Demographics of Malawi

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Malawi, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Malawi population pyramid in 2020

Malawi derives its name from the Maravi, a Bantu people who came from the southern Congo about 600 years ago. On reaching the area north of Lake Malawi, the Maravi divided. One branch, the ancestors of the present-day Chewas, moved south to the west bank of the lake. The other, the ancestors of the Nyanjas, moved down the east bank to the southern part of the country.

By AD 1500, the two divisions of the tribe had established a kingdom stretching from north of the present-day city of Nkhotakota to the Zambezi River in the south, and from Lake Malawi in the east, to the Luangwa River in Zambia in the west.

Migrations and tribal conflicts precluded the formation of a cohesive Malawian society until the turn of the 20th century. In more recent years, ethnic and tribal distinctions have diminished. Regional distinctions and rivalries, however, persist. Despite some clear differences, no significant friction currently exists between tribal groups, and the concept of a Malawian nationality has begun to take hold. Predominantly a rural people, Malawians are generally conservative and traditionally nonviolent.

The Chewas constitute 90% of the population of the central region; the Nyanja tribe predominates in the south and the Tumbuka in the north. In addition, significant numbers of the Tongas live in the north; Ngonis—an offshoot of the Zulus who came from South Africa in the early 19th century—live in the lower northern and lower central regions; and the Yao, who are mostly Muslim, predominate in the Southern Region of the country and live in a wide band from Blantyre and Zomba north to Lake Malawi and east to the border with Mozambique. Bantus of other tribes came from Mozambique as refugees.

Population
Demographics of Malawi, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

According to the 2019 revision of the World Population Prospects[1][2] the total population was 18,143,217 in 2018, compared to only 2 881 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 45.8%, 51.1% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.1% was 65 years or older.[3]

Total population (x 1000) Population aged 0–14 (%) Population aged 15–64 (%) Population aged 65+ (%)
1950 2 88145.751.23.1
1955 3 16645.751.52.8
1960 3 52545.951.62.6
1965 3 97545.352.32.4
1970 4 53146.351.42.3
1975 5 30246.950.62.5
1980 6 24047.150.32.6
1985 7 26847.550.02.5
1990 9 38145.951.42.7
1995 9 88344.752.23.1
2000 11 22945.851.13.1
2005 12 82346.150.93.1
2010 14 90145.851.13.1

Total and Percent Distribution of Population by Single Year of Age (Census 09.03.2018)

[4]

