areas mainly due to differences in age dependency ratio and fertility rates. Second, although both poverty and population variables indicate increasing patterns since independence, they are nonetheless linked in such a way that high dependency ratio exacerbate 1 Kabote, S. J., Ringo, J J., Urassa, J. K and Allan, T. (2012). Rethinking Poverty and population dynamics in Tanzania (in a review of fifty years of Tanzania’s (Mainland) independence edited by Urassa J. K). Lambert academic publishing, Germany. Pp 59-77.