Home / Population growth / Malawi
Malawi — Population growth
Population Growth (Annual %) for Malawi, 1961–2025.
Latest value · 2025
2.56%
Population Growth (Annual %) · annual % · +7.4% since 1961
Population growth for Malawi was 2.56% in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 65 years, from 1961 to 2025. The highest recorded value was 5.40% in 1988. The lowest was -1.17% in 1994 (about -2.2× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to 0.11% per year.
Malawi ranks 23 of 217 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 11%. The median for Sub-Saharan Africa is 2.30%, so Malawi sits above it. It peaked in 1988 and has fallen 53% since. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved down 7%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
2.56%
First (1961)
2.38%
Change
+7.4%
Highest
5.40%
in 1988
Lowest
-1.17%
in 1994
Average
2.79%
Annual growth (CAGR)
0.11%
Years of data
65
Recent years
| Year | annual % |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2.56% |
| 2024 | 2.58% |
| 2023 | 2.57% |
| 2022 | 2.57% |
| 2021 | 2.59% |
| 2020 | 2.64% |
| 2019 | 2.65% |
| 2018 | 2.67% |
| 2017 | 2.71% |
| 2016 | 2.73% |
| 2015 | 2.75% |
| 2014 | 2.8% |
Reading this correctly. Annual population growth rate. A negative value means the population shrank, usually through emigration or low birth rates. Figures are in annual %. Comparing this series with a different measure of the same concept (for example a nominal figure against a purchasing-power-parity figure) will give misleading results.
Related data
Source. World Bank Open Data, indicator
SP.POP.GROW — Population Growth (Annual %). Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. Values are reproduced as published; this page computes the summary statistics (change, CAGR, extremes) from the underlying annual series. View the original dataset on data.worldbank.org.