Malawi

total: 12,255 (2020) subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: less than 1 (2020 est.)

radio is the main broadcast medium; privately owned Zodiak radio has the widest national broadcasting reach, followed by state-run radio; numerous private and community radio stations broadcast in cities and towns around the country; the largest TV network is government-owned, but at least 4 private TV networks broadcast in urban areas; relays of multiple international broadcasters are available (2019)

.mw

total: 3.45 million (2021 est.) percent of population: 13.78% (2019 est.)

general assessment: Malawi remains one of the world s least developed countries, with few resources to build efficient fixed-line telecom infrastructure; mobile penetration low compared to region with ample opportunity for growth and competition; some mobile services to rural areas; LTE services are available; national fiber backbone near completion; progress in m-payment methods; prospect of international submarine cables from neighboring countries; importer of broadcast equipment from China (2020) domestic: limited fixed-line subscribership less than 1 per 100 households; mobile-cellular services are expanding but network coverage is limited and is based around the main urban areas; mobile-cellular subscribership 48 per 100 households (2019) international: country code - 265; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean, 1 Atlantic Ocean) (2019) note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments

total subscriptions: 12,465 (2020) subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: less than 1 (2020 est.)

total subscriptions: 10,004,680 (2020) subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 52.3 (2020 est.)

sweet potatoes, cassava, sugar cane, maize, mangoes/guavas, potatoes, tomatoes, pigeon peas, bananas, plantains

revenues: 1.356 billion (2017 est.) expenditures: 1.567 billion (2017 est.)

-3.4% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

-$591 million (2017 est.) -$744 million (2016 est.)

$2.102 billion (31 December 2017 est.) $1.5 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

Landlocked Malawi ranks among the world's least developed countries. The country’s economic performance has historically been constrained by policy inconsistency, macroeconomic instability, poor infrastructure, rampant corruption, high population growth, and poor health and education outcomes that limit labor productivity. The economy is predominately agricultural with about 80% of the population living in rural areas. Agriculture accounts for about one-third of GDP and 80% of export revenues. The performance of the tobacco sector is key to short-term growth as tobacco accounts for more than half of exports, although Malawi is looking to diversify away from tobacco to other cash crops. The economy depends on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF, the World Bank, and individual donor nations. Donors halted direct budget support from 2013 to 2016 because of concerns about corruption and fiscal carelessness, but the World Bank resumed budget support in May 2017. In 2006, Malawi was approved for relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program but recent increases in domestic borrowing mean that debt servicing in 2016 exceeded the levels prior to HIPC debt relief. Heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture, with corn being the staple crop, Malawi’s economy was hit hard by the El Nino-driven drought in 2015 and 2016, and now faces threat from the fall armyworm. The drought also slowed economic activity, led to two consecutive years of declining economic growth, and contributed to high inflation rates. Depressed food prices over 2017 led to a significant drop in inflation (from an average of 21.7% in 2016 to 12.3% in 2017), with a similar drop in interest rates.

Malawian kwachas (MWK) per US dollar - 762.4951 (2020 est.) 736.6548 (2019 est.) 732.335 (2018 est.) 499.6 (2014 est.) 424.9 (2013 est.)

$1.16 billion note: data are in current year dollars (2019 est.) $1.11 billion note: data are in current year dollars (2018 est.) $9.658 billion (2017 est.)

tobacco, tea, raw sugar, beans, soybean products, clothing and apparel (2019)

Belgium 16%, United States 8%, Egypt 7%, South Africa 6%, Germany 6%, Kenya 5%, United Arab Emirates 5% (2019)

1 July - 30 June

$7.766 billion (2019 est.)

household consumption: 84.3% (2017 est.) government consumption: 16.3% (2017 est.) investment in fixed capital: 15.3% (2017 est.) investment in inventories: 0% (2017 est.) exports of goods and services: 27.9% (2017 est.) imports of goods and services: -43.8% (2017 est.)

agriculture: 28.6% (2017 est.) industry: 15.4% (2017 est.) services: 56% (2017 est.)

44.7 (2016 est.) 39 (2004)

lowest 10%: 2.2% highest 10%: 37.5% (2010 est.)

$3.2 billion note: data are in current year dollars (2019 est.) $2.92 billion note: data are in current year dollars (2018 est.) $11.631 billion (2017 est.)

postage stamps, refined petroleum, packaged medicines, fertilizers, office machinery/parts (2019)

South Africa 17%, China 16%, United Arab Emirates 9%, India 9%, United Kingdom 8% (2019)

1.2% (2017 est.)

tobacco, tea, sugar, sawmill products, cement, consumer goods

9.3% (2019 est.) 12.4% (2018 est.) 11.7% (2017 est.)

