Malawi,
officially the Republic of Malawi, is a
landlocked country
A landlocked country is a country that has no territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie solely on endorheic basins. Currently, there are 44 landlocked countries, two of them doubly landlocked (Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan), and t ...
in
Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by
Zambia
Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
to the west,
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
to the north and northeast, and
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and has an estimated population of 21,240,689 (as of 2024).
Lilongwe
Lilongwe (, ,) is the capital and largest city of Malawi. It has a population of 989,318 as of the 2018 Census, up from a population of 674,448 in 2008. In 2020, that figure was 1,122,000. The city is located in the central region of Malawi, i ...
is its capital and
largest city
The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or their metrop ...
, while the next three largest cities are
Blantyre
Blantyre is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with a population of 800,264 . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, Lilongwe. It is ...
,
Mzuzu, and
Zomba, the former capital.
The part of Africa now known as Malawi was settled around the 10th century by the Akafula, also known as the Abathwa. Later, the Bantu groups came and drove out the Akafula and formed various kingdoms such as the
Maravi
Maravi was an empire that comprised central and southern Malawi, parts of Mozambique, and eastern Zambia, from at least the early 15th century. The Chewa language, also known as Nyanja, is the main language that emerged from the empire.
The ...
and
Nkhamanga kingdoms, among others that flourished from the 16th century. In 1891, the area was colonised by the British as the
British Central African Protectorate, and it was renamed ''
Nyasaland
Nyasaland () was a British protectorate in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After ...
'' in 1907. In 1964, Nyasaland became an independent country as a
Commonwealth realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations that has the same constitutional monarch and head of state as the other realms. The current monarch is King Charles III. Except for the United Kingdom, in each of the re ...
under Prime Minister
Hastings Banda
Hastings Kamuzu Banda ( – 25 November 1997) was a Malawian politician and statesman who served as the leader of Malawi from 1964 to 1994. He served as Prime Minister of Malawi, Prime Minister from independence in 1964 to 1966, when Malawi was ...
, and was renamed ''Malawi''. Two years later, Banda became president by converting the country into a
one-party presidential republic. Banda was declared
President for life in 1971. Independence was characterized by Banda's highly repressive dictatorship. After the introduction of a multiparty system in 1993, Banda lost the
1994 general election. Today, Malawi has a
democratic,
multi-party
In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional r ...
republic headed by an elected president. According to the 2024
V-Dem Democracy indices, Malawi is ranked 74th electoral democracy worldwide and 11th
electoral democracy in Africa.
The country maintains positive diplomatic relations with most countries, and participates in several
international organisation
''International Organization'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the entire field of international relations, international affairs. It was established in 1947 and is published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of th ...
s, including the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
, the
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...
, the
Southern African Development Community
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana.
Goals
The SADC's goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and se ...
(SADC), the
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional economic community in Africa with twenty-one member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini. COMESA was formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area whi ...
(COMESA), and the
African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...
(AU).
Malawi is one of the world's
least-developed countries. The
economy
An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
is heavily based on
agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
, and it has a largely rural and growing population. Key indicators of progress in the economy, education, and healthcare were seen in 2007 and 2008.
Malawi has a low
life expectancy
Human life expectancy is a statistical measure of the estimate of the average remaining years of life at a given age. The most commonly used measure is ''life expectancy at birth'' (LEB, or in demographic notation ''e''0, where '' ...
and high
infant mortality
Infant mortality is the death of an infant before the infant's first birthday. The occurrence of infant mortality in a population can be described by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the number of deaths of infants under one year of age ...
.
HIV/AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
is highly prevalent, which both reduces the labour force and requires increased government expenditures. The country has a diverse population that includes
native peoples,
Asians
"Asian people" (sometimes "Asiatic people")United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 200Nlm.nih.gov: ''Asian Continental Ancestry Group'' is also used for categorical purposes. is an umbrella term ...
, and
Europeans
Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common ancestry, language, faith, historical continuity, etc. There are ...
. Several languages are spoken. The population is predominantly Christian and the majority are Protestant. Although in the past there was a periodic regional conflict fuelled in part by ethnic divisions, by 2008 this internal conflict had considerably diminished, and the idea of identifying with one's Malawian nationality had reemerged.
Etymology
The name ''Malawi'' means "flames" in
Chichewa and
Chitumbuka. ''Malawi'' was chosen by the first
president of Malawi
The president of the Republic of Malawi () is the head of state and head of government of Malawi. The president leads the executive branch of the Government of Malawi and is the commander-in-chief of the Malawian Defence Force. The current ...
,
Kamuzu Banda, after the country achieved its independence from Great Britain in 1964.
History
Pre-colonial history

The part of Africa now known as Malawi had a very small population of
hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...
s before waves of
Bantu peoples
The Bantu peoples are an Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct native Demographics of Africa, African List of ethnic groups of Africa, ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. The language ...
began emigrating from the north around the 10th century AD. Although most of the Bantu peoples continued south, some remained and founded
ethnic group
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
s based on common ancestry.
[Cutter, ''Africa 2006'', p. 142] By 1500, the tribes had established several kingdoms such as the Maravi that reached from north of what is now
Nkhotakota to the
Zambezi River
The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...
and from
Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, () is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
It is ...
to the
Luangwa River
The Luangwa River is one of the major Tributary, tributaries of the Zambezi River, and one of the four biggest rivers of Zambia. The river generally floods in the rainy season (December to March) and then falls considerably in the dry season. I ...
in what is now
Zambia
Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
and the Nkhamanga.
Soon after 1600, with the area mostly united under one native ruler, native tribesmen began encountering, trading with and making alliances with
Portuguese traders and members of the military. By 1700, however, the empire had broken up into areas controlled by many individual ethnic groups. The
Indian Ocean slave trade
The Indian Ocean slave trade, sometimes known as the East African slave trade, involved the capture and transportation of predominately sub-Saharan African slaves along the coasts, such as the Swahili Coast and the Horn of Africa, and through ...
reached its height in the mid-1800s, when approximately 20,000 people per year were believed to have been enslaved and transported from
Nkhotakota to
Kilwa
Kilwa Kisiwani ('Kilwa Island') is an island, national historic site, and Hamlet (place), hamlet community located in the township of Kilwa Masoko, the district seat of Kilwa District in the Tanzanian region of Lindi Region, Lindi in southern Ta ...
where they were sold.
