Population:
19,196,246
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 61
Nationality:
noun: Malawian(s)
adjective: Malawian
Ethnic groups:
Chewa 35.1%, Lomwe 18.9%, Yao 13.1%, Ngoni 12%, Tumbuka 9.4%, Sena 3.5%, Tonga 1.8%, Nyanja 1%, Nkhonde 0.9%, other 1.8% (2015-16 est.)
Languages:
English (official), Chichewa (common), Chinyanja, Chiyao, Chitumbuka, Chilomwe, Chinkhonde, Chingoni, Chisena, Chitonga, Chinyakyusa, Chilambya
Religions:
Protestant 27.2% (includes Church of Central Africa Presbyterian 17.7%, Seventh Day Adventist/Baptist 6.9%, Anglican 2.6%), Catholic 18.4%, other Christian 41%, Muslim 12.1%, other 0.3%, none 1% (2015-16 est.)
Demographic profile:
Malawi has made great improvements in maternal and child health, but has made less progress in reducing its high fertility rate. In both rural and urban areas, very high proportions of mothers are receiving prenatal care and skilled birth assistance, and most children are being vaccinated. Malawi’s fertility rate, however, has only declined slowly, decreasing from more than 7 children per woman in the 1980s to about 5.5 today. Nonetheless, Malawians prefer smaller families than in the past, and women are increasingly using contraceptives to prevent or space pregnancies. Rapid population growth and high population density is putting pressure on Malawi’s land, water, and forest resources. Reduced plot sizes and increasing vulnerability to climate change, further threaten the sustainability of Malawi’s agriculturally based economy and will worsen food shortages. About 80% of the population is employed in agriculture.
Historically, Malawians migrated abroad in search of work, primarily to South Africa and present-day Zimbabwe, but international migration became uncommon after the 1970s, and most migration in recent years has been internal. During the colonial period, Malawians regularly migrated to southern Africa as contract farm laborers, miners, and domestic servants. In the decade and a half after independence in 1964, the Malawian Government sought to transform its economy from one dependent on small-scale farms to one based on estate agriculture. The resulting demand for wage labor induced more than 300,000 Malawians to return home between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s. In recent times, internal migration has generally been local, motivated more by marriage than economic reasons.
Age structure:
0-14 years: 46.34% (male 4,427,403/female 4,468,120)
15-24 years: 20.55% (male 1,956,360/female 1,988,123)
25-54 years: 27.41% (male 2,612,840/female 2,648,997)
55-64 years: 3.01% (male 275,998/female 302,286)
65 years and over: 2.69% (male 227,582/female 288,537) (2017 est.)
population pyramid:
Africa ::MALAWI
Population Pyramid
A population pyramid illustrates the age and sex structure of a country's population and may provide insights about political and social stability, as well as economic development. The population is distributed along the horizontal axis, with males shown on the left and females on the right. The male and female populations are broken down into 5-year age groups represented as horizontal bars along the vertical axis, with the youngest age groups at the bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of the population pyramid gradually evolves over time based on fertility, mortality, and international migration trends.
For additional information, please see the entry for Population pyramid on the Definitions and Notes page under the References tab.
Dependency ratios:
total dependency ratio: 91
youth dependency ratio: 85.3
elderly dependency ratio: 5.7
potential support ratio: 17.4 (2015 est.)
Median age:
total: 16.5 years
male: 16.4 years
female: 16.7 years (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 225
Population growth rate:
3.31% (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
Birth rate:
41 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 8
Death rate:
7.9 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 94
Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 90
Population distribution:
population density is highest south of Lake Nyasa
Urbanization:
urban population: 16.6% of total population (2017)
rate of urbanization: 4.02% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)
Major urban areas - population:
LILONGWE (capital) 905,000; Blantyre-Limbe 808,000 (2015)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.01 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.91 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2017 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth:
18.9 years
note: median age at first birth among women 25-29 (2015/16 est.)
Maternal mortality ratio:
634 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)
country comparison to the world: 13
Infant mortality rate:
total: 43.4 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 50 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 36.7 deaths/1,000 live births (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 43
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 61.7 years
male: 59.7 years
female: 63.8 years (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 200
Total fertility rate:
5.49 children born/woman (2017 est.)
country comparison to the world: 9
Contraceptive prevalence rate:
59.2% (2015/16)
Health expenditures:
11.4% of GDP (2014)
country comparison to the world: 9
Physicians density:
0.02 physicians/1,000 population (2009)
Hospital bed density:
1.3 beds/1,000 population (2011)
Drinking water source:
improved:
urban: 95.7% of population
rural: 89.1% of population
total: 90.2% of population
unimproved:
urban: 4.3% of population
rural: 10.9% of population
total: 9.8% of population (2015 est.)
Sanitation facility access:
improved:
urban: 47.3% of population
rural: 39.8% of population
total: 41% of population
unimproved:
urban: 52.7% of population
rural: 60.2% of population
total: 59% of population (2015 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
9.2% (2016 est.)
country comparison to the world: 9
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
1 million (2016 est.)
country comparison to the world: 10
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
24,000 (2016 est.)
country comparison to the world: 12
Major infectious diseases:
degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever
water contact disease: schistosomiasis
animal contact disease: rabies (2016)
Obesity - adult prevalence rate:
5.8% (2016)
country comparison to the world: 172
Children under the age of 5 years underweight:
16.7% (2014)
country comparison to the world: 52
Education expenditures:
4.7% of GDP (2016)
country comparison to the world: 60
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 62.1%
male: 69.8%
female: 55.2% (2015 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 11 years
male: 11 years
female: 11 years (2011)
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24:
total: 8.6%
male: 9.1%
female: 8.2% (2013 est.)
country comparison to the world: 134