Unguja is surrounded by a number of smaller islands and islets, with only two of them, Tumbatu and Uzi, being inhabited.

Other minor islands around Unguja include Bawe, Chapwani, Changuu, Chumbe, Kizingo, Kwale, Latham, Mautani, Miwi, Mnemba, Mwana wa Mwana, Nianembe, Popo, Pungume, and Ukanga.

The local Zanzibari government is based in Stone Town, on the west coast of Unguja.

[citation needed] As of the 2012 census, the total population of Unguja was 896,721, mostly concentrated in the Zanzibar urban region.

[citation needed] In June 2018, a leopard was caught on camera here, despite previously being considered extinct in Zanzibar for the past 25 years.