Shinyanga Region is one of the 31 administrative Regions in Tanzania. The regional capital is Shinyanga Municipality. According to the 2012 national census, the population of the district was 1,534,808. For the period 2002-2012, the region’s average annual population growth rate of 2.1 percent was the top twenty in the country. It was also the tenth most densely populated area with a population of 81 people per square kilometer. With an area of 50,781 square kilometers (19,607 sq mi), the region is slightly smaller than Costa Rica (51,100 square kilometers (19,700 sq mi)).
The region is bordered to the north by the districts of Mwanza, Mara and Kagera and to the south by the Tabora Region. It borders Kigoma Region to the west and Simiyu Region to the east.