Demographics of Malawi

features of the population of Malawi include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Region distribution

Northern region

The Tumbuka people make up of 94% of the population of the Northern region. Other groups include the Ngonde, Lambya and Sukwa. The predominant and common language in the region is Chitumbuka, which is also spoken in Central Region of Malawi.
The sub branch of Tonga people are part of the Tumbuka people who relocated in their current territories in the early 19th Century when the Nkhamanga Kingdom started to decline.

Central region

The Chewa ethnic group make up about 65% of the population of the central region. Other ethnic groups found in the region include the Tumbuka and Ngoni, among others. Chichewa is the common language in the region, followed by Chitumbuka in some districts such as Kasungu, Dowa and Nkhotakota.

Southern region

The Southern region is made up of the Yao and the Lomwe people. They are both the Bantu groups who came from Mozambique due to wars. The common languages in urban areas such as Blantyre are Chichewa, English and Chitumbuka. In rural areas, Lomwe, Sena and Yao are used, primarily by elder people.

Population

Total and percent distribution of population by single year of age

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

UN population projections

Numbers are in thousands. UN medium variant projections

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

United Nations estimates

Registration of vital events is in Malawi not complete. The website Our World in Data prepared the following estimates based on statistics from the Population Department of the United Nations.

	Mid-year population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Natural change	Total fertility rate	Infant mortality	Life expectancy
1950	2 950 000	145 000	96 000	49 000	49.2	32.5	16.7	6.80	206.1	32.75
1951	3 001 000	149 000	96 000	53 000	49.6	31.8	17.8	6.81	205.8	32.81
1952	3 056 000	153 000	96 000	57 000	50.1	31.4	18.6	6.83	204.9	32.91
1953	3 115 000	157 000	97 000	60 000	50.5	31.2	19.4	6.85	203.9	33.10
1954	3 176 000	160 000	98 000	62 000	50.4	30.8	19.5	6.79	202.9	33.40
1955	3 240 000	165 000	99 000	66 000	50.9	30.5	20.5	6.83	201.8	33.79
1956	3 309 000	170 000	100 000	70 000	51.4	30.2	21.3	6.87	200.5	34.22
1957	3 381 000	176 000	101 000	74 000	52.0	30.0	22.0	6.91	199.3	34.52
1958	3 457 000	181 000	103 000	78 000	52.4	29.9	22.6	6.95	197.9	34.80
1959	3 537 000	187 000	105 000	82 000	53.0	29.8	23.2	7.00	196.5	35.02
1960	3 621 000	193 000	108 000	85 000	53.3	29.7	23.5	7.03	195.2	35.20
1961	3 708 000	199 000	110 000	89 000	53.7	29.7	24.0	7.07	193.8	35.33
1962	3 799 000	205 000	112 000	93 000	54.0	29.5	24.5	7.10	192.6	35.65
1963	3 894 000	212 000	116 000	96 000	54.3	29.7	24.6	7.13	191.8	35.62
1964	3 990 000	216 000	118 000	98 000	54.1	29.6	24.4	7.10	191.1	35.69
1965	4 089 000	221 000	121 000	100 000	54.1	29.6	24.4	7.11	190.7	35.72
1966	4 191 000	227 000	124 000	103 000	54.2	29.5	24.7	7.16	190.1	35.87
1967	4 296 000	233 000	127 000	107 000	54.3	29.5	24.8	7.22	189.4	35.90
1968	4 403 000	239 000	129 000	110 000	54.3	29.4	25.0	7.28	188.6	36.04
1969	4 513 000	244 000	131 000	113 000	54.1	29.1	25.0	7.29	187.7	36.32
1970	4 625 000	249 000	133 000	117 000	53.9	28.7	25.2	7.32	186.2	36.73
1971	4 742 000	254 000	133 000	121 000	53.6	28.1	25.5	7.33	183.8	37.24
1972	4 866 000	260 000	134 000	127 000	53.5	27.4	26.0	7.35	180.6	37.90
1973	4 996 000	266 000	134 000	132 000	53.2	26.8	26.5	7.36	176.8	38.54
