Population growth and differential fertility in Zanzibar protectorate

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Abstract
Of the two islands of Zanzibar and Pemba which together comprise Zanzibar Protectorate, the rate of population growth, as shown by intercensal increases, has been appreciably higher in Pemba than in Zanzibar. These differing rates of growth have been due principally to a lower level of fertility among the Afro-Arab population in Zanzibar Island and especially in Zanzibar Town. The exceptionally low fertility of the Afro-Arabs in Zanzibar Town presents a marked contrast to the fertility of the Afro-Arabs in Pemba and in the rural areas of Zanzibar Island, and to that of the Asian population in Zanzibar Town. It may be attributed in part to a high proportion of single, widowed and divorced women in the town and perhaps also to deliberate family limitation among certain sections of the urban population; but it would also appear that physical sterility may be an important factor, though the precise causes of this sterility remain obscure.