7 million (2013 est.)

agriculture: 76.9% industry: 4.1% services: 19% (2013 est.)

51.5% (2016 est.)

59.2% of GDP (2017 est.) 60.3% of GDP (2016 est.)

$28.44 billion note: data are in 2017 dollars (2020 est.) $28.22 billion note: data are in 2017 dollars (2019 est.) $26.69 billion note: data are in 2017 dollars (2018 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars

4% (2017 est.) 2.3% (2016 est.) 3% (2015 est.)

$1,500 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2020 est.) $1,500 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2019 est.) $1,500 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2018 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars

$780.2 million (31 December 2017 est.) $585.7 million (31 December 2016 est.)

21.7% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

20.4% (2013 est.)

total: 8.5% male: 6.7% female: 10.6% (2017 est.)

0 bbl/day (2015 est.)

0 bbl/day (2015 est.)

0 bbl/day (2018 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2018 est.)

1.321 billion kWh (2016 est.)

0 kWh (2016 est.)

1% of total installed capacity (2016 est.)

93% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)

6% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)

0 kWh (2016 est.)

375,000 kW (2016 est.)

1.42 billion kWh (2016 est.)

electrification - total population: 13% (2019) electrification - urban areas: 55% (2019) electrification - rural areas: 5% (2019)

0 cu m (2017 est.)

0 cu m (2017 est.)

0 cu m (2017 est.)

0 cu m (2017 est.)

0 cu m (2017 est.)

6,000 bbl/day (2016 est.)

0 bbl/day (2015 est.)

4,769 bbl/day (2015 est.)

0 bbl/day (2015 est.)

particulate matter emissions: 22.14 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.) carbon dioxide emissions: 1.3 megatons (2016 est.) methane emissions: 11.12 megatons (2020 est.)

sub-tropical; rainy season (November to May); dry season (May to November)

deforestation; land degradation; water pollution from agricultural runoff, sewage, industrial wastes; siltation of spawning grounds endangers fish populations; negative effects of climate change (extreme high temperatures, changing precipatation pattens)

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

severe localized food insecurity: due to reduced incomes - nationally, cereal production is estimated at a bumper high in 2021, which is expected to result in average to above‑average household cereal supplies and thus improvements in food security; despite the good food supply situation, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to curb access to food due to reduced incomes (2021)

agricultural land: 59.2% (2018 est.) arable land: 38.2% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 1.4% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 19.6% (2018 est.) forest: 34% (2018 est.) other: 6.8% (2018 est.)

degree of risk: very high (2020) food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever water contact diseases: schistosomiasis animal contact diseases: rabies

Fresh water lake(s): Lake Malawi (shared with Mozambique and Tanzania) - 22,490 Salt water lake(s): Lake Chilwa - 1,040 sq km

Zambezi (shared with Zambia [s], Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Tanzania, and Mozambique [m]) - 2,740 km note [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Atlantic Ocean drainage: Congo (3,730,881 sq km) Indian Ocean drainage: Zambezi (1,332,412 sq km)

coal revenues: 0.03% of GDP (2018 est.)

forest revenues: 6.19% of GDP (2018 est.)

17.28 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

municipal: 143.1 million cubic meters (2017 est.) industrial: 47.7 million cubic meters (2017 est.) agricultural: 1.166 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

urban population: 17.7% of total population (2021) rate of urbanization: 4.41% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

municipal solid waste generated annually: 1,297,844 tons (2013 est.)

total: 118,484 sq km land: 94,080 sq km water: 24,404 sq km

slightly smaller than Pennsylvania

sub-tropical; rainy season (November to May); dry season (May to November)

0 km (landlocked)

highest point: Sapitwa (Mount Mlanje) 3,002 m lowest point: junction of the Shire River and international boundary with Mozambique 37 m mean elevation: 779 m

13 30 S, 34 00 E

landlocked; Lake Nyasa, some 580 km long, is the country's most prominent physical feature; it contains more fish species than any other lake on earth

740 sq km (2012)

total: 2,857 km border countries (3): Mozambique 1498 km, Tanzania 512 km, Zambia 847 km

agricultural land: 59.2% (2018 est.) arable land: 38.2% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 1.4% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 19.6% (2018 est.) forest: 34% (2018 est.) other: 6.8% (2018 est.)

