Malawi
Name
| Official name | Republic of Malawi — Dziko la Malaŵi · Charu cha Malaŵi |
|---|---|
| Former names | The British Central Africa Protectorate (1891–1907); Nyasaland (1907–1964), in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953–63); the Maravi kingdom of the 1500s–1700s |
| Demonym | Malawian |
| Meaning of the name | From the Maravi, the Chewa kingdom of the Kalonga — read as "flames," the fire of the sun on the lake; chosen by Banda in 1964; "the Warm Heart of Africa" the country's name for itself |
| Motto | "Unity and Freedom" — on the arms |
Quick facts
| Capital | Lilongwe — the capital since 1 January 1975, chosen in 1965 in place of Zomba, the Capital Hill and the Parliament of 2010; about 1.3 million |
|---|---|
| Largest cities | Lilongwe; Blantyre, the commercial capital of the south, about 1.1 million with Limbe, founded 1876 by the Scots; Mzuzu, the capital of the north; Zomba, the old capital; Kasungu; Mangochi; Salima; Liwonde; Karonga; Nkhotakota |
| Official languages | English — the official language of the laws and the schools; Chichewa — the national language, spoken by about six in ten, the Chewa's tongue and the Nyanja of the lake; Chitumbuka in the north; Chiyao; Chilomwe; Chisena; Chitonga; Chinkhonde; the Chingoni of the Zulu descendants nearly gone |
| Currency | Malawian kwacha — MWK, K; 100 tambala; since 15 February 1971, replacing the Malawian pound; devalued 44% on 9 November 2023 |
| Time zone | Central Africa Time, UTC+2; no summer time |
| Calling code | +265 |
| Internet domain | .mw |
| ISO 3166 codes | MW · MWI · 454 |
| Vehicle registration code | MW |
| Driving side | Left |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug type G |
| Independence | 6 July 1964, from the United Kingdom, as Malawi — Hastings Kamuzu Banda the prime minister; a republic 6 July 1966 with Banda as president; the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland dissolved 31 December 1963 |
| National days | 6 July, Independence Day and Republic Day; 15 January, John Chilembwe Day, for the uprising of 1915; 3 March, Martyrs' Day, for the dead of 1959; 14 May, Kamuzu Day, Banda's birthday; 15 October, Mother's Day; 1 May; Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas and Boxing Day; Eid al-Fitr since 2020 |
| Constitution | 18 May 1994 — the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, adopted the day after the first multiparty election, in force 18 May 1995: a president elected for five years and no more than two terms, the Senate provided and never created, the Constitutional Court that annulled the election of 2019; the Second Vice President the president may name from another party |
| Population | 17,563,749 at the census of 2018; about 22.6 million (UN, 2026 est.) — from 4 million in 1966 |
| Area | 118,484 km² (45,747 sq mi) — land 94,080 km², water 24,404 km²; landlocked |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Three horizontal bands of black, red and green with a red rising sun of 31 rays on the black — the black for the people of Africa, the red for the blood of the struggle, the green for the land, the sun for the dawn of freedom and the flames of the name; adopted 6 July 1964 from the flag of the Malawi Congress Party, replaced in 2010 by Bingu wa Mutharika's flag with a full white sun for a nation "risen," and restored by the Assembly on 28 May 2012.Flag of Malawi |
|---|---|
| Coat of arms | A shield of the lake's waves, a lion on red and the rising sun on black, held by a lion and a leopard, with the African fish eagle above a helmet and the sun, on the rock of Mulanje with the motto "Unity and Freedom"; granted 1964, from the arms of Nyasaland of 1914 |
| National anthem | "Mulungu dalitsa Malaŵi" ("O God Bless Our Land of Malawi") — words and music by Michael-Fredrick Paul Sauka, chosen by competition, 1964; sung in Chichewa and in English |
| National motto | "Unity and Freedom" |
| National colors | Black, red and green |
| National bird | The African fish eagle — the fish eagle of the arms, its cry over the lake; widely cited |