Colonialisation (1859–1960)
Missionary and explorer
David Livingstone
David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. Livingstone was married to Mary Moffat Livings ...
reached Lake Malawi (then
Lake Nyasa) in 1859 and identified the
Shire Highlands south of the lake as an area suitable for European settlement. As the result of Livingstone's visit, several
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
and
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
missions were established in the area in the 1860s and 1870s; the
African Lakes Company Limited was established in 1878 to set up a trade and transport concern, a small mission and trading settlement were established at
Blantyre
Blantyre is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with a population of 800,264 . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, Lilongwe. It is ...
in 1876, and a British
Consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...
took up residence there in 1883. The Portuguese government was also interested in the area, so, to prevent Portuguese occupation, the British government sent
Harry Johnston as British consul with instructions to make treaties with local rulers beyond Portuguese jurisdiction.

In 1889, a British
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over ...
was proclaimed over the Shire Highlands, which was extended in 1891 to include the whole of present-day Malawi as the
British Central Africa Protectorate
The British Central Africa Protectorate (BCA) was a British protectorate proclaimed in 1889 and ratified in 1891 that occupied the same area as present-day Malawi: it was renamed Nyasaland in 1907. British interest in the area arose from visits ...
. In 1907, the protectorate was renamed
Nyasaland
Nyasaland () was a British protectorate in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After ...
, a name it retained for the remainder of its time under British rule.
[Murphy, ''Central Africa'', p. xxvii] In an example of what is sometimes called the "Thin White Line" of colonial authority in Africa, the colonial government of Nyasaland was formed in 1891. The administrators were given a budget of £10,000 (1891 nominal value) per year, which was enough to employ ten European civilians, two military officers, seventy
Punjabi Sikhs
Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...
and eighty-five
Zanzibar
Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...
porters Porters may refer to:
* Porters, Virginia, an unincorporated community in Virginia, United States
* Porters, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community in Wisconsin, United States
* Porters Ski Area, a ski resort in New Zealand
* Porters (TV series), '' ...
. These few employees were then expected to administer and police a territory of around 94,000 square kilometres with between one and two million people. The same year, slavery came to its complete cessation.
In 1944, the
Nyasaland African Congress
The Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) was an organisation that evolved into a political party in Nyasaland during the colonial period. The NAC was suppressed in 1959, but was succeeded in 1960 by the Malawi Congress Party, which went to on decisiv ...
(NAC) was formed by the Africans of Nyasaland to promote local interests to the British government. In 1953, Britain linked Nyasaland with Northern and Southern
Rhodesia
Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...
in what was the
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation (CAF), was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the Self-governing colony, self-governing British colony of Southern ...
, often called the Central African Federation (CAF),
[ for mainly political reasons. Even though the Federation was semi-independent, the linking provoked opposition from African nationalists, and the NAC gained popular support. An influential opponent of the CAF was ]Hastings Banda
Hastings Kamuzu Banda ( – 25 November 1997) was a Malawian politician and statesman who served as the leader of Malawi from 1964 to 1994. He served as Prime Minister of Malawi, Prime Minister from independence in 1964 to 1966, when Malawi was ...
, a European-trained doctor working in Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
who was persuaded to return to Nyasaland in 1958 to assist the nationalist cause. Banda was elected president of the NAC and worked to mobilize nationalist sentiment before being jailed by colonial authorities in 1959. He was released in 1960 and asked to help draft a new constitution for Nyasaland, with a clause granting Africans the majority in the colony's Legislative Council.
Hastings Kamuzu Banda era (1961–1993)
In 1961, Banda's Malawi Congress Party
The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is a political party in Malawi. It was formed as a successor party to the banned Nyasaland African Congress when the country, then known as Nyasaland, was under British rule. The MCP, under Hastings Banda, pre ...
(MCP) gained a majority in the Legislative Council elections, and Banda became Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
in 1963. The Federation was dissolved in 1963, and on 6 July 1964, Nyasaland became independent from British rule and renamed itself Malawi, and that is commemorated as the nation's Independence Day, a public holiday
A public holiday, national holiday, federal holiday, statutory holiday, bank holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year.
Types
Civic holiday
A ''civic holiday'', also k ...
. Under a new constitution, Malawi became a republic with Banda as its first president. The new document also formally made Malawi a one-party state
A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...
with the MCP as the only legal party.
In 1971, Banda was declared president-for-life. For almost 30 years, Banda presided over a rigidly totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...
regime, which ensured that Malawi did not suffer armed conflict.[Cutter, ''Africa 2006'',
p. 143] Opposition parties, including the Malawi Freedom Movement of Orton Chirwa and the Socialist League of Malawi, were founded in exile. Malawi's economy, while Banda was president, was often cited as an example of how a poor, landlocked, and heavily populated country deficient in mineral resources could achieve progress in both agriculture and industrial development.
Multi-party democracy (1993–present)
Under pressure for increased political freedom
Political freedom (also known as political autonomy or political agency) is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies.Hannah Arendt, "What is Freedom?", ''Between Past and ...
, Banda agreed to a referendum
A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
in 1993, where the populace voted for a multi-party democracy. In late 1993, a presidential council was formed, the life presidency was abolished and a new constitution was put into place, effectively ending the MCP's rule. In 1994 the first multi-party elections were held in Malawi, and Banda was defeated by Bakili Muluzi
Elson Bakili Muluzi (born 17 March 1943) is a Malawian politician who was President of Malawi from 1994 to 2004. He was also chairman of the United Democratic Front (UDF) until 2009. He succeeded Hastings Kamuzu Banda as Malawi's president. He al ...
(a former Secretary General of the MCP and former Banda Cabinet Minister). Re-elected in 1999, Muluzi remained president until 2004, when Bingu wa Mutharika
Bingu wa Mutharika (; born Brightson Webster Ryson Thom; 24 February 1934 – 5 April 2012) was a Malawian politician and economist who was President of Malawi from May 2004 until his death in April 2012. He was also President of the Democ ...
was elected. Although the political environment was described as "challenging", it was stated in 2009 that a multi-party system still existed in Malawi. Multiparty parliamentary and presidential elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...
were held for the fourth time in Malawi in May 2009, and President Mutharika was successfully re-elected, despite charges of election fraud from his rival.
President Mutharika was seen by some as increasingly autocratic and dismissive of human rights, and in July 2011 protests over high costs of living, devolving foreign relations, poor governance and a lack of foreign exchange reserves erupted. The protests left 18 people dead and at least 44 others suffering from gunshot wounds.
The Malawian flag was modified in 2010, altering three colored stripes with the white sun. It existed for a short while until 2012 when the colors of black-red-green of the old flag were restored.
