ABOUT MALAWI - Human Geography
The current estimated population is 15million. Forty-five percent are under the age of 15 years. Eighty percent live in the rural areas. The average population density is 110 persons per square km. The Southern Region is the most densely populated, while the Northern Region is the least densely populated. At the current population growth rate of 3.2 per cent per annum Malawi’s population is expected to double by the year 2018.
The indigenous population of Malawi is composed of many ethnic groups, the largest being the Chewa and Nyanja, who live mainly in the Southern and Central Regions, the Yao and Lomwe in the South, and the Tumbuka, Tonga and Nkhonde in the North.
Women are key workers and producers at household and national levels. They are farmers, income earners, traders and family caretakers. Women represent two-thirds of the full-time farming population.
