Date of publication:

01/07/2026

United Republic of Tanzania (the)

Do domestic laws and policies provide for the registration of vital events, other than birth, of forcibly displaced and stateless persons occurring in the country of residence?

ANALYSIS

Assessment by population

Refugees
Asylum-seekers
Analysis

In Tanzania, the legal framework governing the recognition and recording of vital events—such as marriage, divorce, and death—occurring within the country for forcibly displaced and stateless persons is not explicitly detailed in domestic laws and policies. While the Births and Deaths Registration Act and other civil registration laws provide mechanisms for recording such events for Tanzanian citizens, they do not clearly address the inclusion of refugees, asylum seekers, or stateless individuals. This omission can lead to uncertainties and inconsistencies in the civil registration process for these populations.​

    LAW & POLICY

    Related provisions of domestic law or policy

    Law of Marriage Act

    Legal provision

    Section 43.1 - Duty to register marriages and procedure to be followed

    Where a marriage is contracted in civil form, it shall be the duty of the district registrar forthwith to register it.

    Section 100.1 - Registration of divorces

    Every district registrar shall maintain a register of annulments and divorces in the prescribed form.

    Section 43.2 - Duty to register marriages and procedure to be followed

    When a marriage is celebrated by a minister of religion according to the rites of a specified religion, it shall be his duty forthwith to register it.

    Section 43.2 - Duty to register marriages and procedure to be followed

    Where a marriage is contracted in Islamic form or according to rites recognized by customary law in Tanzania, it shall be the duty of the Kadhi or registration officer, as the case may be, forthwith to register it.

    Section 43.4 - Duty to register marriages and procedure to be followed

    Where a marriage is contracted in Islamic form or according to rites recognized by customary law in Tanzania, the parties shall, within thirty days after the date of the marriage— a. attend before the Kadhi or registration officer for the district in which the marriage was contracted; and b. furnish such particulars as may be prescribed, and it shall be the duty of the Kadhi or registration officer to register the marriage.

    Births and Deaths Registration Act

    Legal provision

    Section 18.1 - Provisions relating to medical certificates of cause of death

    The Registrar-General shall, from time to time, furnish to every district registrar printed forms of certificates of cause of death by licensed and registered medical practitioners, and every such registrar shall furnish such forms gratis to any such medical practitioner residing or practising in such registrar's district.

    Section 11 - Duty to register births

    In the case of every child born alive after the commencement of this Act, the registration of whose birth is compulsory, it shall be the duty of the father and mother, and, in default of the father and mother, of the occupier of the house in which to his knowledge such child is born, and of each person present at the birth, and of the person having charge of such child, to register the birth within three months of the birth.

    Section 26 - Compulsory registration of births

    The registration of the birth of a child shall be compulsory if either one or both parents are of European or American origin or descent or, in the case of a child born out of wedlock and not recognized by its father, if the mother is of European or American origin or descent.

    Section 28 - Extension of compulsory registration

    The Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, extend, from a date to be named in the order, the provisions of this Act relating to the compulsory registration of births and deaths to all persons in Tanzania of any particular race, class, tribe, or other group, or to all or some of the inhabitants of any particular town, district, or other area, and from and after the said date the registration of births and deaths shall, in such cases, be compulsory instead of being optional.