Mbeya Region

Mbeya Region Mkoa wa Mbeya  (Swahili)
Region
Tea fields in Tukuyu
Location in Tanzania
Country	Tanzania
Zone	Southern Highlands
Capital	Mbeya
Government
• Regional Commissioner	Abbas Kandoro
Area
• Total	62,420 km2 (24,100 sq mi)
• Land	60,350 km2 (23,300 sq mi)
• Water	2,070 km2 (800 sq mi)
Population (2012)
• Total	2,707,410
• Density	43/km2 (110/sq mi)
Time zone	EAT (UTC+3)
Postcode	53xxx
Area code(s)	025
Website	mbeya.go.tz

Mbeya Region is one of Tanzania's 30 administrative regions. It is located in the country's southwest. The regional capital is the city of Mbeya. According to the 2012 national census, the region had a population of 2,707,410, which was lower than the pre-census projection of 2,822,396. For 2002-2012, the region's 2.7 percent average annual population growth rate was tied for the tenth highest in the country. It was also tied for the eighteenth most densely populated region with 45 people per square kilometer. With a size of 62,420 square kilometres (24,100 sq mi), the region is slightly smaller than the state of West Virginia in the United States (62,755 square kilometres (24,230 sq mi)).

The Mbeya Region is bordered to the northwest by Tabora Region, to the northeast by Singida Region, to the east by Iringa Region, to the south by Zambia and Malawi, and to the west by Rukwa Region.

The commissioner for the Mbeya Region is Abass Kandoro.

Districts

The region is administratively divided into eight districts:

Districts of Mbeya Region
Map	District	Population (2012)
	Chunya	290,478
	Ileje	124,451
	Kyela	221,490
	Mbarali	300,517
	Mbeya	690,598
	Mbozi	446,339
	Momba	294,380
	Rungwe	339,157
	Total	2,707,410

Geology

It was announced in February 2012 that the collapsed volcano approximately 200 km north of Mbeya, Mount Ngualla, contained one of the largest rare earth oxide deposits in the world.