Malawi

Malawi is a country in Africa.

It is long and thin. A very big lake runs along one side. The capital city is called Lilongwe.

Malawi is a long, narrow country in southeastern Africa. It stretches about 840 kilometers from north to south, but in places it is only 10 kilometers wide. It has no coast on the ocean.

The Great Rift Valley, a huge, long valley, runs right through Malawi, and Lake Malawi fills much of it. The lake covers more than one-fifth of the country. About 21 million people lived in Malawi in 2026, and most of them live in the countryside and farm.

Malawi occupies a narrow, curving strip of land along the East African Rift Valley, about 840 km from north to south and 10 to 160 km wide. Britannica identifies four regions: the Rift Valley, holding Lake Malawi and the Shire River valley; the central plateaus, about three-fourths of the land at 760–1,370 m; highlands such as Nyika, Viphya and the Shire Highlands; and the isolated massifs of Mulanje and Zomba.

Malawi's National Statistical Office estimated 21,201,635 people in mid-2026, projected from the 2018 census. Malawi is one of the most densely populated countries in southern Africa but one of the least urbanized, with more than four-fifths of people living in rural areas, and nearly half are younger than 15. It is a republic; Peter Mutharika is president (2026).

Lilongwe is the capital city.

Blantyre is another big city. A tall mountain called Mulanje rises from the plains. Long ago, people painted pictures on rocks in the hills.

Lilongwe, in the middle of the country, has been the capital since 1975. Before that, the capital was Zomba, at the foot of Zomba Mountain. Blantyre, in the southern highlands, is the busiest city for business and factories.

Malawi has three World Heritage Sites. At the south end of the lake is Lake Malawi National Park. In the central hills, the Chongoni rock-art area has 127 sites with paintings on rock. In the south, Mount Mulanje, Malawi's highest mountain, was added in 2025 as a cultural landscape cared for by the people who live around it.

Lilongwe, the capital since 1975 and a center of agricultural industry, lies in the central region; Zomba, the previous capital, is now the seat of the University of Malawi; Blantyre, the industrial and commercial center and seat of the judiciary, sits on the Shire Highlands at about 1,040 m; and Mzuzu, on the Viphya highlands, is long associated with the wood industry.

Lake Malawi National Park (1984) protects the lake's southern end. The Chongoni Rock-Art Area (2006), 126.4 km² of forested granite hills on the central plateau, has 127 sites, the richest concentration of rock art in Central Africa, painted by BaTwa hunter-gatherers and by Chewa farmers into the 20th century. Mount Mulanje Cultural Landscape (2025) is valued for the traditional stewardship of the Yao, Mang'anja and Lhomwe communities, whose codes of conduct govern access to the mountain and the use of its plants and other natural resources.

Lake Malawi is very big and very deep.

Its water is clear and blue. Rocky islands poke out of it. There is a wet season and a dry season.

Lake Malawi lies in the Rift Valley and is one of the deepest lakes in the world. Its water is very clear, and rocky shores, sandy bays and islands line its edges. The Shire River is the only river that flows out of it, carrying water south to the Zambezi.

Around the lake rise plateaus and mountains. Mount Mulanje, in the south, reaches 3,002 meters, the highest point in Malawi. The dry season lasts from May to October and the wet season from November to April. On the high Nyika Plateau there can even be frost in July.

Lake Malawi covers about 29,600 km², part of it beyond Malawi's borders, and is fed by rivers including the North and South Rukuru, Dwangwa, Lilongwe and Bua; the Shire River, its only outlet, passes through Lake Malombe and joins the Zambezi in Mozambique. UNESCO describes it as one of the deepest lakes in the world, with remarkably clear water set against the Rift escarpment. Mulanje (3,002 m) and Zomba (2,087 m) rise abruptly from the Shire Highlands.

The dry season runs from May to October and the wet season from November to April. Temperatures fall with height: Nsanje, in the Shire valley, averages in the high 20s °C in October, while Dedza, above 1,500 m, averages in the mid-10s °C in July, and frost is not unusual on the Nyika Plateau. Rain reaches about 2,300 mm on parts of the northern highlands and on Mulanje's Sapitwa peak but only 650–900 mm in the lower Shire valley. Miombo woodland, savanna and grassy depressions called madambo cover much of the land, though much original woodland has been cleared.

Lake Malawi is full of bright little fish.

They come in many bright colors. Hippos live in the lake too. Elephants and zebras live in the parks.

Lake Malawi may have more kinds of fish than any other lake in the world: UNESCO estimates up to about 1,000. Many are small, brightly colored fish called cichlids, and most of them live nowhere else on Earth. People also catch a fish called chambo to eat.

Hippos live in the lake. In the game reserves and parks live elephants, buffalo, zebras, leopards and antelopes. Big wild animals are common only in the parks and reserves.

UNESCO estimates up to about 1,000 fish species in Lake Malawi, about half within the national park, the largest number of fish species known from any lake. Of more than 350 species of mbuna, small, brightly colored rock-dwelling cichlids, all but five are endemic, and the lake holds about 30 percent of all known cichlid species; UNESCO compares their value for studying evolution with Darwin's Galápagos finches. Commercial catches rely on the endemic tilapia called chambo, on catfish (mlamba) and on minnows (matemba).

Britannica notes that large game animals abound only in reserves, with hippos in the lake. The IUCN Red List maps the African bush elephant, African buffalo, plains zebra, leopard, hippopotamus and Nile crocodile as living in Malawi today. Swamp drainage, woodland clearing and intensive farming have greatly altered natural habitats, and deforestation and land degradation are major environmental concerns.

About 21 million people live in Malawi.

Many people speak Chewa. Most families are farmers. They grow corn, beans and peanuts.

About 21 million people lived in Malawi in 2026, and nearly half of Malawi's people are younger than 15. Malawi has many peoples, among them the Chewa, Nyanja, Lomwe, Yao, Tumbuka and Ngoni. Chewa is spoken by most people, and English is used in schools from grade 5, in government and in business.

Most families farm small plots of land. Corn is the main food crop, grown with beans, peas and peanuts, and people also grow cassava, bananas, sweet potatoes and rice. Tobacco, tea and sugar are grown to sell to other countries.

Britannica names ten major ethnic groups historically associated with Malawi: Chewa, Nyanja, Lomwe, Yao, Tumbuka, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni, Ngonde and Lambya/Nyiha, all speaking Bantu languages. Chewa, the sole national language from 1968 to 1994, is spoken by a majority; since 1996 grades 1–4 are taught in children's home languages and English from grade 5. About three-fourths of people are Christian and about one-fifth Muslim, with a small share following traditional beliefs.

Agriculture employed more than four-fifths of workers in the 2000s. Corn is the staple, grown with beans, peas and peanuts by virtually all smallholders, most of whom farm less than 1 hectare. Tobacco is by far the most important export, followed by tea, sugar and cotton, largely from estates. Primary school, starting at age six and lasting eight years, has been free since 1994. Traditional round, mud-walled, grass-roofed houses are giving way to brick buildings with metal roofs.