Malawi 
Facts
Population:
10,548,250
note:
estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2001 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years:
44.43% (male 2,348,940; female 2,337,290)
15-64 years:
52.78% (male 2,741,622; female 2,825,966)
65 years and over:
2.79% (male 119,283; female 175,149) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.5% (2001 est.)
Birth rate:
37.8 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate:
22.81 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 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:
0.68 male(s)/female
total population:
0.98 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
121.12 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
37.08 years
male:
36.61 years
female:
37.55 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate:
5.18 children born/woman (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
15.96% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
800,000 (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
70,000 (1999 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Malawian(s)
adjective:
Malawian
Ethnic groups:
Chewa, Nyanja, Tumbuko, Yao, Lomwe, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni, Ngonde, Asian, European
Religions:
Protestant 55%, Roman Catholic 20%, Muslim 20%, indigenous beliefs
Languages:
English (official), Chichewa (official), other languages important regionally
Literacy:
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population:
58%
male:
72.8%
female:
43.4% (1999 est.)
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $9.4 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
3% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $900 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture:
37%
industry:
29%
services:
34% (1998 est.)
Population below poverty line:
54% (FY90/91 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%:
NA%
highest 10%:
NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
29.5% (2000)
Labor force:
3.5 million
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 86% (1997 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues:
$490 million
expenditures:
$523 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY99/00 est.)
Industries:
tobacco, tea, sugar, sawmill products, cement, consumer goods
Industrial production growth rate:
NA%
Electricity - production:
1.025 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel:
2.44%
hydro:
97.56%
nuclear:
0%
other:
0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption:
950 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports:
3 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products:
tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, tea, corn, potatoes, cassava (tapioca), sorghum, pulses; cattle, goats
Exports:
$416 million (f.o.b., 2000)
Exports - commodities:
tobacco, tea, sugar, cotton, coffee, peanuts, wood products
Exports - partners:
South Africa 16%, Germany 16%, US 15%, Netherlands 7%, Japan (1999)
Imports:
$435 million (f.o.b., 2000)
Imports - commodities:
food, petroleum products, semimanufactures, consumer goods, transportation equipment
Imports - partners:
South Africa 43%, Zimbabwe 14%, UK 5%, Germany 5%, Zambia, Japan, US (1999)
Debt - external:
$2.9 billion (2000 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$427 million (1999)
Currency:
Malawian kwacha (MWK)
Currency code:
MWK
Exchange rates:
Malawian kwachas per US dollar - 80.0946 (December 2000), 59.5438 (2000), 44.0881 (1999), 31.0727 (1998), 16.4442 (1997), 15.3085 (1996)
Fiscal year:
1 July - 30 June
Statistics: CIA World Factbook.
Press
Daily News
(Government-controlled), Blantyre
Daily Times, The
(Daily Newspaper), Blantyre
Malawi News
(Weekly Publication), Blantyre
Malawi News Agency
(Government-controlled), Blantyre
(Daily Newspaper), Blantyre
http://www.nationmalawi.com/
Malawi in the News
The debate over genetically modified food aid has put starving Africans in the center of a global trade dispute. Meron Tesfa Michael reviews the debate in the African press.
Meron Tesfa Michael reports that corruption and mismanagement may be as much to blame for Malawi's famine as bad weather.
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