Rukwa Region is one of the 31 administrative Regions in Tanzania with a ZIP code of 55000. The regional capital is Sumbawanga Municipality. According to the 2012 national census, the area had a population of 1,004,539. For the period 2002-2012, the region’s average annual population growth rate of 3.2 percent, tied for the third highest rate in the country. It was also the 20th most densely populated area with a population of 44 people per square kilometer.
The region is bordered to the north by the Katavi region, to the east by the Mbeya region, to the south by Zambia, and to the west by Lake Tanganyika, which forms the border between Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.