Southern Africa, east of Zambia, west and north of Mozambique

Fresh water lake(s): Lake Malawi (shared with Mozambique and Tanzania) - 22,490 Salt water lake(s): Lake Chilwa - 1,040 sq km

Zambezi (shared with Zambia [s], Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Tanzania, and Mozambique [m]) - 2,740 km note [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Atlantic Ocean drainage: Congo (3,730,881 sq km) Indian Ocean drainage: Zambezi (1,332,412 sq km)

Africa

none (landlocked)

flooding; droughts; earthquakes

limestone, arable land, hydropower, unexploited deposits of uranium, coal, and bauxite

population density is highest south of Lake Nyasa as shown in this population distribution map

narrow elongated plateau with rolling plains, rounded hills, some mountains

28 districts; Balaka, Blantyre, Chikwawa, Chiradzulu, Chitipa, Dedza, Dowa, Karonga, Kasungu, Likoma, Lilongwe, Machinga, Mangochi, Mchinji, Mulanje, Mwanza, Mzimba, Neno, Ntcheu, Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Nsanje, Ntchisi, Phalombe, Rumphi, Salima, Thyolo, Zomba

name: Lilongwe geographic coordinates: 13 58 S, 33 47 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time) etymology: named after the Lilongwe River that flows through the city

citizenship by birth: no citizenship by descent only: at least one parent must be a citizen of Malawi dual citizenship recognized: no residency requirement for naturalization: 7 years

history: previous 1953 (preindependence), 1964, 1966; latest drafted January to May 1994, approved 16 May 1994, entered into force 18 May 1995 amendments: proposed by the National Assembly; passage of amendments affecting constitutional articles, including the sovereignty and territory of the state, fundamental constitutional principles, human rights, voting rights, and the judiciary, requires majority approval in a referendum and majority approval by the Assembly; passage of other amendments requires at least two-thirds majority vote of the Assembly; amended several times, last in 2017

conventional long form: Republic of Malawi conventional short form: Malawi local long form: Dziko la Malawi local short form: Malawi former: British Central African Protectorate, Nyasaland Protectorate, Nyasaland etymology: named for the East African Maravi Kingdom of the 16th century; the word "maravi" means "fire flames"

chief of mission: Charge d' Affaires Jeremy NEITZKE (26 October 2021 embassy: 16 Jomo Kenyatta Road, Lilongwe 3 mailing address: 2280 Lilongwe Place, Washington DC 20521-2280 telephone: [265] (0) 177-3166 FAX: [265] (0) 177-0471 email address and website: LilongweConsular@state.gov https://mw.usembassy.gov/

chief of mission: Ambassador Edward Yakobe SAWERENGERA (since 16 September 2016) chancery: 2408 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 721-0270 FAX: [1] (202) 721-0288 email address and website: malawiembassy-dc.org http://www.malawiembassy-dc.org/

chief of state: President Lazarus CHAKWERA (since 28 June 2020); Vice President Saulos CHILIMA (since 3 February 2020); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government head of government: President Lazarus CHAKWERA (since 28 June 2020); Vice President Saulos CHILIMA (since 3 February 2020) cabinet: Cabinet named by the president elections/appointments: president directly elected by simple majority popular vote for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 23 June 2020 (next to be held in 2025) election results: Lazarus CHAKWERA elected president; Lazarus CHAKWERA (MCP) 59.3%, Peter Mutharika (DPP) 39.9%, other 0.7%

three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and green with a radiant, rising, red sun centered on the black band; black represents the native peoples, red the blood shed in their struggle for freedom, and green the color of nature; the rising sun represents the hope of freedom for the continent of Africa

presidential republic

6 July 1964 (from the UK)

accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

ACP, AfDB, AU, C, CD, COMESA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MINURSO, MONUSCO, NAM, OPCW, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNISFA, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

highest courts: Supreme Court of Appeal (consists of the chief justice and at least 3 judges) judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court chief justice appointed by the president and confirmed by the National Assembly; other judges appointed by the president upon the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission, which regulates judicial officers; judges serve until age 65 subordinate courts: High Court; magistrate courts; Industrial Relations Court; district and city traditional or local courts

mixed legal system of English common law and customary law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court of Appeal

description: unicameral National Assembly (193 seats; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote to serve 5-year terms) elections: last held on 21 May 2019 (next to be held in May 2024) election results: percent of vote by party - n/a; seats by party - DPP 62, MCP 55, UDF 10, PP 5, other 5, independent 55, vacant 1; composition - men 161, women 32, percent of women 16.6%

name: "Mulungu dalitsa Malawi" (Oh God Bless Our Land of Malawi) lyrics/music: Michael-Fredrick Paul SAUKA note: adopted 1964

