Country · Africa
Malawi
Republic of Malawi
Malawi is a country in Eastern Africa. Its capital city is Lilongwe. About 18.1 million people live there, in an area of 118 484 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Jcornelius (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Hansueli Krapf (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Hansueli Krapf (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Brian Dell (Public domain) · Timon Zingg (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Malawi?
Malawi lies in Eastern Africa, on the continent of Africa.
It sits in the southern half of the world, roughly 1 503 km from the equator.
Malawi is landlocked: it has no coast at all, so you cannot reach the sea without crossing another country.
It shares a border with 3 countries: Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.
How big is Malawi?
Malawi covers 118 484 square kilometres.
That is about 2.9 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 98th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 153.1 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Malawi?
About 18.1 million people live in Malawi.
That is the 63rd biggest population in the world.
People here speak English and Chewa.
They pay with the Malawian kwacha (MK).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 38 years.
The land of Malawi
The land in Malawi sits on average 779 metres above sea level.
Because it is landlocked, everything that arrives by ship has to cross one of its 3 neighbours first.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Malawi different?
Websites from here often end in .mw.
Malawi and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 2 live in Malawi.
It takes up about 0.09 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Africa it is the 36th largest of 54 countries, and the 21st most populated.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Malawi and its neighbours
Tanzania, its largest neighbour, is about 8 times bigger.
Tanzania has more people: 56.3 million against 18.1 million.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Malawi?
The capital of Malawi is Lilongwe. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Malawi?
About 18.1 million people live in Malawi, which makes it the 63rd most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Malawi?
Malawi borders Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia — 3 neighbours in total.
How big is Malawi?
Malawi covers 118 484 square kilometres, making it the 98th largest country in the world. That is about 2.9 times the size of Switzerland.
Which continent is Malawi in?
Malawi is in Africa, in the part called Eastern Africa.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
Last checked: · How these pages are made