Country Name: Malawi (Republic of Malawi)

Capital: Lilongwe

Government Type: presidential republic

Background: 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. Several of Malawi’s ethnic groups trace their origins to different Maravi lineages. A powerful Maravi kingdom, established around 1500, reached its zenith around 1700, when it controlled what is now southern and central Malawi as well as portions of neighboring Mozambique and Zambia before beginning to decline because of destabilization from the escalating global trade in enslaved people. In the early 1800s, widespread conflict in southern Africa displaced various ethnic Ngoni groups, some of which moved into Malawi and further undermined the Maravi. Members of the Yao ethnic group - which had long traded with Malawi from Mozambique - introduced Islam and began to settle in Malawi in significant numbers in the mid-1800s; in the late 1800s, members of the Lomwe ethnic group also moved into southern Malawi from Mozambique. British missionary and trading activity increased in the area around Lake Nyasa in the mid-1800s, and Britain declared a protectorate, called British Central Africa, over what is now Malawi in 1891 and eliminated various political entities that sought to retain their autonomy over the subsequent decade. The British renamed the territory Nyasaland in 1907 and it was part of the colonial Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland - including present-day Zambia and Zimbabwe - from 1953 to 1963 before gaining independence as Malawi in 1964.

Continent: Africa

Population: 21,279,597 (2023 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.)

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.)

Economic Overview: low-income East African economy; primarily agrarian; investing in human capital; urban poverty increasing due to COVID-19; high public debt; endemic corruption and poor property rights; poor hydroelectric grid; localized pharmaceutical industry

Currency: Malawian Kwacha (MWK)

Reserves of Foreign Exchange & Gold: $594.498 million (2020 est.) note: holdings of gold (year-end prices)/foreign exchange/special drawing rights in current dollars

Real GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $29.932 billion (2022 est.) note: data in 2017 dollars

Real GDP Growth Rate: 0.92% (2022 est.) note: annual GDP % growth based on constant local currency

Real GDP per Capita: $1,500 (2022 est.) note: data in 2017 dollars

Exports: 

• $1.538 billion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars; note: balance of payments - exports of goods and services in current dollars

• Comparison Ranking: 168

Export Commodities: tobacco, gold, soybeans, raw sugar, tea, dried legumes and nuts (2021)

Export Partners: Belgium 16%, United States 8%, Egypt 7%, South Africa 6%, Germany 6%, Kenya 5%, United Arab Emirates 5% (2019)

Imports: 

• $3.582 billion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars; note: balance of payments - imports of goods and services in current dollars

• Comparison Ranking: 157

Import Commodities: postage stamps, refined petroleum, packaged medicines, fertilizers, office machinery/parts (2019)

Import Partners: South Africa 17%, China 16%, United Arab Emirates 9%, India 9%, United Kingdom 8% (2019)

Natural Resources: limestone, arable land, hydropower, unexploited deposits of uranium, coal, and bauxite

Agricultural Products: sweet potatoes, cassava, sugar cane, maize, mangoes/guavas, potatoes, tomatoes, pigeon peas, bananas, plantains

Industries: tobacco, tea, sugar, sawmill products, cement, consumer goods

Industrial Production Growth Rate: 

• 0.89% (2022 est.) note: annual % change in industrial value added based on constant local currency

• Comparison Ranking: 152

Labor Force: 8.072 million (2022 est.)

Unemployment Rate: 5.11% (2022 est.) note: % of labor force seeking employment

Natural Hazards: flooding; droughts; earthquakes

Geography:

• Total: 118,484 sq km

• Land: 94,080 sq km

• Water: 24,404 sq km

(Country Summary, The World Factbook, CIA.gov)

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