As of March 2025, Tanzania recorded 65.7 million mobile money accounts, showing a significant increase from 29.8 million in 2020 — a growth of 120% over five years. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, accounts grew from 64.3 million in January to 65.7 million in March, adding 1.3 million new users. The market is led by M-Pesa with over 26 million accounts, followed by Mixx by Yas (20.2 million) and Airtel Money (12.1 million). Transaction volumes also surged, reaching 10.3 billion in 2024, up from 3.8 billion in 2020, reflecting a 172% increase. These trends highlight the critical role mobile money plays in Tanzania’s growing digital and inclusive economy.

1. Mobile Money Accounts — January to March 2025

What This Tells Us:

• Growth Trend:
  From January to March 2025, mobile money accounts increased by 1,335,129 (from 64.34M to 65.67M), showing continued growth in usage and access.
• Dominant Players:
  • M-Pesa (Vodacom) leads with over 26 million accounts (40% of total).
  • Mixx by Yas (formerly Tigo Pesa) holds steady at around 20.2 million accounts (31%).
  • Airtel Money is also strong, growing from 11.8M to 12.1M in Q1.
• Smallest Player:
  • Azam Pesa has fewer than 40,000 accounts — under 0.1% market share — indicating it is still in early stages or niche focused.
• Stability: T-Pesa (TTCL) maintained the same number of accounts across all three months (1.5 million), suggesting either stagnant growth or a stable, focused user base.

2. Mobile Money Subscriptions and Transactions (2020–2024)

What This Tells Us:

• Explosive 5-Year Growth:
  • Mobile money accounts grew by 111%, from 29.8M (2020) to 63.2M (2024).
  • Transactions more than doubled (172% increase), from 3.77B in 2020 to 10.27B in 2024.
• Year-by-Year Trends:
  • The biggest account growth occurred between 2022 and 2023, with an increase of nearly 13.4 million accounts — coinciding with the rollout of new digital services and network expansions.
  • Transactions followed a similar trend, especially between 2021 and 2024, where usage jumped significantly — suggesting increased trust and reliance on mobile money for daily transactions.
• Digital Financial Inclusion: These figures reflect Tanzania's success in expanding access to digital financial services, especially in rural and underserved areas. It highlights the role of mobile money in boosting economic participation, especially among the unbanked.

Key Takeaways

1. Mobile Money is Strong and Still Growing in 2025

• By March 2025, Tanzania had over 65.6 million mobile money accounts, up from 64.3 million in January — a growth of 1.3 million new accounts in just 3 months.
• This shows continued trust and adoption of mobile money platforms, especially for daily financial needs like sending, receiving, saving, and paying bills.

2. M-Pesa is the Market Leader, But Competition is Healthy

• M-Pesa (Vodacom) leads the market with over 26 million users, about 40% of all mobile money accounts.
• Mixx by Yas (formerly Tigo Pesa) follows with 20.2 million, and Airtel Money with 12.1 million.
• This indicates strong competition among providers, which is good for innovation, pricing, and service quality.

3. Massive 5-Year Growth in Financial Inclusion (2020–2024)

• Mobile money accounts grew by 111%: from 29.8 million in 2020 to 63.2 million in 2024.
• Mobile money transactions grew by 172%: from 3.77 billion in 2020 to 10.27 billion in 2024.
• This shows that mobile money has become a vital part of the economy, especially in reaching the unbanked population.

4. Mobile Money is Driving Tanzania’s Digital Economy

• The data proves that mobile money is no longer just a tool for sending money — it’s a foundation for digital commerce, savings, credit, and everyday transactions.
• As more people sign up and use mobile money, it helps expand financial access, improve service delivery, and boost economic inclusion, especially in rural areas.

Tanzania's merchant ecosystem has experienced remarkable growth, with the number of registered merchants rising from 33,037 in 2020 to over 1.3 million in 2024. This rapid expansion has driven a surge in transactions, increasing from 24 million in 2020 to over 329 million in 2024, with transaction values soaring from TZS 1.62 trillion to TZS 26.9 trillion over the same period. Dar es Salaam leads in merchant adoption, contributing significantly to the rise in digital payments, followed by Mwanza and Mbeya. These figures highlight the increasing role of merchants in Tanzania’s digital economy, reflecting broader economic growth and financial inclusion.

The data in Annex K: Merchant Statistics provides a detailed breakdown of merchant distribution, transaction volume, and transaction value across different regions of Tanzania for the years 2020 to 2024.

1. Merchant Distribution

• Merchant distribution by region: This table outlines the number of merchants by region for 2020–2024, showing growth in the number of merchants in each area. For instance:
  • Dar es Salaam stands out with significant growth, increasing from 13,164 merchants in 2020 to 394,863 merchants in 2024.
  • Mwanza also shows significant growth, from 1,587 merchants in 2020 to 117,530 merchants in 2024.
  • Arusha has the third-largest growth, increasing from 2,973 merchants in 2020 to 67,336 merchants in 2024.
• Institutional Category Breakdown:
  • Electronic Money Issuers (EMIs) dominate the merchant landscape, growing significantly over the years. They reached 1,189,384 merchants in 2024, compared to 12,103 in 2020.
  • Banks and Financial Institutions and Non-banks (Aggregators) make up the remainder, with the number of banks increasing modestly over the period, while non-banks (aggregators) show large growth, especially in 2024 (reaching 127,803 merchants).

2. Number of Merchant Transactions

• Transactions by region: This table provides transaction volume data per region for 2020–2024.
  • Dar es Salaam continues to lead in transaction volumes, increasing from 3.5 million transactions in 2020 to 122.8 million in 2024.
  • Mwanza follows closely, with a surge from 3.3 million transactions in 2020 to 32.3 million in 2024.
  • Mbeya also shows growth, reaching 26.99 million transactions in 2024 from 4.2 million in 2020.
• Institutional Categories:
  • Electronic Money Issuers continue to be the primary driver of transaction volume, with 286.7 million transactions recorded in 2024, up from 19.5 million in 2020.
  • Banks and Financial Institutions show steady growth, while Non-banks (Aggregators) display the largest increase, reflecting a shift in the market.

3. Merchant Transaction Value

• Transaction Value by Region: The total transaction values in Tanzanian Shillings (TZS) for each region.
  • Dar es Salaam remains the highest in transaction value, reaching 8.83 trillion TZS in 2024, up from 435 billion TZS in 2020.
  • Mwanza follows with 2.33 trillion TZS in 2024, a significant rise from 155.5 billion TZS in 2020.
  • Mbeya shows significant growth, moving from 199.2 billion TZS in 2020 to 1.81 trillion TZS in 2024.
• Institutional Categories:
  • Electronic Money Issuers (EMIs) lead in transaction value, with 16.16 trillion TZS in 2024.
  • Banks and Financial Institutions also have notable figures, jumping from 300.7 billion TZS in 2020 to 9.6 trillion TZS in 2024.
  • Non-banks (Aggregators) show an increase in transaction value, totaling 1.16 trillion TZS in 2024.

Summary Insights:

• The number of merchants and transaction volumes are growing at a fast pace, particularly in major cities like Dar es Salaam and Mwanza.
• The rise in the number of merchants is accompanied by a significant increase in transaction volume and value, with Electronic Money Issuers (EMIs) dominating the market.
• Non-banks (Aggregators) are playing a larger role in the market, especially in 2024, indicating a shift towards digital financial solutions beyond traditional banks.

Merchant Statistics

Table 1: Merchant Distribution by Region

Merchant Transactions by Region (Number of Transactions)

Merchant Transaction Value (TZS Billion)