24 districts; Blantyre, Chikwawa, Chiradzulu, Chitipa, Dedza, Dowa, Karonga, Kasungu, Lilongwe, Machinga (Kasupe), Mangochi, Mchinji, Mulanje, Mwanza, Mzimba, Ntcheu, Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Nsanje, Ntchisi, Rumphi, Salima, Thyolo, Zomba; note - there may be three new districts named Balaka, Likoma, and Phalombe
The population of Malawi is 10,548,250(2001 estimate). The country has an overall population density of 89 persons per sq km (231 per sq mi), one of the highest in Africa.
Malawi is divided into 3 regions and 24 districts. The largest city is Blantyre (population, 1998 estimate, 2,000,000). The capital, since 1975, is Lilongwe (1,000,000).
Nine major ethnic groups are historically associated with modern Malawi—the Chewa, Nyanja, Lomwe, Yao, Tumbuka, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni, and Ngonde (Nkonde). All the African languages spoken belong to the Bantu language family. Chichewa is the national language and English the official language, although English was understood by less than one-fifth of the population at independence. Chichewa is spoken by about two-thirds of the population. Other important languages are Chilomwe, Chiyao, and Chitumbuka.
Some two-thirds of the population are Christian, of which more than half are members of various Protestant denominations and the remainder Roman Catholic. Muslims constitute almost one-fifth of the population, and traditional beliefs are adhered to by nearly everyone else.
Stone Age and later Iron Age settlements has been found around Lake Nyasa. Bantu peoples moved into the territory in the 1st millennium ad. By the 16th century a Malawi kingdom, from which the present name of the country is derived, had a prospering trade with the coastal areas of Mozambique. Jesuit missionaries from Portugal visited the territory near Lake Nyasa as early as the 17th century, but the lake probably was not known to Europeans until Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone reached its shores in 1859. European involvement began in 1875 and 1876, when Scottish church missions were established; a British consul was stationed in the country in 1883. Subsequent warfare with Arab slave traders and fear of Portuguese expansion from Mozambique led to a mission by British explorer and colonial official Harry Johnston, who negotiated treaties with the indigenous rulers. In 1891 the treaties resulted in a formal declaration of a British protectorate, called the Nyasaland Districts Protectorate. Beginning in 1893, it was known as the British Central Africa Protectorate, and in 1907 the area was officially designated the Nyasaland Protectorate. In 1915 John Chilembwe, an African preacher, staged a short, bloody uprising in response to the treatment of Africans by British colonists. The uprising is considered a forerunner of later nationalist movements.
The paleontological record of human cultural artifacts in Malawi dates back more than 50,000 years, although known fossil remains of early Homo sapiens belong to the period between 8000 and 2000 BC. These prehistoric forebears have affinities to the San (Bushmen) of southern Africa and were probably ancestral to the Twa and Fula, whom Bantu-speaking peoples claimed to have found when they invaded the Malawi region between the 1st and 4th centuries AD. From then to about AD 1200, Bantu settlement patterns spread, as did ironworking and the slash-and-burn method of cultivation. The identity of these early Bantu-speaking inhabitants is uncertain. According to oral tradition, names such as Kalimanjira, Katanga, and Zimba are associated with them.
After World War II (1939-1945), nationalist movements gained strength. From 1953 the protectorate was joined for ten years in a federation with Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe), called the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. However, this federation was heavily opposed by nationalists who advocated political freedom from British rule. Following the federation’s dissolution in 1963, Nyasaland achieved internal self-government, with Hastings Kamuzu Banda, leader of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), as the first prime minister. The protectorate gained independence on July 6, 1964, under its new name, Malawi. It was declared a republic on July 6, 1966, and Prime Minister Banda was elected president by the National Assembly.
Though under the impact of modernization, Malawi's traditional culture is characterized by continuity as well as change, and the traditional life of the village has remained largely intact. One of the most distinctive features of Malawi culture is the enormous variety of traditional songs and dances that use the drum as the major musical instrument. Among the most notable of these dances are ingoma and gule wa mkulu for men and chimtali and visekese for women. There are various traditional arts and crafts, including sculpture in wood and ivory. There are two museums—the Museum of Malawi in Blantyre and a smaller one in Mangochi. While various cultural activities are organized by the Ministry of Youth and Culture, the University of Malawi Travelling Theatre, and other groups in Blantyre, the radio from Zomba and Lilongwe has proved to be the most effective means of bringing traditional and modern plays to the rural population.
More than 99 percent of the people of Malawi are black Africans. Principal ethnic groups include the Chewa, who constitute 90 percent of the population of the central region; the Nyanja, who predominate in the south; the Tumbuka, who predominate in the north; the Ngoni, an offshoot of the Zulu, who settled in the lower northern and lower central regions in the 1800s; and the Yao, who are mostly Muslim and live along the southeastern border. The rest of the inhabitants, principally settlers of British and Indian origin, form less than one-half of 1 percent of the population. Some 85 percent of the people live in rural villages.
