Malawi 2019
Yearbook 2019
Malawi. In March, President Joyce Banda, who returned to her home country in 2018 after living for some years in exile, announced that she would not run in the upcoming presidential election. Instead, she gave her support to Lazarus Chakwera. He was running for the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), which before the elections formed an alliance with the People’s Party (PP), led by Banda. Another who challenged incumbent President Peter Mutharika was Vice President Saulos Chilima, who in 2018 left the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to instead found a new party, the United Movement for Change (UTM).
The election was held in May and resulted in victory for Mutharika, who got 39% of the vote against 35% for Chakwera. The vote was temporarily suspended as the opposition filed close to 150 complaints. In the end, however, it was clear that Mutharika was re-elected for a second term. In the parliamentary elections, the DPP again received the most seats, 62 of 193, followed by the MCP (55 seats) and the United Democratic Front (UDF; 10 seats). More than a quarter of the members (55) were party-politically unbound. Of the elected members, 23% (44) were women.
In March, President Mutharika appointed a commission to investigate the widespread violence against people with albinism. The number of attacks has increased in recent years. Body parts from people with albinism are used by traditional healers and witch doctors. It occurs both that people are kidnapped and mutilated and that they are murdered because someone is looking for body parts from people without pigment.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER.ORG: Click to see the meanings of 3-letter acronym and abbreviation of MWI in general and in geography as Malawi in particular.
Country data
Area: 118,484 km2 (world rank: 98)
Population: 18,622,000
Population density: 157 per km2 (as of 2017, world rank: 61)
Capital: Lilongwe
Official languages: Chichewa, English
Gross domestic product: 6.3 billion US $; Real growth: 4.0%
Gross national product (GNP, per resident and year): US$ 320
Currency: 1 Malawi-Kwacha (MK) = 100 Tambala
Embassy
Westfälische Str. 86, 10709 Berlin
Telephone 030 8431540,
Fax 030 84315430 www.malawiembassy.de
Government
Head of State and Government: Peter MutharikaSaulos Chilima, Exterior: Emmanuel Fabiano
National holiday: 6.7.
Administrative structure
3 regions
State and form of government
Constitution of 1995
Presidential republic (in the Commonwealth)
Parliament: National Assembly with 193 members, election every 5 years
Direct election of the head of state every 5 years
Suffrage from 18 years of age
Population: Malawians, last census 2008: 13,077,160 residents
Bantu peoples: Chichewa / Nyanja, Yao, Sena, Lomwe, Tonga and others
Cities (with population): (as of 2017) Lilongwe 1,161,400 residents, Blantyre 956,900, Mzuzu 254,900, Zomba 156,000; (As of 2008) Karonga 40,334, Kasungu 39,640
Religions: 77% Christians, 13% Muslims (especially Sunnis); Followers of indigenous religions (status: 2006)
Languages: Chichewa, Chinyanja, Chiyao, Chitumbuka and others; English
Employees by economic sector: agriculture. 85%, industry 8%, business 7% (2017)
Unemployment (in% of all labor force): no information
Inflation rate (in%): 2017: 11.5%
Foreign trade: Import: 2.4 billion US$ (2017); Export: US $ 1.0 billion (2017)
Population 2019
According to CountryAAH, the population of Malawi in 2019 was 18,628,636, ranking number 63 in the world. The population growth rate was 2.680% yearly, and the population density was 197.5896 people per km2.
Geopolitical Atlas
Malawi is located in the southern part of the Rift Valley, between Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. Much of its eastern border is made up of Lake Malawi, whose waters cover almost a quarter of the country’s surface. In recent decades, a dispute over the sovereignty of the lake, for which Malawi has appealed to the African Union (Au), has jeopardized relations with neighboring Tanzania. Currently, the country maintains a neutral position in the context of regional conflicts which allows it to maintain relations with all states of southern Africa. After the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika, in April 2012, he was succeeded by Joyce Banda (the first woman to hold the position), who tried to improve both the internal political situation and relations with major international donors. In 2013, Peter Mutharika, the brother of former president Bingu wa Mutharika, and eleven other prominent politicians were accused of treason for trying to prevent Banda from succeeding Mutharika. In September 2013, Paul Mphwiyo, a senior finance ministry official who has long fought against corruption, was seriously injured in an attack. The president has carried out a government reshuffle, precisely to reaffirm her commitment against corruption. In particular, he forced the Minister of Justice Ralph Kasambara to resign, later accused of the attack in Mphwiyo. In the presidential elections of May 2014, however, Peter Mutharika imposed himself, thus becoming president at the head of the new political party Democratic Progressive Party. Despite delays and corruption allegations,
Although GDP has grown at an annual rate of between 4 and 5% in recent years, Malawi remains one of the poorest states in sub-Saharan Africa. Over four fifths of the population lives in rural areas, and the median age is only 17 years. The HIV prevalence rate is 10%, a high value and specular to that of other southern African countries. Since 2004, the country has embarked on an important program to raise awareness and enhance anti-retroviral coverage, which today has reached approximately 70% of patients. Malawi’s commitment to maintaining stability in the area is significant, as evidenced by the sending of troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of the peacekeeping mission of the African Union. Malawi approached China in the context of the Sino-African Cooperation Forum (Focac). India is also among the major trading partners. The government of Malawi aims to increase exports of its main agricultural products such as tea, cotton, sugar and tobacco.