Age Population Percent
Total 17,563,749 100
0-4 2,552,406 14.53
0 522,802 2.98
1 509,351 2.90
2 490,811 2.79
3 511,365 2.91
4 518,077 2.95
5-9 2,632,878 14.99
5 529,111 3.01
6 546,708 3.11
7 526,347 3.00
8 532,846 3.03
9 497,866 2.83
10-14 2,533,303 14.42
10 539,264 3.07
11 489,887 2.79
12 517,832 2.95
13 492,122 2.80
14 494,198 2.81
15-19 2,035,945 11.59
15 452,017 2.57
16 339,248 1.93
17 384,682 2.19
18 497,831 2.83
19 362,167 2.06
20-24 1,651,576 9.40
20 357,667 2.04
21 323,511 1.84
22 304,519 1.73
23 330,222 1.88
24 335,657 1.91
25-29 1,229,411 7.00
25 291,198 1.66
26 274,739 1.56
27 213,337 1.21
28 238,630 1.36
29 211,507 1.20
30-34 1,107,226 6.30
30 243,969 1.39
31 209,155 1.19
32 226,360 1.29
33 218,620 1.24
34 209,122 1.19
35-39 968,998 5.52
35 221,078 1.26
36 207,499 1.18
37 165,564 0.94
38 210,252 1.20
39 164,605 0.94
40-44 729,600 4.15
40 168,637 0.96
41 137,967 0.79
42 147,438 0.84
43 151,363 0.86
44 124,195 0.71
45-49 535,868 3.05
45 129,172 0.74
46 121,996 0.69
47 89,576 0.51
48 112,116 0.64
49 83,008 0.47
50-54 387,812 2.21
50 99,632 0.57
51 57,309 0.33
52 63,690 0.36
53 72,671 0.41
54 94,510 0.54
55-59 306,921 1.75
55 69,274 0.39
56 63,914 0.36
57 50,534 0.29
58 75,091 0.43
59 48,108 0.27
60-64 234,918 1.34
60 69,006 0.39
61 38,753 0.22
62 44,264 0.25
63 40,119 0.23
64 42,776 0.24
65-69 240,551 1.37
65 47,861 0.27
66 50,078 0.29
67 35,456 0.20
68 59,659 0.34
69 47,497 0.27
70-74 144,788 0.82
70 39,380 0.22
71 27,618 0.16
72 26,622 0.15
73 31,656 0.18
74 19,512 0.11
75-79 124,718 0.71
75 25,635 0.15
76 28,492 0.16
77 19,096 0.11
78 35,174 0.20
79 16,321 0.09
80-84 63,675 0.36
80 16,846 0.10
81 9,987 0.06
82 12,908 0.07
83 14,208 0.08
84 9,726 0.06
85-89 54,754 0.31
85 12,054 0.07
86 14,628 0.08
87 8,331 0.05
88 15,327 0.09
89 4,414 0.03
90-94 15,130 0.09
90 5,041 0.03
91 2,466 0.01
92 2,746 0.02
93 2,897 0.02
94 1,980 0.01
95+ 13,271 0.08
Age group Population Percent
0-14 7,718,587 43.95
15-64 9,188,275 52.31
65+ 656,887 3.74

TFR - 4.17

Structure of the population (DHS 2010) (Males 55 159, Females 58 414 = 113 574) :

Age Group Male (%) Female (%) Total (%)
0-4 17,3 17,0 17,2
5-9 17,4 16,8 17,1
10-14 15,1 14,3 14,7
15-19 10,6 9,0 9,8
20-24 7,6 8,1 7,8
25-29 6,8 7,7 7,3
30-34 5,7 5,8 5,8
35-39 4,8 4,4 4,6
40-44 3,1 3,1 3,1
45-49 2,6 2,7 2,7
50-54 2,2 2,7 2,5
55-59 1,8 2,1 1,9
60-64 1,7 1,9 1,8
65-69 1,1 1,4 1,2
70-74 0,8 1,1 1,0
75-79 0,6 0,9 0,8
80+ 0,6 1,0 0,8
Age group Male (%) Female (%) Total (%)
0-14 49,8 48,1 49,0
15-64 47,1 47,5 47,2
65+ 3,1 4,4 3,8

Structure of the population (DHS 2014) (Males 6 855, Females 7 125 = 13 979) :

Age Group Male (%) Female (%) Total (%)
0-4 16,8 16,4 16,6
5-9 16,1 16,3 16,2
10-14 15,7 16,0 15,9
15-19 8,5 6,9 7,7
20-24 7,2 8,5 7,8
25-29 6,1 7,3 6,7
30-34 6,4 6,9 6,7
35-39 5,3 5,0 5,2
40-44 3,8 3,3 3,5
45-49 3,2 1,9 2,5
50-54 2,6 3,7 3,1
55-59 1,5 1,9 1,7
60-64 1,3 1,8 1,5
65-69 1,0 1,2 1,1
70-74 0,9 0,8 0,8
75-79 0,7 0,8 0,7
80+ 0,7 0,9 0,8
Age group Male (%) Female (%) Total (%)
0-14 48,6 48,7 48,7
15-64 48,1 47,6 47,9
65+ 3,3 3,7 3,4

UN population projections

Numbers are in thousands. UN medium variant projections [3]

  • 2015 17,522
  • 2020 20,677
  • 2025 24,212
  • 2030 28,173
  • 2035 32,667
  • 2040 37,797
  • 2045 43,521
  • 2050 49,719

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events is in Malawi not complete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. [3]

