Sometime last year, I shared a summed-up article on the state of digital and social media data for the world, for 2023/24. Today I am sharing the data for Tanzania on the state of digital performance and social media. Credit to the main contributors of the report who are; DataReportal, We Are Social and Meltwater. The focus was on the digital adoption and use of social media platforms in Tanzania from 2024 to January 2025.

In early 2025, there were 20.2 million internet users in Tanzania and the internet penetration stood at 21.9 percent. Tanzania is home to 6.75 5.65 million social media users as of January 2024 compared to 5.65 million users as of January 2024, which is about 9.7 percent in 2025 compared to 8.3 percent as of January 2024.

Yes, these stats offer valuable insight on the current state of digital in Tanzania. In order to breakdown on how digital trends and behaviours are evolving, one needs to dig deeper into the data. Tanzania’s population stood at 69.5 million as of January 2025 (based on the report).

This data also shows that Tanzania’s population increased by 2 million which is about 3 percent between early 2024 and the start of 2025 and 50.4 percent of Tanzania’s population are female, while the other 49.6 percent are male.

There were 20.2 million internet users in Tanzania as of January 2025. The internet penetration in Tanzania’s stood at 29.1 percent of the total population at the start of 2025. The analysis indicates an increase of 3 percent between January 2024 and January 2025. The user figure reveals that 49.3 million people in Tanzania did not use the internet by the start of 2025. Meaning that 70.9 percent of the population were offline due to various factors.

Social media data for Tanzania, beginning of 2025 from the DataReportal stats show that there were 6.75 million active social media users in Tanzania. Furthermore, the data shows that the use of social media in Tanzania grew by almost 20 percent, this is between early 2024 and early 2025. Social media users in Tanzania as of January 2025 stood at 19 percent of the total population.

Also, data that was published in the ad planning tools of top social media platforms showed that there were 6.75 million users aged 18 and above using social media in Tanzania at the start of 2025, which is 19 percent of the total population aged 18 and above at that time. More broadly, 33.4 percent of Tanzania’s total internet user base (regardless of age) used at least one social media platform in January 2025. As of January 2025, at least 40.3 percent of Tanzania’s social media users were female, while 59.7 percent were male both figures differ by about 0.1 percent growth from 2024.

Facebook users in Tanzania as of January 2025. Data published in Meta’s advertising shows that Facebook had 6.75 million compared to January 2024 with 5.65 million users in Tanzania. Growth of more than 1 million users. Facebook’s potential ad reach in Tanzania grew by 14.4 percent between January 2024 and January 2025.

Instagram users in Tanzania as of January 2025. Data published in Meta’s advertising tools shows that Instagram had 3.70 million users in Tanzania in early 2025. Instagram’s potential ad reach in Tanzania grew by 18.3 percent between January 2024 and January 2025. On a quarterly basis, Instagram’s ad audience in 2025 was 38.7 percent in total of all adults in Tanzania was female, while 61.3 percent was male.

LinkedIn users in Tanzania as of January 2025. LinkedIn had 1.50 million registered members compared to early 2024 with 1.20 million. LinkedIn’s potential ad reach in Tanzania reached 4.2 percent of Tanzania’s population aged 18 and above in early 2025. 34.9 percent of LinkedIn’s ad audience in Tanzania were female, while 65.1 percent were male.

X users in Tanzania in 2025. Data published from X’s (Twitter before) advertising resources shows that X had 666 thousand users in Tanzania in early 2025 compared to 621.1 in early 2024. For additional context, X’s ad reach in Tanzania was equivalent to 3.3 percent of the local internet user base (regardless of age) at the start of the year. The same data shows that the number of users that marketers could reach with ads on X in Tanzania increased by 43.6 thousand (+7.0 percent) between October 2024 and January 2025.

In short, with this data one can see what happened from January 2024 to January 2025 in the digital and social media realm visa vi the total population in Tanzania. One can also understand which platforms were used the most to reach out to the Tanzanian population. Furthermore, any informed individual or business unit can use this trend to decide on the platforms that best speaks to their target audience, should they see the need to market their product or service in 2025.

Alley Mtatya (Pictured) is the Advertising, Marketing, Branding and Customer Experience Expert based in Dar es Salaam.