Malawi
Republic of Malawi
Malawi sits in Eastern Africa and uses MWK - Malawian kwacha (MK). This profile combines identifiers, formats, map links, memberships, and the largest city records in one structured reference.
Capital
Lilongwe
Population
21.2M
Area
118.5K km2
Population
21.2M
21,240,689 people
Area
118.5K km2
118,484 square kilometers
Density
179/km2
Population divided by land area
Capital
Lilongwe
-13.97, 33.78
Detailed Country Guide
Overview and identity
Malawi, officially listed here as Republic of Malawi, is structured as a practical country reference guide for users searching country facts, maps, flags, codes, and daily-use data. The page should make Malawi, MW, MWI, the flag, the official name, and the country slug easy to confirm because users often land on country pages while checking identifiers for forms, travel, education, or data products. Malawi is grouped under Africa, more specifically Eastern Africa, with Africa shown as the continent context.
Geography and population scale
The country dataset records a population of 21,240,689 people and a land area of 118,484 square kilometers, which gives an approximate density of 179 people per square kilometer. The main coordinate reference is -13.5, 34, while the capital coordinate reference is -13.97, 33.78. Malawi shares listed land borders with MOZ, TZA, ZMB, and the landlocked value is recorded as yes. These details help the page answer common searches around location, area, borders, map position, and population comparison.
Capital and urban network
The capital information is recorded as Lilongwe (primary). The largest city entries shown for this country are Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mzuzu, Zomba and Kasungu. Including cities alongside country-level facts helps the guide answer searches such as largest cities in Malawi, capital of Malawi, and major urban areas in Malawi. This is useful because many users compare the official capital with the largest business, transport, or population centers.
Government, classification, and memberships
The government type is listed as Unitary presidential republic. The classification fields mark sovereignty as yes, United Nations membership as yes, observer status as no, and disputed status as no. International memberships shown for this page include African Union, Commonwealth and United Nations. These fields support search intent around political status, country classification, and international organization membership.
Administrative formats and daily-use data
Malawi uses calling code +265, postal format not listed, and time zone data listed as UTC+02:00. The number format uses , as the thousands separator and . as the decimal separator. The week starts on monday; the academic year starts around Sep 1; the government fiscal year starts around Jan 1; and the personal fiscal year starts around Jan 1.
Currency, language, transport, and references
Currency data lists MWK - Malawian kwacha (MK), while language records include English and Chichewa. Vehicle data records the driving side as left and vehicle sign codes as MW. Reference links should keep official, Wikipedia, Google Maps, and OpenStreetMap sources together when available so users can move from the structured country guide to map or source pages quickly. The latest Gini entry in the dataset is 38.5 for 2019.
How to use this profile
This Malawi profile is designed to be scanned in layers: first the name, official name, flag, capital, population, area, and density; then identity, geography, cities, governance, memberships, formats, connectivity, currency, languages, transport, and references. That structure supports both human readers and product workflows where users need to verify a phone code, compare cities, inspect fiscal dates, check postal formats, review memberships, or open a map reference without searching across multiple pages.
Country Snapshot
ISO codes
MW / MWI
Top-level domains
.mw
Continents
Africa
Border countries
MOZ, TZA, ZMB
Driving side
left
Vehicle signs
MW
Flag And Identity
The flag entry for Malawi is represented by the MW country flag asset.
Largest Cities
#1
Lilongwe
Lilongwe
989,318
primary
#2
Blantyre
Blantyre
800,264
admin
#3
Mzuzu
Mzimba
150,100
City
#4
Zomba
Zomba
101,140
admin
#5
Kasungu
Kasungu
58,653
admin
Governance
Government type
Unitary presidential republic
Sovereign
Yes
UN member
Yes
Landlocked
Yes
Formats
Week starts
monday
Academic year
Sep 1
Government fiscal year
Jan 1
Number separators
, thousands, . decimal
Connectivity
Calling codes
+265
Postal format
Not listed
Timezones
UTC+02:00
Languages
English, Chichewa
International Memberships
Economy And References
Latest Gini entry
38.5
2019