In April 2012, Mutharika died of a heart attack. Over a period of 48 hours, his death was kept secret, including an elaborate flight with the body to South Africa, where the ambulance drivers refused to move the body, saying they were not licensed to move a corpse. After the South African government threatened to reveal the information, the presidential title was taken over by Vice-President Joyce Banda
Joyce Hilda Banda (née Ntila; born 12 April 1950) is a Malawi, Malawian politician, who served as List of heads of state of Malawi, President of Malawi, from 7 April 2012 to 31 May 2014. Banda took office as President following the sudden deat ...
(no relation to Hastings Banda).
In the 2014 Malawian general election, Joyce Banda lost the elections (coming third) and was replaced by Peter Mutharika
Arthur Peter Mutharika (born 18 July 1940) is a Malawi, Malawian politician and lawyer who was President of Malawi from May 2014 to June 2020. Mutharika has worked in the field of international justice, specialising in international economic la ...
, the brother of ex-President Mutharika. In the 2019 Malawian general election
General elections were held in Malawi on 21 May 2019 to elect the President of Malawi, President, National Assembly (Malawi), National Assembly and local government councillors. Incumbent President Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive P ...
president Peter Mutharika was narrowly re-elected. In February 2020 Malawi Constitutional Court overturned the result because of irregularities and widespread fraud. In May 2020 Malawi Supreme Court upheld the decision and announced a new election was held on July 2. This was the first time an election in the country was legally challenged. Opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera
Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera (born 5 April 1955) is a Malawian politician and theologian who has served as President of Malawi since June 2020. He has served as the leader of the Malawi Congress Party since 2013. He was president of the Malawi Asse ...
won the 2020 Malawian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Malawi on 23 June 2020, having originally been scheduled for 19 May and later 2 July. They followed the annulment of the results of the 2019 Malawian general election, 2019 presidential elections, in which Pet ...
and he was sworn in as the new president of Malawi.
Government and politics
Malawi is a unitary
Unitary may refer to:
Mathematics
* Unitary divisor
* Unitary element
* Unitary group
* Unitary matrix
* Unitary morphism
* Unitary operator
* Unitary transformation
* Unitary representation
* Unitarity (physics)
* ''E''-unitary inverse semigr ...
presidential republic under the leadership of President Lazarus Chakwera
Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera (born 5 April 1955) is a Malawian politician and theologian who has served as President of Malawi since June 2020. He has served as the leader of the Malawi Congress Party since 2013. He was president of the Malawi Asse ...
. The current constitution was put into place on 18 May 1995. The branches of the government consist of executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
, legislative
A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...
, and judicial
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
. The executive includes a President who is both Head of State
A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "he head of state
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads
* He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English
* He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana)
* Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...
being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...
and Head of Government
In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...
, first and second Vice Presidents, and the Cabinet of Malawi
The Cabinet of Malawi is the executive branch of the government, made up of the President, Vice President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers responsible for the different departments.
Cabinet as of 31 January 2023
A new cabinet was appointed on ...
. The President and Vice President are elected together every five years. A second Vice President may be appointed by the President if so chosen, although they must be from a different party. The members of the Cabinet of Malawi
The Cabinet of Malawi is the executive branch of the government, made up of the President, Vice President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers responsible for the different departments.
Cabinet as of 31 January 2023
A new cabinet was appointed on ...
are appointed by the President and can be from either inside or outside of the legislature.
The legislative branch consists of a unicameral
Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
of 193 members who are elected every five years, and although the Malawian constitution provides for a Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
of 80 seats, one does not exist in practice. If created, the Senate would provide representation for traditional leaders and a variety of geographic districts, as well as special interest groups, including the disabled, youth, and women. The Malawi Congress Party
The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is a political party in Malawi. It was formed as a successor party to the banned Nyasaland African Congress when the country, then known as Nyasaland, was under British rule. The MCP, under Hastings Banda, pre ...
is the ruling party together with several other parties in the Tonse Alliance led by Lazarus Chakwera while the Democratic Progressive Party is the main opposition party. Suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
is universal at 18 years of age, and the central government budget for 2021/2022 is $2.4 billion from $2.8 billion for the 2020/2021 financial year.
The independent judicial branch is based upon the English model and consists of a Supreme Court of Appeal, a High Court divided into three sections (general, constitutional, and commercial), an Industrial Relations Court and Magistrates Courts, the last of which is divided into five grades and includes Child Justice Courts. The judicial system has been modified several times since the country's independence in 1964. Conventional courts and traditional courts have been used in varying combinations, with varying degrees of success and corruption.
Malawi is composed of three regions (the Northern, Central, and Southern regions), which are divided into 28 districts
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
, and further into approximately 250 traditional authorities and 110 administrative wards. Local government is administered by central government-appointed regional administrators and district commissioners. For the first time in the multi-party era, local elections took place on 21 November 2000, with the UDF party winning 70% of the available seats. There was scheduled to be a second round of constitutionally mandated local elections in May 2005, but these were cancelled by the government.
In February 2005, President Mutharika split with the United Democratic Front and began his own party, the Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...
, which had attracted reform-minded officials from other parties and won by-elections across the country in 2006. In 2008, President Mutharika had implemented reforms to address the country's major corruption problem, with at least five senior UDF party members facing criminal charges.[Dickovick, ''Africa 2008'', p. 278]
In 2012, Malawi was ranked 7th of all countries in sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...
in the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, an index that measures several variables. Although the country's governance score was higher than the continental average, it was lower than the regional average for southern Africa. Its highest scores were for safety and rule of law, and its lowest scores were for sustainable economic opportunity, with a ranking of 47th on the continent for educational opportunities. Malawi's governance score had improved between 2000 and 2011. Malawi held elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...
in May 2019, with President Peter Mutharika winning re-election over challengers Lazarus Chakwera, Atupele Muluzi, and Saulos Chilima. In 2020 Malawi Constitutional Court annulled President Peter Mutharika's narrow election victory last year because of widespread fraud and irregularities. Opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera won the 2020 Malawian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Malawi on 23 June 2020, having originally been scheduled for 19 May and later 2 July. They followed the annulment of the results of the 2019 Malawian general election, 2019 presidential elections, in which Pet ...
and he became the new president.
Administrative divisions
Malawi is divided into 28 districts within three regions:
Foreign relations
Former President Hastings Banda
Hastings Kamuzu Banda ( – 25 November 1997) was a Malawian politician and statesman who served as the leader of Malawi from 1964 to 1994. He served as Prime Minister of Malawi, Prime Minister from independence in 1964 to 1966, when Malawi was ...
established a pro-Western
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...
foreign policy
Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...
that continued into early 2011. It included good diplomatic relationships with many Western countries. The transition from a one-party state to a multi-party democracy strengthened Malawian ties with the United States. Significant numbers of students from Malawi travel to the US for schooling, and the US has active branches of the Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...
, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...
, the Department of Health and Human Services
The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...
, and the Agency for International Development in Malawi.
Malawi maintained close relations with South Africa throughout the Apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
era, which strained Malawi's relationships with other African countries. Following the collapse of apartheid in 1994, diplomatic relationships were made and maintained into 2011 between Malawi and all other African countries. In 2010, however, Malawi's relationship with Mozambique became strained, partially due to disputes over the use of the Zambezi River and an inter-country electrical grid. In 2007, Malawi established diplomatic ties with China, and Chinese investment in the country has continued to increase since then, despite concerns regarding the treatment of workers by Chinese companies and competition of Chinese business with local companies. In 2011, a document was released in which the British ambassador to Malawi criticised President Mutharika. Mutharika expelled the ambassador from Malawi, and in July 2011, the UK announced that it was suspending all budgetary aid because of Mutharika's lack of response to criticisms of his government and economic mismanagement. On 26 July 2011, the United States followed suit, freezing a US$350 million grant, citing concerns regarding the government's suppression and intimidation of demonstrators and civic groups, as well as restriction of the press and police violence.
Malawi has been seen as a haven for refugees from other African countries, including Mozambique and Rwanda
Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...
, since 1985. These influxes of refugees have placed a strain on the Malawian economy but have also drawn significant inflows of aid from other countries. Donors to Malawi include the United States, Canada, and Germany, as well as international institutions such as the World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
, the International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...
, the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, the African Development Bank
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...
, and UN organizations. Malawi is a member of several international organizations, including the Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
, the UN and some of its child agencies, the IMF, the World Bank, the African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...
, and the World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
. The country was the first in southern Africa to receive peacekeeping
Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...
training under the African Crisis Response Initiative.
Malawi is the 79th most peaceful country in the world (of 163), according to the 2024 Global Peace Index
The Global Peace Index (GPI) is a report produced by the Australia-based NGO Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) which measures the relative position of nations' and regions' peacefulness. The GPI ranks 163 independent states and territories ...
.
Human rights
, international observers noted issues in several human rights areas. Excessive force was seen to be used by police forces and security forces with impunity, mob violence was occasionally seen, and prison conditions continued to be harsh and sometimes life-threatening. However, the government was seen to make some effort to prosecute security forces who used excessive force. Other legal issues included limits on free speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...
and freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic Media (communication), media, especially publication, published materials, shoul ...
, lengthy pretrial detentions, and arbitrary arrests and detentions. Corruption within the government is seen as a major issue, despite the Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau's (ACB) attempts to reduce it. Corruption within security forces is also an issue. Malawi had one of the highest rates of child marriage
Child marriage is a practice involving a marriage or domestic partnership, formal or informal, that includes an individual under 18 and an adult or other child.*
*
*
*
Research has found that child marriages have many long-term negative co ...
in the world. In 2015, Malawi raised the legal age for marriage from 15 to 18.
Societal issues found included violence against women
Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...
, human trafficking
Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...
, and child labour
Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation w ...
. Other issues that have been raised are lack of adequate legal protection of women from sexual abuse and harassment, very high maternal mortality
Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to p ...
rate, and abuse related to accusations of witchcraft
Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...
. , homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
has been illegal in Malawi. In one 2010 case, a couple perceived as homosexual (a man
A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy.
Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...
and a trans woman
A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...
) faced extensive jail time when convicted. The convicted pair, sentenced to the maximum of 14 years of hard labour each, were pardoned two weeks later following the intervention of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...
. In May 2012, then-President Joyce Banda
Joyce Hilda Banda (née Ntila; born 12 April 1950) is a Malawi, Malawian politician, who served as List of heads of state of Malawi, President of Malawi, from 7 April 2012 to 31 May 2014. Banda took office as President following the sudden deat ...
pledged to repeal laws criminalising homosexuality. It was her successor, Peter Mutharika
Arthur Peter Mutharika (born 18 July 1940) is a Malawi, Malawian politician and lawyer who was President of Malawi from May 2014 to June 2020. Mutharika has worked in the field of international justice, specialising in international economic la ...
, who imposed a moratorium in 2015 that suspended the country's anti-gay laws pending further review of the same laws. On 26 June 2021, the country's LGBT
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
community held the first Pride parade
A pride parade (also known as pride event, pride festival, pride march, or pride protest) is an event celebrating lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...
in Lilongwe.
Geography
Malawi is a landlocked country
A landlocked country is a country that has no territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie solely on endorheic basins. Currently, there are 44 landlocked countries, two of them doubly landlocked (Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan), and t ...
in southeastern Africa, bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique to the south, southwest, and general east. It lies between latitudes 9° and 18°S, and longitudes 32° and 36°E. The Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley () is a series of contiguous geographic depressions, approximately 6,000 or in total length, the definition varying between sources, that runs from the southern Turkish Hatay Province in Asia, through the Red Sea, to Moz ...
runs through the country from north to south, and to the east of the valley lies Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, () is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
It is ...
(also called Lake Nyasa), making up over three-quarters of Malawi's eastern boundary. Lake Malawi is sometimes called the Calendar Lake as it is about long and wide. The Shire River
The Shire is the largest river in Malawi. It is the only outlet of Lake Malawi and flows into the Zambezi River in Mozambique. Its length is . The upper Shire River issues from Lake Malawi and runs approximately before it enters shallow Lake Malo ...
flows from the south end of the lake and joins the Zambezi River
The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...
farther south in Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
. The surface of Lake Malawi is at above sea level, with a maximum depth of , which means the lake bottom is over below sea level at some points.
In the mountainous sections of Malawi surrounding the Rift Valley, plateaus rise generally above sea level, although some rise as high as in the north. To the south of Lake Malawi lies the Shire Highlands, gently rolling land at approximately above sea level. In this area, the Zomba and Mulanje
Mulanje, formerly called Mlanje, is a town in the Southern Region, Malawi, Southern Region of Malawi, close to the border with Mozambique, to the east. It is near the Mulanje Massif.
History
A mission was established here and it was at first on ...
mountain peaks rise to respective heights of .
Malawi's capital is Lilongwe
Lilongwe (, ,) is the capital and largest city of Malawi. It has a population of 989,318 as of the 2018 Census, up from a population of 674,448 in 2008. In 2020, that figure was 1,122,000. The city is located in the central region of Malawi, i ...
, and its commercial centre is Blantyre
Blantyre is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with a population of 800,264 . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, Lilongwe. It is ...