| National animal | The lion and the leopard, the supporters of the arms; the elephants of Liwonde and Majete; widely cited |
| National tree | The Mulanje cedar — Widdringtonia whytei, the conifer of the Mulanje massif found nowhere else, declared the national tree in 1984, cut nearly to extinction and replanted; widely cited |
| National dish | Nsima — the stiff maize porridge of every meal, eaten with ndiwo, the relish of beans, greens or meat; chambo, the tilapia of the lake, fried whole; the kondowole cassava of the north; the Kuche Kuche and Carlsberg "Green" beers; widely cited |
| National sport | Football, the Flames, the Cup of Nations of 1984, 2010 and the round of 16 of 2021; netball, the Queens, sixth in the world at the 2019 World Cup and the pride of the nation; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag is fixed by the Flag Act of 1964 as restored in 2012; the arms and the anthem by law; the tree by declaration; the bird, animals, dishes and sports widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Southeastern Africa, landlocked in the Great Rift Valley — Mozambique to the east, south and southwest, Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast across the lake; 840 km long, never more than 160 km wide |
|---|---|
| Land borders | 2,857 km (1,775 mi) with three neighbors — Mozambique 1,498, Zambia 847, Tanzania 512 |
| The lake border | The line across Lake Malawi with Tanzania: Malawi holds the whole northern lake to the Tanzanian shore under the Anglo-German treaty of 1890, Tanzania the median line; the oil licenses of 2011 revived the quarrel, the mediation of the former African presidents from 2012 stalled; each side states its claim, the fishermen cross |
| Coastline | None — landlocked; the lake shore of 1,500 km the coast in all but name |
| Highest point | Sapitwa, 3,002 m (9,849 ft), on the Mulanje massif in the south — "don't go there" |
| Lowest point | The Shire River at the Mozambican border, 37 m (121 ft) |
| Mean elevation | About 779 m (2,556 ft) |
| Lakes | Lake Malawi — Lake Nyasa to Tanzania, Lago Niassa to Mozambique — 29,600 km², 580 km long, 75 km wide, 706 m deep, the third-largest of Africa and the ninth of the world, the third-deepest, the most species of fish of any lake, about 1,000, most of them the cichlids of the aquariums; Lake Malombe below it on the Shire; Lake Chilwa of the south, the shallow salt lake that dries; Lake Chiuta; the Elephant Marsh |
| Rivers | The Shire — the lake's only outlet, 402 km from Mangochi past Liwonde through the falls of Nkula, Tedzani and Kapichira, the power of the country, to the Zambezi in Mozambique; the Ruo of the Mozambican border; the Bua, the Dwangwa and the Linthipe to the lake; the Songwe of the Tanzanian border; the Lilongwe |
| Terrain | The Rift Valley floor of the lake and the Shire; the central plateau of Lilongwe at 1,000–1,300 m; the Shire Highlands of Blantyre and the tea; the Zomba plateau; the Mulanje massif of the south; the Nyika plateau of the north at 2,500 m, the rolling grassland of the roan and the zebra, and the Viphya highlands of the pines |
| Climate | Sub-tropical — the rains of November to April, the cool dry season of May to August with frosts on the plateaus, the hot October; about 900 mm at Lilongwe, up to 3,000 mm on Mulanje; the lake shore hot and humid |
| Natural hazards | Cyclones off the channel — Idai of March 2019, Ana of January 2022 that broke the Kapichira dam, FREDDY of March 2023, the longest-lived cyclone ever recorded, with more than 1,000 dead in the mudslides of Blantyre and Chilobwe, the country's worst disaster; the drought of El Niño — the state of disaster of 23 March 2024 in 23 of 28 districts and the hunger of 2024–25; the floods of the Shire valley, 13 dead in March 2026; the cholera of 2022–23 with about 1,700 dead, the worst ever; the polio outbreak declared 3 February 2026; the earthquake of Karonga of 2009 |