Independence Day, 6 July (1964); note - also called Republic Day since 6 July 1966

lion; national colors: black, red, green

Democratic Progressive Party or DPP [Peter MUTHARIKA] Malawi Congress Party or MCP [Lazarus CHAKWERA] Peoples Party or PP [Joyce BANDA] United Democratic Front or UDF [Atupele MULUZI] United Transformation Movement or UTM [Saulos CHILIMA]

18 years of age; universal

Malawi shares its name with the Chewa word for flames and is linked to the Maravi people from whom the Chewa language originated. The Maravi settled in what is now Malawi around 1400 during one of the later waves of Bantu migration across central and southern Africa. Several of Malawi s ethnic groups trace their origins to different Maravi lineages. A powerful Maravi kingdom, established around 1500, reached its zenith around 1700, when it controlled what is now southern and central Malawi as well as portions of neighboring Mozambique and Zambia before beginning to decline because of destabilization from the escalating global trade in enslaved people. In the early 1800s, widespread conflict in southern Africa displaced various ethnic Ngoni groups, some of which moved into Malawi and further undermined the Maravi. Members of the Yao ethnic group - which had long traded with Malawi from Mozambique - introduced Islam and began to settle in Malawi in significant numbers the mid-1800s; in the late 1800s, members of the Lomwe ethnic group also moved into southern Malawi from Mozambique. British missionary and trading activity increased in the area around Lake Nyasa in the mid-1800s, and Britain declared a protectorate, called British Central Africa, over what is now Malawi in 1891 and eliminated various political entities that sought to retain their autonomy over the subsequent decade. The British renamed the territory Nyasaland in 1907 and it was part of the colonial Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland - including present-day Zambia and Zimbabwe - from 1953 to 1963 before gaining independence as Malawi in 1964. Hastings Kamuzu BANDA served as prime minister at independence and, when the country became a republic in 1966, he became president. He later instituted one-party rule under his Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and was declared president for life. After three decades of one-party rule, the country held multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections in 1994 under a provisional constitution that came into full effect the following year. Bakili MULUZI of the United Democratic Front party became the first freely elected president of Malawi when he defeated BANDA at the polls in 1994; he won reelection in 1999. President Bingu wa MUTHARIKA was elected in 2004 and subsequently started his own party, the Democratic Progressive Party, in 2005. MUTHARIKA was reelected to a second term in 2009. He died abruptly in 2012 and was succeeded by Vice President Joyce BANDA, who had earlier started her own party, the People's Party. MUTHARIKA's brother, Peter MUTHARIKA, defeated BANDA in the election in 2014. Peter MUTHARIKA was reelected in a disputed election in 2019 that resulted in countrywide protests. The courts ordered a new the election, and in 2020 Lazarus CHAKWERA of the MCP was elected president after defeating MUTHARIKA as head of a coalition of opposition parties. Population growth, increasing pressure on agricultural lands, corruption, and the scourge of HIV/AIDS pose major problems for Malawi.

as of 2021, the Malawi Defense Force s primary responsibility was external security; it was also tasked as necessary with carrying out policing or other domestic activities, such as disaster relief; Malawi contributes regularly to African Union and UN peace support operations

Malawi Defense Force (MDF): Army (includes marine unit), Air Force (established as a separate service August 2019; previously was an air wing under the Army) (2021) note - the Malawi Police Service is under the Ministry of Homeland Security

information varies; approximately 8,000 total personnel (including about 200 air and 200 marine forces) (2021)

700 Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) (Sep 2021)

the Malawi Defense Force inventory is comprised of mostly obsolescent or second-hand equipment from Europe and South Africa; since 2010, it has taken deliveries of limited amounts of mostly second-hand equipment from China, South Africa, and the UK, as well as non-lethal equipment donated by the US (2020)

0.9% of GDP (2020 est.) 0.9% of GDP (2019) 0.9% of GDP (2018) 0.7% of GDP (2017) 0.6% of GDP (2016)

18 years of age for voluntary military service; high school equivalent required for enlisted recruits and college equivalent for officer recruits; initial engagement is 7 years for enlisted personnel and 10 years for officers (2021)

0-14 years: 45.87% (male 4,843,107/female 4,878,983) 15-24 years: 20.51% (male 2,151,417/female 2,195,939) 25-54 years: 27.96% (male 2,944,936/female 2,982,195) 55-64 years: 2.98% (male 303,803/female 328,092) 65 years and over: 2.68% (male 249,219/female 318,938) (2020 est.)

