Pwani Region is one of the 31 administrative Regions in Tanzania. The capital of the region is the city of Kibaha. According to the 2012 national census, the area had a population of 1,098,668, which was slightly lower than the pre-census forecast of 1,110,917. From 2002 to 2012, the region’s average annual population growth rate of 2.2 percent was the seventeenth highest in the country. Region 21 was also the most densely populated with a population of 34 people per square kilometer. With an area of 32,407 square kilometers (12,512 sq mi), the area is slightly larger than the US state of Maryland (32,133 sq km (12,407 sq mi)).
The region is bordered to the north by the Tanga region, to the east by the Dar es Salaam region and the Indian Ocean, to the south by the Lindi region, and to the west by the Morogoro region. The word “Pwani” in Swahili means “coast”.