| Natural resources | Uranium at Kayelekera, mined 2009–14 and reopened in 2025; the rutile of Kasiya near Lilongwe, the largest deposit ever found; the rare earths of Kangankunde and Songwe Hill; niobium at Kanyika; graphite; coal at Mchenga; limestone; the hydropower of the Shire; the fish of the lake; the arable land |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 59%; forest about 34%, cut fast for charcoal — the hearse of Chikwawa of February 2026 with its 30 bags under an empty coffin the story of the trade |
| National parks | 5 — Nyika, the first, 1965, and the largest, of the plateau and the orchids; Kasungu of the elephants; Liwonde on the Shire, of the hippos and the rhinos, lions and cheetahs returned by African Parks; Lengwe of the nyala; Lake Malawi National Park at Cape Maclear; the wildlife reserves of Majete, where the Big Five came back after 2003, Nkhotakota with its 500 elephants moved in 2016–17, Vwaza and Mwabvi; the Mulanje forest reserve |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 2 — Lake Malawi National Park (1984), the first freshwater park on the list, for its cichlids; the Chongoni Rock Art Area (2006), the 127 painted shelters of the Dedza hills, the BaTwa hunters' red paintings and the Chewa women's white ones; the Gule Wamkulu masked dance of the Chewa (2008), the Vimbuza healing dance of the Tumbuka (2008), the Mwinoghe dance (2018) and the Tchopa of the Lomwe (2014) on the intangible list |
| Administrative divisions | 3 regions — Northern, Central, Southern — of 28 districts; the district councils; the traditional authorities of the chiefs beneath; Likoma and Chizumulu, the islands off the Mozambican shore, a district of their own |
People
| Population | 17,563,749 (census of 2018); about 22.6 million (2026 est.) |
|---|---|
| Population density | About 240 per km² of land (620 per sq mi) — among the most crowded countries of Africa, the south the densest |
| Population growth | About 2.6% a year — the population doubling every 27 years |
| Median age | About 18 years |
| Life expectancy | About 65 years — from 46 in 2000, the AIDS years |
| Fertility rate | About 3.9 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 18% — among the least urban countries in the world |
| Adult literacy | About 68% |
| Ethnic groups | Chewa 34.4%, the people of the center and the Gule Wamkulu; Lomwe 18.9%, of the south, from Mozambique in the 1900s; Yao 13.3%, the Muslim traders of the lake shore; Ngoni 10.4%, the Zulu offshoot of the 1830s; Tumbuka 9.2%, of the north; Sena 3.8%; Mang'anja 3.2%; Tonga 1.8%; Nyanja 1.8%; Nkhonde 1%; the Asians of the shops and the whites, under 1% (census of 2018) |
| Languages | Chichewa by about 60% as a first or second language, the language of the radio and the market; Chitumbuka by about a tenth, the north's; Chiyao, Chilomwe, Chisena, Chitonga; English by about a quarter, the language of the courts, the secondary schools and the Assembly |
| Religion | Christian 77.3% — Roman Catholic 17.2%, the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian of the Scottish missions 14.2%, the Pentecostal, Seventh-day Adventist, Anglican and African churches; Muslim 13.8%, the Yao of the lake shore and the south; traditional and none about 3% (census of 2018); the bishops' pastoral letter of 8 March 1992 the turn against Banda |
| Human Development Index | 0.517 (2023 data, 2025 report) — low; about 172nd of 193 |
| Poverty and health | About half the people below the national poverty line and seven in ten below the international line of US$2.15 a day; HIV among adults down from 14% in 2000 to about 7%, the treatment reaching nine in ten; malaria the first killer of children; the stunting of a third |
| Sport | Football — the Flames of the Cup of Nations of 1984 and 2010 and the round of 16 of 2021, the Big Bullets and the Nomads of Blantyre, the FDH Bank Premiership since 2026; netball — the Queens of Mary Waya and Mwai Kumwenda, sixth at the World Cup of 2019, the highest of Africa; the Lake of Stars festival on the shore since 2004 |