, with a population of over 500,000 people. Malawi has two sites listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...
. Lake Malawi National Park was first listed in 1984, and the Chongoni Rock Art Area was listed in 2006.[Turner, ''The Statesman's Yearbook'', p. 824]
Malawi's climate is hot in the low-lying areas in the south of the country and temperate in the northern highlands. The altitude moderates what would otherwise be an equatorial climate. Between November and April, the temperature is warm with equatorial rains and thunderstorms, with the storms reaching their peak severity in late March. After March, the rainfall rapidly diminishes, and from May to September, wet mists float from the highlands into the plateaus, with almost no rainfall during these months.
Flora and fauna
Animal life indigenous to Malawi includes mammals
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...
such as elephants, hippos, antelopes, buffaloes, big cats, monkeys, rhinos, and bats; a great variety of birds
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
, including birds of prey, parrots, and falcons; waterfowl and large waders; and owls and songbirds. Lake Malawi has been described as having ''one of the richest lake fish faunas in the world'', being the home for some 200 mammals, 650 birds, 30+ mollusks, and 5,500+ plant species.
Seven terrestrial ecoregions lie within Malawi's borders: Central Zambezian miombo woodlands, Eastern miombo woodlands, Southern miombo woodlands
The Southern miombo woodlands is a tropical grasslands and woodlands ecoregion extending across portions of Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
It is one of four miombo woodlands ecoregions that span the African continent south of the Co ...
, Zambezian and mopane woodlands, Zambezian flooded grasslands, South Malawi montane forest-grassland mosaic, and Southern Rift montane forest-grassland mosaic. There are five national parks
A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
, four wildlife and game reserves and two other protected areas
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...
in Malawi. The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index
The Forest Landscape Integrity Index (FLII) is an annual global index of forest condition measured by degree of anthropogenic modification. Created by a team of 47 scientists, the FLII, in its measurement of 300m pixels of forest across the globe ...
mean score of 5.74/10, ranking it 96th globally out of 172 countries.
Economy
Malawi is among the world's least developed countries. Around 85% of the population lives in rural areas. The economy is based on agriculture, and more than one-third of GDP and 90% of export revenues come from this. In the past, the economy has been dependent on substantial economic aid from the World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
, the International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...
(IMF), and other countries. Malawi was ranked the 119th safest investment destination in the world in the March 2011 Euromoney Country Risk rankings. The Malawian government faces challenges in developing a market economy, improving environmental protection, dealing with the rapidly growing HIV/AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
problem, improving the education system, and satisfying its foreign donors to become financially independent.
In December 2000, the IMF stopped aid disbursements due to corruption concerns, and many individual donors followed, resulting in an almost 80% drop in Malawi's development budget. However, in 2005, Malawi was the recipient of over US$575 million in aid. Many analysts believe that economic progress for Malawi depends on its ability to control population growth. A 2009 purchase of a private presidential jet followed almost immediately by a nationwide fuel shortage, which was officially blamed on logistical problems, was more likely due to the hard currency shortage caused by the jet purchase.
In addition, some setbacks have been experienced, and Malawi has lost some of its ability to pay for imports due to a general shortage of foreign exchange, as investment fell 23% in 2009. There are many investment barriers in Malawi, which the government has failed to address, including high service costs and poor infrastructure for power, water, and telecommunications. , it was estimated that Malawi had a purchasing power parity
Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a measure of the price of specific goods in different countries and is used to compare the absolute purchasing power of the countries' currency, currencies. PPP is effectively the ratio of the price of a market bask ...
(PPP) of $22.42 billion, with a per capita GDP of $1200, and inflation estimated at 12.2% in 2017.
Agriculture accounts for 35% of GDP, industry for 19%, and services for the remaining 46%.[ Malawi has one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world,] although economic growth was estimated at 9.7% in 2008 and strong growth is predicted by the International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...
for 2009. The poverty rate
Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse in Malawi is decreasing through the work of the government and supporting organisations, with people living under the poverty line decreasing from 54% in 1990 to 40% in 2006, and the percentage of "ultra-poor" decreasing from 24% in 1990 to 15% in 2007. In January 2015, southern Malawi was hit by floods. These floods affected more than a million people across the country, including 336,000 who were displaced, according to UNICEF
UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...
. Over 100 people were killed, and an estimated 64,000 hectares of cropland were washed away.
Agriculture and industry
The economy of Malawi is predominantly agricultural. Over 80% of the population is engaged in subsistence farming, even though agriculture only contributed to 27% of GDP in 2013. The services sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...
accounts for more than half of GDP (54%), compared to 11% for manufacturing and 8% for other industries, including natural uranium mining. Malawi invests more in agriculture (as a share of GDP) than any other African country: 28% of GDP.
Beginning in 2006, the country began mixing unleaded petrol with 10% ethanol
Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...
, produced in-country at two plants, to reduce dependence on imported fuel. In 2006, in response to low agricultural harvests, Malawi began a programme of fertilizer
A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...
subsidies, the Fertiliser Input Subsidy Programme (FISP). It has been reported that this programme, championed by the country's president, is causing Malawi to become a net exporter of food to nearby countries. The FISP ended with President Mutharika's death. In 2020, the programme was replaced with the Affordable Inputs Program (AIP), which extends the subsidy on maize seed and fertiliser to sorghum
''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...
and rice seed.
The main agricultural products of Malawi include tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
, sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
, cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
, tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...
, corn
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...
, potatoes, sorghum, cattle, and goats. The main industries are tobacco, tea, and sugar processing, sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
products, cement, and consumer goods
A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike an intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good.
W ...
. The industrial production growth rate is estimated at 10% (2009). The country makes no significant use of natural gas. , Malawi does not import or export any electricity but does import all its petroleum, with no production in the country. In 2008, Malawi began testing cars that ran solely on ethanol, and the country is continuing to increase its use of ethanol.
As of 2009, Malawi exports an estimated US$945 million in goods per year. Tobacco's world prices declined, and the international community increases pressure to limit tobacco production. Malawi's dependence on tobacco is growing, with the product jumping from 53% to 70% of export revenues between 2007 and 2008. The country also relies heavily on tea, tobacco, sugar, and coffee making up more than 90% of Malawi's export revenue. Due to a rise in costs and a decline in sales prices, Malawi is encouraging farmers away from tobacco towards more profitable crops, including spices such as paprika
Paprika is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers, traditionally ''capsicum annuum''. It can have varying levels of Pungency, heat, but the peppers used for hot paprika tend to be milder and have thinner flesh than those used to produce ...