Period Live births per year Deaths per year Natural change per year CBR* CDR* NC* TFR* IMR*
1950-1955144 00085 00059 00047.528.019.56.78198
1955-1960162 00089 00072 00048.326.721.76.84192
1960-1965187 00097 00091 00049.925.724.17.00186
1965-1970219 000107 000113 00051.525.126.57.20180
1970-1975257 000115 000142 00052.323.428.97.40168
1975-1980314 000130 000183 00054.322.631.87.50159
1980-1985351 000139 000212 00051.920.631.37.30151
1985-1990410 000157 000253 00049.318.830.47.00143
1990-1995453 000173 000280 00047.017.929.16.50133
1995-2000479 000189 000290 00045.417.927.56.20121
2000-2005522 000199 000323 00043.416.626.86.03107
2005-2010610 000190 000420 00044.013.730.36.0095
* CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman)

Births and deaths [5]

Year Population Live births Deaths Natural increase Crude birth rate Crude death rate Rate of natural increase TFR
1966 4,039,583
1977 5,547,460 48.3 7.6
1987 7,988,507 41.2 14.1 27.1 7.4
1998 9,933,868 37.9 20.9 17.9 6.5
2008* 13,077,160 516,629 135,865 380,764 37.9 10.0 27.9 5.19
2018* 17,563,749 576,606 110,776 465,830 32.8 6.3 26.5 4.17
  • Data refer to the 12 months preceding the census in June

Fertility and births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):[6][7]

Year CBR (Total) TFR (Total) CBR (Urban) TFR (Urban) CBR (Rural) TFR (Rural)
1984 52 7.58
1992 42.9 6.73 (5.74) 40.5 5.51 (4.38) 43.2 6.88 (5.92)
2000 45.5 6.3 (5.2) 40.8 4.5 (3.5) 46.2 6.7 (5.5)
2004 42.4 6.0 (4.9) 37.0 4.2 (3.3) 43.4 6.4 (5.2)
2010 39.2 5.7 (4.5) 36.0 4.0 (3.3) 39.8 6.1 (4.8)
2015-16 32.2 4.4 (3.4) 29.5 3.0 (2.5) 32.6 4.7 (3.6)
2017 32.1 4.2 27.4 2.8 33.0 4.5

Fertility data as of 2016 (DHS Program):[8]

Region Total fertility rate Percentage of women age 15-49 currently pregnant Mean number of children ever born to women age 40-49
Northern4.28.15.7
Central4.47.86.2
Southern4.67.35.7
Total4.47.65.9

Life expectancy birth
Period Life expectancy in
Years[9]
1950–1955 36.26
1955–1960 37.21
1960–1965 38.42
1965–1970 39.50
1970–1975 41.76
1975–1980 43.78
1980–1985 45.57
1985–1990 46.31
1990–1995 46.67
1995–2000 46.56
2000–2005 47.30
2005–2010 53.38
2010–2015 60.71

Other demographic statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019.[10]

  • One birth every 45 seconds
  • One death every 4 minutes
  • One net migrant every 44 minutes
  • Net gain of one person every 57 seconds

The following demographic are from the CIA World Factbook[11] unless otherwise indicated.

Population
19,842,560 (July 2018 est.)
19,196,246 (July 2017 est.)

Age structure
Population pyramid of Malawi in 2017
0-14 years: 46.17% (male 4,560,940 /female 4,600,184)
15-24 years: 20.58% (male 2,023,182 /female 2,059,765)
25-54 years: 27.57% (male 2,717,613 /female 2,752,983)
55-64 years: 3% (male 284,187 /female 310,393)
65 years and over: 2.69% (male 234,776 /female 298,537) (2018 est.)

Median age
total: 16.6 years. Country comparison to the world: 223th
male: 16.5 years
female: 16.8 years (2018 est.)

Birth rate
40.7 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 8th
41 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)

Death rate
7.7 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 100th
7.9 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)

Total fertility rate
4 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 9th

Population growth rate
3.31% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 3rd
3.31% (2017 est.)