| Diaspora | About 400,000 abroad — South Africa first, the miners of the Rand of a century, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Britain, the United States; the 2,449 who fled South Africa's xenophobic attacks in 2026 |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary presidential republic under the Constitution of 1994 — the president head of state and of government, elected for five years with a running mate, twice at most, by a majority of the vote since the ruling of 2020; the National Assembly of 229; the High Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court |
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| President | Peter Mutharika (Democratic Progressive Party — DPP), since 4 October 2025 — the seventh president, and the fifth of 2014–20; born 18 July 1940 at Thyolo, the brother of President Bingu wa Mutharika, a law professor of 40 years at Washington University in St. Louis and Yale, minister of justice, education and foreign affairs under his brother; the oldest to take the office at 85; sworn in at the Kamuzu Stadium of Blantyre; "Malawi is in a crisis," his first words |
| Vice President | Jane Ansah (DPP), since 4 October 2025 — the ninth; the judge and attorney general of 2006–11, the chair of the Electoral Commission in 2016–20 whose "Jane Ansah Must Fall" was the cry of the protests of 2019, born 11 October 1955 at Nkhoma; Enoch Chihana of AFORD, the ally of the north, named second vice president |
| The 2025 election | Held 16 September 2025 — Mutharika 3,035,249 votes, 56.76%, against President Lazarus Chakwera (Malawi Congress Party) 1,765,170, 33.01%, of 17 candidates; turnout 76.39% of 7,203,390 registered, the highest since 2009, 57% of them women; the cost of living, the fuel queues and the maize the vote; Chakwera conceded on 24 September before the final count, the handover peaceful; the Assembly the same day — DPP 78, MCP 52, UTM 8, UDF 4, AFORD 3, PP 3, one each for the PDP, the NDP and the FP, independents 73, 48 women; 83 petitions against the results |
| The economic crisis | The kwacha devalued 44% on 9 November 2023 and held by the Reserve Bank while the street rate ran past it; the IMF's credit facility allowed to lapse in May 2025; inflation 28.7% in September 2025 and 23.8% in March 2026, the non-food rate a record 33%; the fuel queues of 2024–26 and the pump prices raised more than 40% on 20 January 2026; the reserves below three months of imports, the gold sold for dollars, the loans sought for fuel; the K11 trillion budget of 27 February 2026; the IMF mission of June 2026 ended without a new program, "the country's willingness to implement the reforms" its condition — "a man-made crisis" of his predecessor, President Mutharika told Parliament on 13 February 2026, promising inflation under 21% and growth of 3.8%; the drought, the cyclones and the world's prices, the Chakwera side answered |
| The Chakwera years | Lazarus Chakwera, the Assemblies of God pastor, president 28 June 2020 – 4 October 2025 after the Constitutional Court annulled the "Tipp-Ex election" of 21 May 2019 on 3 February 2020 — the second annulled presidential election in Africa — and he won the rerun of 23 June 2020 with 58.57%; his Tonse alliance; Vice President Saulos Chilima killed with eight others in the crash of a military Dornier 228 in the Chikangawa forest on 10 June 2024, the fresh inquiry ordered 24 February 2026 |
| Parliament | The National Assembly — 229 members elected for five years in single-member constituencies by first past the post; Sameer Suleman (DPP) the Speaker since 29 October 2025; the session opened 31 October 2025; the Senate of the Constitution repealed in 2001 before it sat |
| The next election | The general election in September 2030 — the presidency, the Assembly and the councils on one day |
| Defense | The armed forces of about 10,000 — the army, the marine unit of the lake, the air wing; the peacekeepers of Congo's intervention brigade of 2013–24 with the dead of Goma of January 2025; the Malawi Police Service; conscription none |
| Legal system | English common law with the customary law of the chiefs; the death penalty on the books and no execution since 1992; same-sex acts criminal, upheld by the Constitutional Court in June 2024; the Constitutional Court of five High Court judges |
