Malawi
The Country of the Week
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Lilongwe
- Population
- 21,763,309 (2024 est.)
- Area
- 118,484 sq km
- Government
- presidential republic
- Languages
- English (official), Chewa (dominant), Lambya, Lomwe, Ngoni, Nkhonde, Nyakyusa, Nyanja, Sena, Tonga, Tumbuka, Yao
- Religions
- Protestant 33.5% (includes Church of Central Africa Presbyterian 14.2%, Seventh Day Adventist/Baptist 9.4%, Pentecostal 7.6%, Anglican 2.3%), Roman Catholic 17.2%, other Christian 26.6%, Muslim 13.8%, traditionalist 1.1%, other 5.6%, none 2.1% (2018 est.)
- Ethnic Groups
- Chewa 34.3%, Lomwe 18.8%, Yao 13.2%, Ngoni 10.4%, Tumbuka 9.2%, Sena 3.8%, Mang'anja 3.2%, Tonga 1.8%, Nyanja 1.8%, Nkhonde 1%, other 2.2%, foreign 0.3% (2018 est.)
- Currency
- Malawian kwachas (MWK)
- Life Expectancy
- 73 years (2024 est.)
- Internet Domain
- .mw
- Climate
- sub-tropical; rainy season (November to May); dry season (May to November)
- Terrain
- narrow elongated plateau with rolling plains, rounded hills, some mountains
- Natural Resources
- limestone, arable land, hydropower, unexploited deposits of uranium, coal, and bauxite
- Major Exports
- tobacco, tea, dried legumes, soybean meal, raw sugar (2023)
Source: CIA World Factbook (public domain)
Overview
Malawi shares its name with the Chewa word for flames and is linked to the Maravi people from whom the Chewa language originated. The Maravi settled in what is now Malawi around 1400, during one of the later waves of Bantu migration across central and southern Africa.