28.59 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)

9% (2019)

59.2% (2015/16)

9.3% (2018)

4.66 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)

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.

total dependency ratio: 83.9 youth dependency ratio: 79.1 elderly dependency ratio: 4.9 potential support ratio: 20.6 (2020 est.)

improved: urban: 95.9% of population rural: 87.3% of population total: 88.7% of population unimproved: urban: 4.1% of population rural: 12.7% of population total: 11.3% of population (2017 est.)

2.9% of GDP (2020)

Chewa 34.3%, Lomwe 18.8%, Yao 13.2%, Ngoni 10.4%, Tumbuka 9.2%, Sena 3.8%, Mang'anja 3.2%, Tonga 1.8%, Nyanja 1.8%, Nkhonde 1%, other 2.2%, foreign 0.3% (2018 est.)

8.1% (2020 est.)

12,000 (2020 est.)

990,000 (2020 est.)

1.3 beds/1,000 population (2011)

total: 34.19 deaths/1,000 live births male: 38.61 deaths/1,000 live births female: 29.71 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.)

English (official), Chewa (common), Lambya, Lomwe, Ngoni, Nkhonde, Nyakyusa, Nyanja, Sena, Tonga, Tumbuka, Yao note : Chewa and Nyanja are mutually intelligible dialects; Nkhonde and Nyakyusa are mutually intelligible dialects

total population: 72.16 years male: 69.04 years female: 75.33 years (2021 est.)

definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 62.1% male: 69.8% female: 55.2% (2015)

degree of risk: very high (2020) food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever water contact diseases: schistosomiasis animal contact diseases: rabies

1.171 million LILONGWE (capital), 962,000 Blantyre-Limbe (2021)

349 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)

total: 16.8 years male: 16.7 years female: 16.9 years (2020 est.)

19.1 years (2015/16 est.) note: median age at first birth among women 20-49

noun: Malawian(s) adjective: Malawian

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.)

5.8% (2016)

0.04 physicians/1,000 population (2018)

20,308,502 (July 2021 est.) 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

population density is highest south of Lake Nyasa as shown in this population distribution map

2.39% (2021 est.)

Protestant 33.5% (includes Church of Central Africa Presbyterian 14.2%, Seventh Day Adventist/Baptist 9.4%, Pentecostal 7.6%, Anglican 2.3%), Roman Catholic 17.2%, other Christian 26.6%, Muslim 13.8%, traditionalist 1.1%, other 5.6%, none 2.1% (2018 est.)

improved: urban: 58.2% of population rural: 35.9% of population total: 39.6% of population unimproved: urban: 41.8% of population rural: 64.1% of population total: 60.4% of population (2017 est.)

total: 11 years male: 11 years female: 11 years (2011)

at birth: 1.02 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 0.99 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

3.51 children born/woman (2021 est.)

total: 8.5% male: 6.7% female: 10.6% (2017 est.)

urban population: 17.7% of total population (2021) rate of urbanization: 4.41% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

dispute with Tanzania over the boundary in Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) and the meandering Songwe River; Malawi contends that the entire lake up to the Tanzanian shoreline is its territory, while Tanzania claims the border is in the center of the lake; the conflict was reignited in 2012 when Malawi awarded a license to a British company for oil exploration in the lake

refugees (country of origin): 32,142 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (refugees and asylum seekers), 12,068 (Burundi) (refugees and asylum seekers), 7,392 (Rwanda) (refugees and asylum seekers) (2021)

total: 32 (2013)

total: 7 over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 4 (2019)

total: 25 (2013) 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 11 under 914 m: 13 (2013)

7Q

number of registered air carriers: 2 (2020) inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 9 annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 10,545 (2018) annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 10,000 mt-km (2018)

lake port(s): Chipoka, Monkey Bay, Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Chilumba (Lake Nyasa)

total: 767 km (2014) narrow gauge: 767 km 1.067-m gauge (2014)

total: 15,452 km (2015) paved: 4,074 km (2015) unpaved: 11,378 km (2015)

700 km (on Lake Nyasa [Lake Malawi] and Shire River) (2010)