1974	5 134 000	272 000	134 000	138 000	53.0	26.0	26.9	7.37	172.9	39.27
1975	5 281 000	279 000	133 000	146 000	52.9	25.2	27.7	7.40	168.6	40.22
1976	5 438 000	287 000	132 000	155 000	52.8	24.3	28.5	7.43	164.3	41.23
1977	5 612 000	296 000	131 000	164 000	52.7	23.4	29.3	7.46	159.7	42.23
1978	5 809 000	305 000	131 000	174 000	52.6	22.6	30.1	7.48	154.9	43.29
1979	6 029 000	315 000	132 000	184 000	52.5	21.9	30.6	7.51	149.8	44.27
1980	6 267 000	329 000	134 000	195 000	52.6	21.4	31.2	7.57	145.7	45.09
1981	6 520 000	339 000	137 000	203 000	52.3	21.0	31.3	7.54	142.1	45.70
1982	6 784 000	351 000	141 000	210 000	51.9	20.9	31.1	7.51	140.1	45.99
1983	7 058 000	361 000	147 000	214 000	51.3	20.9	30.4	7.44	140.0	46.04
1984	7 339 000	370 000	155 000	215 000	50.7	21.2	29.4	7.36	141.6	45.58
1985	7 625 000	382 000	164 000	218 000	50.3	21.7	28.7	7.29	143.7	44.95
1986	7 910 000	393 000	174 000	220 000	49.9	22.0	27.9	7.22	145.2	44.34
1987	8 296 000	404 000	182 000	222 000	49.5	22.3	27.2	7.15	145.5	43.81
1988	8 755 000	423 000	198 000	225 000	48.9	22.9	26.0	7.02	144.6	43.38
1989	9 175 000	439 000	204 000	234 000	48.3	22.5	25.8	6.91	142.6	43.34
1990	9 540 000	454 000	210 000	244 000	47.8	22.1	25.7	6.81	139.9	43.32
1991	9 832 000	467 000	213 000	253 000	47.5	21.7	25.8	6.72	136.5	43.31
1992	10 115 000	477 000	215 000	262 000	47.2	21.3	25.9	6.65	132.4	43.41
1993	10 257 000	488 000	219 000	269 000	46.9	21.0	25.9	6.59	128.9	43.39
1994	10 132 000	484 000	214 000	270 000	46.6	20.6	26.0	6.51	125.4	43.56
1995	10 113 000	470 000	206 000	264 000	46.3	20.3	26.0	6.42	122.4	43.64
1996	10 311 000	476 000	212 000	264 000	46.0	20.5	25.5	6.31	120.0	43.44
1997	10 513 000	486 000	218 000	268 000	46.1	20.7	25.4	6.26	117.6	43.13
1998	10 732 000	497 000	224 000	273 000	46.2	20.8	25.4	6.24	114.6	42.85
1999	10 974 000	506 000	222 000	284 000	46.0	20.2	25.8	6.15	110.7	43.57
2000	11 229 000	510 000	220 000	290 000	45.4	19.6	25.8	6.04	105.2	44.52
2001	11 499 000	520 000	214 000	306 000	45.2	18.6	26.6	5.99	98.1	45.90
2002	11 784 000	532 000	208 000	324 000	45.1	17.7	27.4	5.96	90.9	47.22
2003	12 088 000	546 000	201 000	345 000	45.1	16.6	28.5	5.94	83.1	48.79
2004	12 411 000	559 000	193 000	366 000	45.0	15.5	29.4	5.93	76.7	50.45
2005	12 756 000	573 000	187 000	387 000	44.0	14.3	29.7	5.85	71.7	52.04
2006	13 118 000	583 000	183 000	400 000	43.8	13.7	30.1	5.80	68.2	53.24
2007	13 495 000	589 000	182 000	407 000	43.3	13.1	30.2	5.72	65.8	53.95
2008	13 889 000	593 000	180 000	413 000	42.6	12.4	30.2	5.61	62.8	54.60
2009	14 299 000	598 000	174 000	424 000	41.7	11.5	30.2	5.45	59.9	55.45
2010	14 718 000	601 000	168 000	433 000	40.7	10.7	30.0	5.26	56.9	56.38
2011	15 146 000	604 000	161 000	444 000	39.7	9.9	29.8	5.08	53.1	57.46
2012	15 581 000	605 000	153 000	452 000	38.6	9.2	29.3	4.90	49.0	58.68
2013	16 025 000	607 000	146 000	461 000	37.7	8.6	29.1	4.76	44.6	59.73
2014	16 478 000	606 000	138 000	468 000	36.5	8.1	28.4	4.57	41.0	60.90
2015	16 939 000	606 000	136 000	470 000	35.83	7.6	27.7	4.38	38.5	61.38
2016	17 406 000	606 000	131 000	475 000	34.2	7.2	27.0	4.22	35.9	62.21
2017	17 881 000	614 000	128 000	486 000	33.7	6.8	26.9	4.11	33.7	62.98
2018	18 368 000	623 000	128 000	496 000	33.2	6.5	26.7	4.02	31.7	63.28
2019	18 867 000	634 000	125 000	509 000	32.9	6.3	26.6	3.95	30.1	64.12
2020	19 377 000	644 000	130 000	514 000	32.5	6.2	26.3	3.88	28.7	63.72
2021	19 890 000	654 000	139 000	515 000	32.1	6.3	25.8	3.79	27.5	62.90
2022					31.7	5.8	25.9	3.72
2023					31.4	5.4	26.0	3.65
2024					31.1	5.3	25.9	3.59
2025					30.8	5.2	25.6	3.53