Mbeya Region is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. It is located in the country's southwest. The regional capital is the city of Mbeya. According to the 2012 national census, the region had a population of 2,707,410, which was lower than the pre-census projection of 2,822,396. For 2002-2012, the region's 2.7 percent average annual population growth rate was tied for the tenth highest in the country. It was also tied for the eighteenth most densely populated region with 45 people per square kilometre. In 2016, the town of Tunduma and the districts of Ileje, Mbozi, Momba and Songwe were split from Mbeya Region to create Songwe Region. Mbeya Region is now bordered to the northwest by Tabora Region, to the northeast by Singida Region, to the east by Iringa Region, to the south by Songwe Region and Malawi, and to the west by Songwe Region. Prior to the creation of Songwe Region, Mbeya Region covered an area of. It now covers an area of.
Districts
In 2012, the region was administratively divided into eight districts: After the 2016 reorganization, Mbeya now comprises seven districts: Busokelo, Chunya, Kyela, Mbarali, Mbeya City, Mbeya Rural, and Rungwe.
Mbeya region is accessible by Roads, rail, air and water through Lake Nyasa.
Airports
Mbeya region is served by Songwe International Airport which is located in Mbeya district at Songwe area. Currently the only carrier which have scheduled flights is with daily flights to Dar es salaam. There are also other chartered flights to other places such as Ruaha National Park.
Roads
TANZAM Highway which is part of the Great North road pass through the region, it connect the region with Njombe region to the East and Songwe region to the West. The B - 345 road connect the region with Malawi to the south from Uyole.Chunya road connect the region with Singida and Tabora to the North-East and North-West respectively.
Water
Mbeya region is bordered by Lake Nyasa to the South East. The lake is used for transport by Mbeya region and the neighboring regions of Njombe, Ruvuma and the country of Malawi. Three ships of which two are cargo ships MV Njombe and MV Ruvuma and one for passengers MV Mbeya II are on final stages of construction and are expected to start operations at the end of 2019.
Railway
The TAZARA rail pass through the region and connects which connects it to the Port city of Dar es salaam and Zambia.
Geology
It was announced in February 2012 that the collapsed volcano approximately 200 km north of Mbeya, Mount Ngualla, contained one of the largest rare earth oxide deposits in the world.