. The move away from tobacco is further fueled by likely World Health Organisation
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 15 ...
moves against the particular type of tobacco that Malawi produces, burley leaf. It is seen to be more harmful to human health than other tobacco products. India hemp
Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...
is another possible alternative, but arguments have been made that it will bring more crime to the country through its resemblance to varieties of cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...
used as a recreational drug
Recreational drug use is the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness, either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime. When a psychoactive drug enters the user's body, it induces an Sub ...
and the difficulty in distinguishing between the two types. The cultivation of Malawian cannabis, known as Malawi Gold, as a drug has increased significantly. Malawi is known for growing "the best and finest" cannabis in the world for recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness, either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime. When a psychoactive drug enters the user's body, it induces an Sub ...
, according to a recent World Bank report, and cultivation and sales of the crop may contribute to corruption within the police force.
Other exported goods are cotton, peanuts, wood products, and apparel
Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...
. The main destination locations for the country's exports are South Africa, Germany, Egypt, Zimbabwe, the United States, Russia, and the Netherlands. Malawi currently imports an estimated US$1.625 billion in goods per year, with the main commodities being food, petroleum products, consumer goods, and transportation equipment. The main countries that Malawi imports from are South Africa, India, Zambia, Tanzania, the US, and China.
In 2016, Malawi was hit by a drought, and in January 2017, the country reported an outbreak of armyworms around Zomba. The moth is capable of wiping out entire fields of corn, the staple grain of residents. On 14 January 2017, the agriculture minister George Chaponda reported that 2,000 hectares of crop had been destroyed, having spread to nine of twenty-eight districts.
Infrastructure
, Malawi has 31 airports, seven with paved runways (two international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...
s) and 24 with unpaved runways. , the country has of railways, all narrow-gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...
, and, as of 2003, of roadway
A carriageway (British English) or roadway (North American English) is a width of road on which a vehicle is not restricted by any physical barriers or separation to move laterally. A carriageway generally consists of a number of traffic lane ...
s in various conditions, paved and unpaved. Malawi also has of waterway
A waterway is any Navigability, navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction is ...
s on Lake Malawi and along the Shire River.
, there were 10.23 million mobile phone connections in Malawi. There were 4.03 million Internet users in 2022. Also, , there was one government-run radio station (Malawi Broadcasting Corporation) and approximately a dozen more owned by private enterprises. Radio, television and postal services in Malawi are regulated by the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA). The country boasts 20 television stations by 2016 on the country's digital network MDBNL. In the past, Malawi's telecommunications system has been named as some of the poorest in Africa, but conditions are improving, with 130,000 land line telephones being connected between 2000 and 2007. Telephones are much more accessible in urban areas, with less than a quarter of land lines being in rural areas.
Science and technology
Research trends
Malawi devoted 1.06% of GDP to research and development in 2010, according to a survey by the Department of Science and Technology, one of the highest ratios in Africa. This corresponds to $7.8 per researcher (in current purchasing parity dollars).
In 2014, Malawian scientists had the third-largest output in Southern Africa, in terms of articles cataloged in international journals. They published 322 articles in Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational content-driven technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 1 ...
' Web of Science that year, almost triple the number in 2005 (116). Only South Africa (9,309) and Tanzania (770) published more in Southern Africa. Malawian scientists publish more in mainstream journals – relative to GDP – than any other country of similar population size, with just 19 publications per million inhabitants cataloged in international journals in 2014. The average for sub-Saharan Africa is 20 publications per million inhabitants. Malawi was ranked 107th in the Global Innovation Index
The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for and success in innovation, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and ''World Business'', a Britis ...
in 2021, up from 118th in 2019.
Policy framework
Malawi's first science and technology policy dates from 1991 and was revised in 2002. The ''National Science and Technology Policy'' of 2002 envisaged the establishment of a National Commission for Science and Technology to advise the government and other stakeholders on science and technology-led development. Although the Science and Technology Act of 2003 made provision for the creation of this commission, it only became operational in 2011, with a secretariat resulting from the merger of the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Council. The Science and Technology Act of 2003 also established a Science and Technology Fund to finance research and studies through government grants and loans but, , this was not yet operational. The Secretariat of the National Commission for Science and Technology has reviewed the ''Strategic Plan for Science, Technology, and Innovation'' (2011–2015) but, as of early 2015, the revised policy had not yet met with Cabinet approval.
In 2012, most foreign investments flowed to infrastructure (62%) and the energy sector (33%). The government has introduced a series of fiscal incentives, including tax breaks, to attract more foreign investors. In 2013, the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre put together an investment portfolio spanning 20 companies. In 2013, the government adopted a ''National Export Strategy'' to diversify the country's exports. Production facilities are to be established for a wide range of products within the three selected clusters: oilseed products, sugar cane products, and manufacturing.
File:Life sciences and geosciences dominate, Cumulative totals by field, 2008–2014.svg, alt=Scientific research output in terms of publications in Southern Africa, cumulative totals by field, 2008–2014., Scientific research output in terms of publications in Southern Africa, cumulative totals by field, 2008–2014
File:Researchers (HC) in Southern Africa per million inhabitants, 2013 or closest year.svg, Researchers (HC) in Southern Africa per million inhabitants, 2013 or closest year
File:Seychelles and South Africa have the most publications per million inhabitants.svg, alt=Scientific publications per million inhabitants in SADC countries in 2014., Scientific publications per million inhabitants in SADC countries in 2014
File:Gross domestic expenditure on Research and Development GDP ratio in Southern Africa, 2012 or closest year.svg, Domestic expenditure on research in Southern Africa as a percentage of GDP, 2012 or closest year
Demographics
Population
Malawi has a population of over million, with a growth rate of 3.32%, according to estimates. The population is forecast to grow to over 47 million people by 2050, nearly tripling the estimated 16 million in 2010. Malawi's estimated 2016 population is, based on most recent estimates, 18,091,575.
Cities
Ethnic groups
Malawi's population is made up of the Chewa, Tumbuka, Yao, Lomwe, Sena, Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
, Ngoni, and Ngonde
The Nyakyusa (also called the Sokile, Ngone or Nkone) are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnolinguistic group who live in the mountains of southern Mbeya Region of Tanzania and the Northern Region of Malawi. They speak the Nyakyusa language, a member of t ...
native ethnic group
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
s, as well as populations of Chinese and Europeans
Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common ancestry, language, faith, historical continuity, etc. There are ...
.
Languages
The official language is English.