Malawi's landscape is highly varied, four basic regions can be identified: the East African (or Great) Rift Valley, the central plateaus, the highlands, and the isolated mountains. The East African Rift Valley—by far the dominant feature of the country—is a gigantic troughlike depression running through the country from north to south and containing Lake Malawi (north and central) and the Shire River valley (south). The lake's littoral, situated along the western and southern shores and ranging from 5 to 15 miles in width, covers about 8 percent of the total land area and is dotted with swamps and lagoons. The Shire valley stretches some 250 miles from the southern end of Lake Malawi at Mangochi to Nsanje at the Mozambique border and contains Lake Malombe at its northern end. The plateaus of central Malawi rise to an altitude of 2,500 to 4,500 feet (760 to 1,370 metres) and lie just west of the Lake Malawi littoral; the plateaus cover about three-quarters of the total land area. The highland areas are mainly isolated tracts that rise as much as 8,000 feet above sea level. They comprise the Nyika, Viphya, and Dowa highlands and Dedza-Kirk Mountain Range in the north and west and the Shire Highlands in the south. The isolated massifs of Mulanje (9,849 feet) and Zomba (6,841 feet) represent the fourth physical region. Surmounting the Shire Highlands, they descend rapidly in the east to the Lake Chilwa–Phalombe plain.
Drainage and soils
Animal life in Malawi includes elephants, rhinoceroses, giraffes, zebras, monkeys, and several varieties of antelope. Hippopotamuses inhabit the lake shores. Snakes and other reptiles, birds, and insects are plentiful, and the rivers and lakes abound in fish.
Malawi is primarily an agricultural country, with 54 percent of its working force engaged in farming, fishing, and forestry. The nation has traditionally been self-sufficient in food, but malnutrition among children was a serious problem as the 1990s began. The principal crops are corn, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables, and peanuts. Major exports include tobacco, tea, sugar, and peanuts. A growing fishing industry, producing for domestic needs, is centered at Nkhotakota on the western shore of Lake Nyasa. In 1997 the catch was 56,564 metric tons. Major manufactures, principally for domestic consumption, include processed food, chemical products, textiles, and beverages. The national budget for 1992 included revenues of $416 million and expenditures of $498 million. Many Malawians work as migratory laborers in South Africa and other countries.
The government has sought to strengthen the agricultural sector by encouraging integrated land use, higher crop yields, and irrigation schemes. In pursuit of these goals, several large-scale integrated rural development programs, covering one-fifth of the country's land area, have been put into operation. These projects include extension services; credit and marketing facilities; physical infrastructures such as roads, buildings, and water supplies; health centres; afforestation units; and crop storage and protection facilities. Outside the main program areas, advisory services and educational programs are available, and the Malawi Young Pioneers, a national youth movement, trains more than 2,000 young men and women yearly in techniques of rural development.
Landlocked Malawi ranks among the world's least developed countries. The economy is predominately agricultural, with about 90% of the population living in rural areas. Agriculture accounts for 37% of GDP and 85% of export revenues. The economy depends on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF, the World Bank, and individual donor nations. In late 2000, Malawi was approved for relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program. The government faces strong challenges, e.g., to fully develop a market economy, to improve educational facilities, to face up to environmental problems, and to deal with the rapidly growing problem of HIV/AIDS.
domestic: fair system of open-wire lines, microwave radio relay links, and radiotelephone communications stations
international: satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat.
Christians are 75 percent of the inhabitants of Malawi. Another 20 percent are Muslim, and 5 percent practice traditional religions. English is Malawi’s official language and is the primary language of instruction in the schools. Chichewa, a Bantu language, is the national language, and a number of other Bantu languages are widely spoken.
Alliance for Democracy or AFORD [Chakufwa CHIHANA, president]; Malawi Congress Party or MCP [Gwanda CHAKUAMBA, president, John TEMBO, vice president]; Malawi Democratic Party or MDP [Kampelo KALUA, president]; National Independence Party; Social Democratic Party or SDP [Eston KAKHOME, president]; United Democratic Front or UDF [Bakili MULUZI] - governing party
Under the country’s latest constitution, which went into effect in 1995, Malawi is a republic with an elected president, who is both the head of government and the head of state. Cabinet ministers are responsible to the president, who is elected to a five-year term by universal adult suffrage. The parliament of Malawi is the unicameral National Assembly, made up of 193 members who are popularly elected to terms of up to five years, with additional members nominated by the president. The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) was the sole legal political party from 1966 until 1993; the first multiparty elections were held in 1994. After the 1999 elections, the three major parties were the United Democratic Front (UDF), which won the largest number of legislative seats; the MCP; and the Alliance for Democracy, headed by a trade union activist.
International organization Member
ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, ECA, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ISO (correspondent), ITU, NAM, OAU, OPCW, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIK, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO.
In the early 1990s about 1.4 million students attended primary schools. However, after the government made primary education in Malawi free, enrollment increased dramatically. In the 1995 school year 2.9 million students attended 3,706 primary schools. In an effort to reduce overcrowding, the government has recruited more than 20,000 new teachers. Enrollment in secondary schools remains low, however, with only 17 percent of secondary school-aged children attending. The University of Malawi at Zomba (founded in 1964) and its affiliated institutions had 5,600 students in 1995.
Military branches: Army (includes Air Wing and Naval Detachment), Police (includes paramilitary Mobile Force Unit)
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 2,466,708 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 1,265,893 (2001 est.)
Dispute with Tanzania over the boundary in Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi)