| Local government | 28 district councils, the cities of Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mzuzu and Zomba, with councillors elected 16 September 2025; the mayors chosen by the councils; the traditional authorities of the paramount chiefs, the Kalonga of the Chewa and the Chikulamayembe of the Tumbuka |
| African Union | A founding member of the OAU of 1963; the SADC since its founding as the SADCC in 1980; COMESA; the African free trade area |
| United Nations | Member since 1 December 1964; the Commonwealth since 1964; the peacekeepers of Congo, Somalia and Darfur |
| Other memberships | The Non-Aligned Movement; the WTO (1995); the ties with Israel kept through the 1970s and with Taiwan until the switch to China of 28 December 2007; the U.S. aid cut of 2025 and the Chinese roads and stadium |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$14 billion (2025, IMF, at the official rate) — about US$11 billion in 2024 after the devaluation |
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| GDP per capita | About US$620 (2025) — among the ten lowest in the world |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$1,760 (2025) — the sixth-lowest |
| GDP growth | About 2.7% in 2025, below the growth of the people for a fifth year, 3.8% forecast for 2026; inflation 28.7% in September 2025, 23.8% in March 2026; the kwacha about 1,750 to the dollar officially and far weaker on the street |
| Economy by sector | Agriculture about 22%, industry about 17%, services about 55% — four in five workers on the land |
| Currency | Malawian kwacha (MWK) |
| Tobacco and the crops | Tobacco, the "green gold" — burley for the world's cigarettes, about half of exports, about US$400 million at the auction floors of Lilongwe and Blantyre, the child labor of the estates the buyers' concern; tea of Thyolo and Mulanje, grown since 1891, the first commercial tea of Africa; sugar of Illovo at Nchalo and Dwangwa; macadamia; groundnuts; soya; cotton; coffee of the north; industrial hemp legalized 2020 |
| Maize and the hunger | Maize on most of the smallholdings for the nsima, the harvest the nation's fortune — the famine of 2002, the subsidized fertilizer of 2005 that made the "Malawi miracle" surplus, the drought of 2024 that cut the crop by a fifth and put 5.7 million on food aid, the cyclones; the chambo and usipa fish of the lake, about 200,000 metric tons |
| Mining | Kayelekera, the uranium mine of Paladin closed in 2014 and reopened by Lotus Resources in 2025, the largest mine; Kasiya, the rutile and graphite deposit of Sovereign Metals, the largest rutile find in the world, toward 2027; the rare earths of Kangankunde of Lindian and Songwe Hill of Mkango; the Kanyika niobium; the gemstones; the gold bought by the Reserve Bank for its reserves |
| Industry | The Carlsberg brewery of Blantyre of 1968, the first outside Denmark; the cigarettes; the sugar and tea processing; the cement; the textiles of Blantyre; the Shire fertilizer plant lost in the 1990s |
| Energy | About 15% of the people with electricity, among the lowest rates in the world; Escom and the Shire hydro of Nkula, Tedzani and Kapichira, about 400 MW, broken by Cyclone Ana in 2022 and dried by the droughts; the Mozambique interconnector of 2024; the Mpatamanga dam of 350 MW backed by the World Bank in 2025; the Kammwamba coal plant unbuilt; the solar of Salima and Golomoti; the fuel bought with the scarce dollars |
| Tourism | The lake of Cape Maclear, Nkhata Bay and Likoma; Majete, Liwonde and Nyika; Mulanje; the Lake of Stars; about 900,000 arrivals a year, most from the region |
| Public finances | Public debt about 75% of GDP, in distress, the external debt restructured with the Afreximbank and the TDB; the deficit about 8%; interest of K2.8 trillion in the budget of 2026–27, more than agriculture, health and education together; aid about a fifth of the budget, the U.S. cut of 2025 |
