Malawi

Airports

total: 47 usable: 41 with permanent-surface runways: 6 with runways over 3,659 m: 0 with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 1 with runways 1,220-2,439 m: 10

Highways

total: 13,135 km paved: 2,364 km unpaved: gravel, crushed stone, stabilized earth 251 km; earth, improved earth 10,520 km

Inland waterways

Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi); Shire River, 144 km

Note

a majority of exports would normally go through Mozambique on the Beira, Nacala, and Limgogo railroads, but now most go through South Africa because of insurgent activity and damage to rail lines

Ports

Chipoka, Monkey Bay, Nkhata Bay, and Nkotakota - all on Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi)

Railroads

789 km 1.067-meter gauge

Telecommunications

fair system of open-wire lines, radio relay links, and radio communications stations; 42,250 telephones; broadcast stations - 10 AM, 17 FM, no TV; satellite earth stations - 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT

Branches

Army (including Air Wing and Naval Detachment), Police (including paramilitary Mobile Force Unit),

Defense expenditures

exchange rate conversion - $22 million, 1.6% of GDP (1989 est.)

Manpower availability

males age 15-49 2,046,413; fit for military service 1,043,674

Agriculture

accounts for 40% of GDP; cash crops - tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, tea, and corn; subsistence crops - potatoes, cassava, sorghum, pulses; livestock - cattle, goats

Budget

revenues: $416 million expenditures: $498 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1992 est.)

Currency

1 Malawian kwacha (MK) = 100 tambala

Economic aid

recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $215 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $2.15 billion

Electricity

capacity: 190,000 kW production: 620 million kWh consumption per capita: 65 kWh (1992)

Exchange rates

Malawian kwacha (MK) per US$1 - 4.4598 (November 1993), 3.6033 (1992), 2.8033 (1991), 2.7289 (1990), 2.7595 (1989)

Exports

$413 million (f.o.b., 1992) commodities: tobacco, tea, sugar, coffee, peanuts, wood products partners: US, UK, Zambia, South Africa, Germany

External debt

$1.8 billion (December 1991 est.)

Fiscal year

1 April - 31 March

Imports

$737 million (c.i.f., 1992) commodities: food, petroleum products, semimanufactures, consumer goods, transportation equipment partners: South Africa, Japan, US, UK, Zimbabwe

Industrial production

growth rate 3.5% (1992 est.); accounts for about 15% of GDP (1992 est.)

Industries

agricultural processing (tea, tobacco, sugar), sawmilling, cement, consumer goods

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

21% (1992 est.)

National product

GDP - purchasing power equivalent $6 billion (1993 est.)

National product per capita

$600 (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate

-8% (1992 est.)

Overview

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 40% of GDP and 90% of export revenues. After two years of weak performance, economic growth improved significantly in 1988-91 as a result of good weather and a broadly based economic adjustment effort by the government. Drought cut overall output sharply in 1992. The economy depends on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF, the World Bank, and individual donor nations.

Unemployment rate

NA%

Area

total area: 118,480 sq km land area: 94,080 sq km comparative area: slightly larger than Pennsylvania

Climate

tropical; rainy season (November to May); dry season (May to November)

Coastline

0 km (landlocked)

Environment

current issues: deforestation; land degradation; water pollution from agricultural runoff, sewage, industrial wastes; siltation of spawning grounds endangers fish population natural hazards: NA international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection; signed, but not ratified - Climate Change, Law of the Sea

International disputes

dispute with Tanzania over the boundary in Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi)

Irrigated land

200 sq km (1989 est.)

Land boundaries

total 2,881 km, Mozambique 1,569 km, Tanzania 475 km, Zambia 837 km

Land use

arable land: 25% permanent crops: 0% meadows and pastures: 20% forest and woodland: 50% other: 5%

Location

Southern Africa, between Mozambique and Zambia

Map references

Africa, Standard Time Zones of the World

Maritime claims

none; landlocked

Natural resources

limestone, unexploited deposits of uranium, coal, and bauxite

Note

landlocked

Terrain

narrow elongated plateau with rolling plains, rounded hills, some mountains

Administrative divisions

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

Capital

Lilongwe

Constitution

6 July 1966; republished as amended January 1974

Digraph

MI

Diplomatic representation in US

chief of mission: Ambassador Robert B. MBAYA chancery: 2408 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: (202) 797-1007

Executive branch

chief of state and head of government: President Bakili MULUZI (since 21 May 1994), leader of the United Democratic Front cabinet: Cabinet; named by the president

FAX

[265] 780-471

Flag

three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and green with a radiant, rising, red sun centered in the black band; similar to the flag of Afghanistan, which is longer and has the national coat of arms superimposed on the hoist side of the black and red bands

Independence

6 July 1964 (from UK)

Judicial branch

High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal

Legal system

based on English common law and customary law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court of Appeal; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Legislative branch

unicameral

Member of

ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, ECA, FAO, G-77, GATT, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO (correspondent), ITU, LORCS, NAM, OAU, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Names

conventional long form: Republic of Malawi conventional short form: Malawi former: Nyasaland

National Assembly

elections last held 17 May 1994 (next to be held NA); seats - (177 total) UDF 84, AFORD 33, MCP 55, others 5

National holiday

Independence Day, 6 July (1964)

Political parties and leaders

ruling party: United Democratic Front (UDF), Bakili MULUZI opposition groups: Malawi Congress Party (MCP), Gwanda CHAKUAMBA Phiri, secretary general (top party position); Alliance for Democracy (Aford), Chakufwa CHIHANA; Socialist League of Malawi (Lesoma), Kapote MWAKUSULA, secretary general; Malawi Democratic Union (MDU), Harry BWANAUSI; Congress for the Second Republic (CSR), Kanyama CHIUME; Malawi Socialist Labor Party (MSLP), Stanford SAMBANEMANJA

Suffrage

21 years of age; universal

Type

multiparty democracy following a referendum on 14 June 1993; formerly a one-party republic

US diplomatic representation

chief of mission: Ambassador Michael T. F. PISTOR embassy: address NA, in new capital city development area in Lilongwe mailing address: P. O. Box 30016, Lilongwe 3, Malawi telephone: [265] 783-166

Birth rate

50.42 births/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Death rate

23.19 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Ethnic divisions

Chewa, Nyanja, Tumbuko, Yao, Lomwe, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni, Ngonde, Asian, European

Infant mortality rate

141.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.)

Labor force

428,000 wage earners by occupation: agriculture 43%, manufacturing 16%, personal services 15%, commerce 9%, construction 7%, miscellaneous services 4%, other permanently employed 6% (1986)

Languages

English (official), Chichewa (official), other languages important regionally

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 39.73 years male: 38.93 years female: 40.55 years (1994 est.)

Literacy

age 15 and over can read and write (1966) total population: 22% male: 34% female: 12%

Nationality

noun: Malawian(s) adjective: Malawian

Net migration rate

-38.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Population

9,732,409 (July 1994 est.)

Population growth rate

-1.09% (1994 est.)

Religions

Protestant 55%, Roman Catholic 20%, Muslim 20%, traditional indigenous beliefs

Total fertility rate

7.43 children born/woman (1994 est.)