Major languages include Chichewa (42.5%), Chitumbuka (31.2%), and Chiyao (13.7%). Other native language
A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...
s are Malawian Lomwe, spoken by around 250,000 in the southeast of the country; Kokola, spoken by around 200,000 people also in the southeast; Lambya, spoken by around 45,000 in the northwestern tip; Ndali, spoken by around 70,000; Nyakyusa-Ngonde, spoken by around 300,000 in northern Malawi; Malawian Sena, spoken by around 270,000 in southern Malawi; and Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
, spoken by around 170,000 in Nkhata-Bay District in the north.
All students in public elementary school receive instruction in Chichewa, which is not the official national language of Malawi. Students in private elementary schools, however, receive instruction in English if they follow the American or British curriculum.
Religion
Malawi is a majority Christian country, with a significant Muslim minority. Government surveys indicate that 87% of the country is Christian, with a minority 11.6% Muslim population. The largest Christian groups in Malawi are the Roman Catholic Church, of which 19% of Malawians are adherents, and the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian
The Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) is a Presbyterian denomination. It consists of five synods: one in Zambia ( Zambia Synod), one in Zimbabwe ( Harare Synod) and three in Malawi – Livingstonia Synod in the north of the country, N ...
(CCAP) to which 18% belong. The CCAP is the largest Protestant denomination in Malawi with 1.3 million members. There are smaller Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
denominations like the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Malawi and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Malawi. There are also smaller numbers of Anglicans
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
, Baptists
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
, evangelicals, Seventh-day Adventists
The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabba ...
, and Lutherans
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...
.
Most of the Muslim population is Sunni
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
, of either the Qadriya or Sukkutu groups. Other religious groups within the country include Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...
(over 100,000), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
, with just over 2,000 members in the country at the end of 2015, Rastafari
Rastafari is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion. There is no central authori ...
, Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
s, and Baháʼís (0.2%). Atheists
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
make up around 4% of the population, although this number may include people who practice traditional African religions that do not have any gods.
Health
Malawi has central hospitals, regional and private facilities. The public sector offers free health services and medicines, while non-government organizations
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
offers services and medicines for fees. Private doctors offer fee-based services and medicines. Health insurance schemes have been established since 2000. The country has a pharmaceutical manufacturing
Pharmaceutical manufacturing is the process of industrial-scale synthesis of pharmaceutical drugs as part of the pharmaceutical industry. The process of drug manufacturing can be broken down into a series of unit operations, such as milling, gr ...
industry consisting of four privately owned pharmaceutical companies. Some of the major health facilities in the country are Blantyre Adventist Hospital, Mwaiwathu Private Hospital, and Kamuzu Central Hospitals.
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is the death of an infant before the infant's first birthday. The occurrence of infant mortality in a population can be described by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the number of deaths of infants under one year of age ...
rates are high, and life expectancy
Human life expectancy is a statistical measure of the estimate of the average remaining years of life at a given age. The most commonly used measure is ''life expectancy at birth'' (LEB, or in demographic notation ''e''0, where '' ...
at birth is 50.03 years. Abortion is illegal in Malawi, except to save the mother's life. The Penal Code punishes women who seek illegal or clinical abortion with 7 years in prison, and 14 years for those perform the abortion. There is a high adult prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
, with an estimated 980,000 adults (or 9.1% of the population) living with the disease in 2015. There are approximately 27,000 deaths each year from HIV/AIDS, and over half a million children orphaned because of the disease (2015). Approximately 250 new people are infected each day, and at least 70% of Malawi's hospital beds are occupied by HIV/AIDS patients. The high rate of infection has resulted in an estimated 5.8% of the farm labour force dying of the disease. The government spends over $120,000 each year on funerals for civil servants who die of the disease.
There is a very high degree of risk for infectious diseases, including bacterial and protozoal diarrhoea
Diarrhea (American English), also spelled diarrhoea or diarrhœa (British English), is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements in a day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration d ...
, hepatitis A
Hepatitis A is an infectious liver disease caused by Hepatitis A virus (HAV); it is a type of viral hepatitis. Many cases have few or no symptoms, especially in the young. The time between infection and symptoms, in those who develop them, is ...
, typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...
, malaria
Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
, plague, schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, bilharzia, and Katayama fever is a neglected tropical helminthiasis, disease caused by parasitism, parasitic Schistosoma, flatworms called schistosomes. It affects both humans and animals. It affects ...
, and rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. It was historically referred to as hydrophobia ("fear of water") because its victims panic when offered liquids to drink. Early symptoms can include fever and abn ...
. Over the years, Malawi has decreased child mortality and the incidences of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; however, the country has been "performing dismally" on reducing maternal mortality and promoting gender equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...
.[ ]Female genital mutilation
Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. Prevalence of female ge ...
(FGM), while not widespread, is practiced in some local communities.
In the 2024 Global Hunger Index (GHI), Malawi's score is 21.9, which indicates a serious level of hunger. Malawi is ranked 93rd out of 127 countries.
Education
In 1994, free primary education for all Malawian children was established by the government, and primary education has been compulsory since the passage of the Revised Education Act in 2012. As a result, enrollment rates for primary schools went up from 58% in 1992 to 75% in 2007. The percentage of students who begin standard one and complete standard five has increased from 64% in 1992 to 86% in 2006. According to the World Bank, youth literacy had also increased from 68% in 2000 to 75% in 2015. This increase is primarily attributed to improved learning materials in schools, better infrastructure and feeding programs that have been implemented throughout the school system.[ However, attendance in the secondary school falls to approximately 25%, with attendance rates being slightly higher for males.] Dropout rates are higher for girls than boys.
Education in Malawi comprises eight years of primary education, four years of secondary school and four years of university. There are four public universities in Malawi: Mzuzu University
Mzuzu University is a public university in Malawi. The university is located in Luwinga, Mzuzu, Luwinga, Mzuzu, Mzuzu City, in the northern region of Malawi. It was founded in 1997 after being transformed from a teachers training college establi ...
(MZUNI), Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), the University of Malawi
The University of Malawi (UNIMA) is a public university
A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whethe ...
(UNIMA) and Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST). There are also private universities, such as Livingstonia, Malawi Lakeview, and Catholic University of Malawi. The entry requirement is six credits on the Malawi School Certificate of Education, which is equivalent to O levels.
Women in Malawi
The ratio of male to female students shows women's access to schooling starts on a par with men's. Female students in Malawi see consistent declines as age increases. The life expectancy of women was approximately 58 in 2010, and 66 in 2017. The maternal mortality rate in Malawi is particularly low compared with countries at similar levels of development.