| Income classification | Low income (World Bank); a least developed country |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Kamuzu International Airport at Lilongwe, of 1982; Chileka at Blantyre, the old airport of 1934; Mzuzu; Karonga |
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| Airline | Malawian Airlines, the joint venture with Ethiopian of 2013 after Air Malawi's collapse, grounded in 2024; Ethiopian, Kenya Airways, South African and Airlink the links; the lake ferries MV Ilala of 1951 and MV Chilembwe |
| Main port | None — landlocked; Nacala and Beira in Mozambique the ports, Dar es Salaam by the north; the Nacala corridor railway of 2017; Chipoka and Monkey Bay the lake ports; the Shire–Zambezi waterway of Bingu's dream |
| Railways | About 797 km (495 mi) of Cape gauge — the Sena line to Beira since 1935 and the Nacala line rebuilt by Vale for the coal of Moatize in 2017, the Nkaya junction; the Marka link restored 2023 |
| Roads | About 15,450 km (9,600 mi), about 4,000 paved; the M1 the spine from Karonga through Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Blantyre to Nsanje; the five-lane Lilongwe bridge opened 6 November 2025; the Lakeshore road; the minibuses and the bicycle taxis |
| Communications | Mobile phones with about 60% of adults, Airtel and TNM; the internet with about a quarter; the MBC of the state and the Zodiak radio |
History in dates
| c. 7500 BC | The cremation of Hora 1, the oldest known in Africa, found 2026 |
|---|---|
| c. 1500 | The Maravi kingdom of the Kalonga |
| 1616 | Gaspar Bocarro, the first European |
| 1830s | The Ngoni from the south; the Yao from the east |
| 1859 | Livingstone reaches the lake, 16 September |
| 1875 | The Livingstonia mission; Blantyre, 1876 |
| 1891 | The British Central Africa Protectorate, 14 May |
| 1907 | Nyasaland |
| 1915 | The Chilembwe uprising, 23 January |
| 1944 | The Nyasaland African Congress |
| 1953 | The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland |
| 1958 | Banda returns, 6 July |
| 1959 | The state of emergency — the martyrs of 3 March |
| 1963 | Self-government; the Federation ends, 31 December |
| 1964 | Independence, 6 July; the Cabinet Crisis |
| 1966 | The republic, 6 July — the one-party state |
| 1971 | Banda president for life; the kwacha |
| 1975 | Lilongwe the capital, 1 January |
| 1983 | The Mwanza murders of the four ministers, May |
| 1992 | The bishops' letter, 8 March; the aid frozen |
| 1993 | The referendum, 14 June — 63% for parties |
| 1994 | Muluzi elected, 17 May; the Constitution, 18 May |
| 1997 | Banda dies, 25 November |
| 2002 | The famine |
| 2004 | Bingu wa Mutharika president, 24 May |
| 2011 | The protests of 20 July — 19 dead |
| 2012 | Bingu dies, 5 April; Joyce Banda, 7 April; the flag restored |
| 2013 | Cashgate |
| 2014 | Peter Mutharika president, 31 May |
| 2020 | The election of 2019 annulled, 3 February; Chakwera, 28 June |
| 2023 | Freddy, March; the devaluation, 9 November |
| 2024 | The drought disaster, 23 March; Chilima killed, 10 June |
| 2025 | The IMF program lapses, May; the election, 16 September; Mutharika, 4 October |
| 2026 | Fuel up 40%, 20 January; the budget, 27 February; the floods, March; the IMF leaves without a deal, 18 June |
Records & firsts
| The most fish species of any lake | Lake Malawi, about 1,000 |
|---|---|
| The first freshwater park on the World Heritage list | Lake Malawi National Park, 1984 |
| The first commercial tea of Africa | Mulanje, 1891 |
| The first Carlsberg brewery outside Denmark | Blantyre, 1968 |
| The oldest known cremation in Africa | Hora 1, about 9,500 years |
| The largest rutile deposit ever found | Kasiya |
| The second annulled presidential election in Africa | 3 February 2020 |
| The oldest president to take office | Mutharika, 85 |
| The longest-lived cyclone on record | Freddy, 2023 |
| A national tree of one mountain | The Mulanje cedar |
| Africa's best in netball | The Queens, sixth in the world |
| The highest turnout since 2009 | 76.39%, 2025 |
| A president for life | Banda, 1971–94 |
| The Warm Heart of Africa | The name it gives itself |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Malawi?
