Development and population redistribution: measuring recent population redistribution in Tanzania
Thomas, I.
Population and development projects in Africa,: 141-152
1985
Document Number: 401578
The Tanzanian villagization programme of 1974-76 provides a somewhat unusual case of a development programme with a specified, and short, implementation timetable which nonetheless affected millions. This paper concentrates on the limited problem of establishing some measures of redistribution, specifically, distances moved, for this sudden, massive and widespread but essentially short-distance relocation which, by its nature, has gone virtually unrecorded in standard national statistics. Some tentative hypotheses are noted as illustrations of potential analyses of practical significance using the measures devised. They relate to the supposed benefits from villagization and some of the problems which village development faces. Finally, it is concluded that, whereas mean distances moved per person were relatively small, the aggregate movement created by the villagization was immense. Further, there are differences in relocation distances between individuals, administrative areas, and ecological areas which may be a factor of considerable importance for the future development of the villages.