This paper justifies and explores the results of a social demand survey for primary school enrolment in Tanzania. This records and analyses the evidence derived from a structured household-based survey in rural and urban school catchments in two regions of the country (Iringa and Dodoma) with children and their guardians which explores the social demand for primary schooling, especially in relation to household poverty indices and changing labour in households affected by prolonged illness and death. It argues that HIV/AIDS effects at the household scale remain less important as a predictor of for school attendance and dropout than do poverty and other structural conditions of inequality.