The Republic of Malawi — Dziko la Malaŵi in Chichewa — independent of Britain on 6 July 1964 as the successor of the Nyasaland protectorate of 1891 and a republic two years later to the day; the one-party state of Hastings Kamuzu Banda from 1966 to the referendum of 1993, a multiparty democracy under the Constitution of 1994. The name was Banda's choice, from the Maravi, the Chewa kingdom of the 1500s whose name is read as "flames" or the light on the water; the rising sun of the flag carries the meaning. Nyasaland was "the land of the lake," nyasa the Yao word for it — the lake that David Livingstone reached in 1859.
What is the capital of Malawi?
Lilongwe, the planned capital of the central region on the river of its name, made the capital on 1 January 1975 by Banda in place of Zomba with South African money — about 1.3 million people, the Capital Hill of the ministries and the Parliament of 2010 built by China. Blantyre in the Shire Highlands of the south, named for Livingstone's birthplace and founded by the Scottish mission in 1876, is the commercial capital and the largest city with its twin Limbe; Zomba, the old capital under its plateau, and Mzuzu, the city of the north, follow.
How big is Malawi, and how many people live there?
About 118,484 km² (45,747 sq mi), a fifth of it water — Lake Malawi fills the eastern edge of a country 840 km long and never more than 160 km wide, about the size of Pennsylvania or of Bihar and Jharkhand together, landlocked between Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania. The census of 2018 counted 17,563,749 people; the UN estimates about 22.6 million for 2026, growing 2.6 percent a year on one of the highest fertility rates in the world, the median age about 18; four in five live in the villages, and the land of the south is among the most crowded in Africa.
What are the highest and lowest points of Malawi?
Sapitwa, 3,002 m (9,849 ft), the peak of the Mulanje massif in the far south, the highest mountain of south-central Africa, whose name means "don't go there"; and the Shire River where it leaves the country for Mozambique, 37 m (121 ft). The Great Rift Valley runs the length of the country and holds Lake Malawi, 580 km long and up to 700 m deep, the third-largest lake of Africa, with more species of fish than any lake on earth; the Shire drains it south past the Elephant Marsh to the Zambezi.
What currency does Malawi use?
The Malawian kwacha (ISO code MWK, K), of 100 tambala, the currency since 15 February 1971, when it replaced the Malawian pound — kwacha the Chichewa for "dawn," tambala the "rooster." The Reserve Bank devalued it 44 percent on 9 November 2023 to about 1,700 to the dollar and has held it near that rate while the street pays far more, the shortage of dollars the root of the fuel queues. Clocks keep Central Africa Time, UTC+2, all year; Malawi drives on the left.
Who governs Malawi?
President Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party, head of state and of government since 4 October 2025 — the law professor of 85 who had been president in 2014–20, lost to Lazarus Chakwera in the rerun of 2020 after the courts annulled the election of 2019, and came back with 56.76 percent of the vote on 16 September 2025 against Chakwera's 33.01, the voters' verdict on the crisis of the kwacha, the fuel and the maize. Jane Ansah, the former electoral chief, is vice president; the Assembly of 229 elected the same day gave his party 78 seats with 73 independents. The next election is due in September 2030.
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