Mother's mean age at first birth
18.9 years (2015/16 est.)
note: median age at first birth among women 25-29

Contraceptive prevalence rate
59.2% (2015/16)

Net migration rate
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 91st
0 migrants/1,000 population (2017). There is an increasing flow of Zimbabweans into South Africa and Botswana in search of better economic opportunities.

Religions[12]

Protestant 27.2% (includes Church of Central Africa Presbyterian 17.7%, Seventh Day Adventist/Baptist 6.9%, Anglican 2.6%), Catholic 18.4%, other Christian 41%, Muslim 12.1%, other 0.3%, none 1% (2015-16 est.)

Dependency ratios
total dependency ratio: 91 (2015 est.)
youth dependency ratio: 85.3 (2015 est.)
elderly dependency ratio: 5.7 (2015 est.)
potential support ratio: 17.4 (2015 est.)

Urbanization
urban population: 16.9% of total population (2018)
rate of urbanization: 4.19% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
total population: 62.2 years (2018 est.)
male: 60.2 years (2018 est.)
female: 64.3 years (2018 est.)
total population: 61.7 years
male: 59.7 years
female: 63.8 years (2017 est.)

Sex ratio
  • at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
  • under 15 years: 1 male(s)/female
  • 15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
  • 65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female
  • total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Ratio of medical doctors to general population

1 Doctor/65,000 Malawians [13]

Nationality
  • noun: Malawian(s)
  • adjective: Malawian

Ethnic groups

[12]

Languages[12]

Proportion of language speakers in Malawi

  Chewa (49.9%)
  Lomwe (17.6%)
  Yao (13.5%)
  Tumbuka (9.1%)
  Sena (3.6%)
  Tonga (2.1%)
  Makhuwa (1.5%)
  Nyakyusa (1.1%)
  Other (1.6%)

Literacy
Further information: Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 62.1%
male: 69.8%
female: 55.2% (2015 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)
total: 11 years (2011)
male: 11 years (2011)
female: 11 years (2011)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24
total: 8% (2013 est.)
male: 7.4% (2013 est.)
female: 8.5% (2013 est.)

White Malawians

There has been reported a 7,400 white population. White Malawians are descended from English, Scottish, Dutch, French, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Middle Eastern, Belgian, Scandinavian, or Germans. White Malawians live in Lilongwe, Dedza, Dowa, Blantyre, Kasungu, Mchinji, Nkhotakota, Ntcheu, Ntchisi, Salima, Chitipa, Karonga, Likoma, Mzimba, Nkhata Bay, Rumphi, Balaka, Chikwawa, Chiradzulu, Machinga, Magochi, Mulanje, Mwanza, Nsanje, Thyolo, Phalombe, Zomba, and Mzuzu.

See also

References
  1. ""World Population prospects – Population division"". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  2. ""Overall total population" – World Population Prospects: The 2019 Revision" (xslx). population.un.org (custom data acquired via website). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  3. Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision Archived May 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "2018 Population and Housing Census Main Report" (PDF). Malawi National Statistical Office. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  5. "3. Live births, deaths, and infant deaths, latest available year (2002 - 2016)" (PDF). Unstats.un.org. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 2017-08-04.
  6. "MEASURE DHS: Demographic and Health Surveys". Microdata.worldbank.org. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  7. "STATcompiler". www.statcompiler.com. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  8. "Malawi Demographic and Demographic and Health Survey : Health Survey 2015-16" (PDF). Dhsprogram.com. Retrieved 2017-08-04.
  9. "World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". esa.un.org. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  10. "Malawi Population 2019", World Population Review
  11. "The World FactBook - Malawi", The World Factbook, July 12, 2018 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  12. "Africa :: MALI". CIA The World Factbook. Retrieved 2017-08-04.
  13. von Bothmer, Eleanore (2009). "Global lack of medical doctors". Development and Cooperation. Frankfurt am Main: Societäts-Verlag. 36 (3): 94. Archived from the original on 2009-07-26.
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