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Malawi

Country profile

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in Africa with a very short history of democracy. The country has fought against corruption and political violence, and hunger and AIDS has impoverished its population.

However, the population is learning to make demands of their democratically elected government and of those people who have been given the responsibility of managing the country’s few resources. There continues to be a great need to strengthen the civil society and those organisations that work to combat poverty and hunger in Malawi. An increasing number of Malawians, however, know their basic rights and participate in decisions regarding themselves and their local community.

Suffering from chronic poverty

Malawi suffers from chronic poverty. Most people only have a short and very basic education. This is a problem when the country wants to improve an agriculture that uses methods corresponding to those used in the Iron Age in Western Europe.

In recent years the AIDS epidemic is estimated to have affected at least 15% of the population but the actual figure may be much higher. It’s partly because of this that life expectancy has been reduced to 38 years. Another consequence is that about 800,000 children have lost one or both of their parents. The epidemic also puts a strain on the health system. Illnesses in connection with AIDS use up to four fifths of the country’s health budget.

Figures on Malawi

33% of the population is malnourished
35.9% of all Malawians over 15 years of age are illiterate
41.7% are so poor they have to live on less than one dollar a day
Four out of five people live on less than two dollars a day
(Source: Human Development Report, 2005)

Agriculture in crisis

More than 80% of the population live in rural areas cultivating small plots of land that rarely are big enough to feed a normal sized family for a whole year. As a consequence, the majority starves for several months in the lead up to harvest time. Starvation occurs even in good years when rainfall is adequate and comes at the right time. At least a third of all children are malnourished. In periods of drought or flood the situation quickly escalates to actual hunger crisis.