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Malawi — Population
Population, Total for Malawi, 1960–2025.
Latest value · 2025
22.22 million
Population, Total · people · +512.3% since 1960
Population for Malawi was 22.22 million in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 66 years, from 1960 to 2025. The latest year is also the highest value on record for this series. The lowest was 3.63 million in 1960 (about 6.1× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to 2.83% per year.
Malawi ranks 60 of 217 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 28%. The median for Sub-Saharan Africa is 15.10 million, so Malawi sits above it. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved up 30%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
22.22 million
First (1960)
3.63 million
Change
+512.3%
Highest
22.22 million
in 2025
Lowest
3.63 million
in 1960
Average
10.50 million
Annual growth (CAGR)
2.83%
Years of data
66
Recent years
| Year | people |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 22,216,120 |
| 2024 | 21,655,286 |
| 2023 | 21,104,482 |
| 2022 | 20,568,728 |
| 2021 | 20,047,258 |
| 2020 | 19,533,888 |
| 2019 | 19,025,752 |
| 2018 | 18,528,081 |
| 2017 | 18,039,715 |
| 2016 | 17,557,739 |
| 2015 | 17,085,587 |
| 2014 | 16,621,538 |
Reading this correctly. Total population based on the de facto definition, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. Figures are in people. 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.TOTL — Population, Total. 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.