The inheritance rights in Malawi are equal by gender for children and for surviving spouses. A higher percentage of the male population is employed, and the female population has a higher total employed population and a very similar unemployment rate. This gap continues with wages in Malawi. The highest-ranked sub-Saharan state, Rwanda, scored a 0.791 on a 0–1 scale and Malawi scored 0.664.
Women's participation in national politics has been shown to be weaker than men's due to stereotypes. Female participation in politics is further restricted by gatekeepers, who provide access to the resources needed to win elections and maintain seats in parliament. This limited participation is directly correlated to the limited number of women in politics. The national parliament has appointed female members to seats in the body, and over 20% of the seats in parliament are held by women.
Military
Malawi maintains a small standing military of approximately 25,000, the Malawian Defence Force
The Malawi Defence Force is the state military organisation responsible for defending Malawi. It originated from elements of the British King's African Rifles, colonial units formed before independence in 1964.
The military is organized under t ...
. It consists of army, navy and air force elements. The Malawi army originated from British colonial units formed before independence, and is now made up of two rifle regiments and one parachute regiment. The Malawi Air Force was established with German help in 1976, and operates a small number of transport aircraft and multi-purpose helicopters. The Malawian Navy was established in the early 1970s with Portuguese support, presently having three vessels operating on Lake Malawi, based in Monkey Bay.[Turner, ''The Statesman's Yearbook'', p. 822] In 2017, Malawi signed the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal being their total elimination. I ...
.
Culture
The name "Malawi" comes from the Maravi
Maravi was an empire that comprised central and southern Malawi, parts of Mozambique, and eastern Zambia, from at least the early 15th century. The Chewa language, also known as Nyanja, is the main language that emerged from the empire.
The ...
, a Bantu ethnic group who emigrated from the southern Congo around 1400 AD. Over the past century, ethnic distinctions have diminished to the point where there is no significant inter-ethnic friction, although regional divisions still occur. The concept of a Malawian nationality has begun to form around predominantly rural people who are generally conservative and traditionally nonviolent. The "Warm Heart of Africa" nickname was given to the country due to the perceived loving nature of the Malawian people.
From 1964 to 2010, and again since 2012, the flag of Malawi is made up of three equal horizontal stripes of black, red, and green with a red rising sun superimposed in the center of the black stripe. The black stripe represented the African people, the red represented the blood of martyrs for African freedom, green represented Malawi's ever-green nature and the rising sun represented the dawn of freedom and hope for Africa. In 2010, the flag was changed, removing the red rising sun and adding a full white sun in the centre as a symbol of Malawi's economic progress. The change was reverted in 2012.
The National Dance Troupe (formerly the Kwacha Cultural Troupe) was formed in November 1987 by the government. Traditional music and dances can be seen at initiation rites, ritual
A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...
s, marriage ceremonies and celebrations. The indigenous ethnic groups of Malawi have a tradition of basketry
Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...
and mask
A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...
carving
Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and y ...
. Wood carving
Wood carving (or woodcarving) is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculpture, ...
and oil painting
Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...
are also popular in more urban centres, with many of the items produced being sold to tourists. There are several internationally recognised literary figures from Malawi, including poet Jack Mapanje, history and fiction writer Paul Zeleza and authors Legson Kayira.
Media
Television Malawi, run by the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), is the national public broadcaster of Malawi. Established under an Act of Parliament in 1964, MBC operates both radio and television services.
Sports
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
is the most common sport in Malawi, introduced during British colonial rule. Its national team
A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport.
The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...
has failed to qualify for a World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
so far but has made three appearances in the Africa Cup of Nations
The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...
. Football teams include the Mighty Wanderers
Mighty Wanderers Football Club is a Malawian football (soccer), football club based in Blantyre, Malawi, Blantyre. They currently play in the TNM Super League, the top division of Malawian football.
History
Mighty Mukuru Wanderers FC is one of ...
, Big Bullets
Nyasa Big Bullets is a Malawian professional association football club based in Blantyre, currently playing in the TNM Super League, the top division of Malawian football. The club was formerly known as Bata Bullets, Total Big Bullets and Bakil ...
, Silver Strikers, Blue Eagles, Civo Sporting, Moyale Barracks, and Mighty Tigers. Basketball is also growing in popularity, but its national team
A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport.
The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...
is yet to participate in any international competition. More success has been found in netball
Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...
, with the Malawi national netball team
The Malawi national netball team, nicknamed "The Queens", represent Malawi in international netball competitions.
History
Malawi have played in six World Netball Championships, famously finishing fifth in 2007 World Netball Championships, 2007. ...
ranked 6th in the world (as of March 2021).
Cuisine
Malawian cuisine is diverse, with tea and fish being popular features of the country's cuisine. Sugar, coffee, corn, potatoes, sorghum, cattle, and goats are also important components of the cuisine and economy. Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, () is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
It is ...
is a source of fish, including chambo (similar to bream
Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...
), usipa
Usipa (scientific name: ''Lake Malawi sardine, Engraulicypris sardella'') is a "small sardine-like fish that occurs in large shoals". Because of its small size, it is commonly dried. Usipa is mostly eaten in Malawi and Mozambique along with nsim ...
(similar to sardine
Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it com ...
s), and mpasa (similar to salmon
Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
and kampango).[ ]Nsima
Ugali, also known as posho, nsima, papa, pap, sadza, isitshwala, akume, amawe, ewokple, akple, and #Names, other names, is a type of maize, corn meal made from maize flour, maize or corn or ''mahindi'' flour in several African countries: Kenya, ...
is a food staple made from ground corn and typically served with side dishes of meat and vegetables. It is commonly eaten for lunch and dinner.[
]
See also
* Outline of Malawi
* Telephone numbers in Malawi
In Malawi, the NSN length is usually seven or nine digits.
Calling formats
To call Malawi, the following format is used: +265 1 XXX XXX or +265 X XXXX XXXX
Within Malawi dial the 7 or 10 digits subscriber number. There are no area codes.
List o ...
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*Willie Molesi, ''Black Africa versus Arab North Africa: The Great Divide'',
*Willie Molesi, ''Relations Between Africans and Arabs: Harsh Realities'',
* Willie Molesi, ''Africans and Indians: The Gulf Between'',
External links
Government of the Republic of Malawi
Official website
*
{{Coord, 13, 30, S, 34, 00, E, display=title
Republics in the Commonwealth of Nations
East African countries
Southeast African countries
Southern African countries
English-speaking countries and territories
Landlocked countries
Least developed countries
Member states of the African Union
Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations
Member states of the United Nations
States and territories established in 1964
1964 establishments in Malawi
Countries in Africa
Former British protectorates
Associated states
Former British colonies and protectorates in Africa
Former monarchies