- ISO 3166
MW- Primary locale
en-MW- Currency
- MWK · Malawian Kwacha
- Region
- EMEA · SSA
Malawi
Malawi has 21.8M people, and 4.1M of them are online. English is the most widely spoken language at 63%, one of 5 languages CLDR lists here. English and Nyanja are official nationally. A product shipping here defaults to en-MW.
At a glance
Each figure is drawn against the rest of the world, so a number means something before you have any other market to compare it with.
People online
4.1M
0%world median 81%100%
19% of 21.8M people use the internet, per the World Bank's 2024 figure. CLDR population multiplied by that share, so read it as an estimate rather than a headcount.
Income per person
$672
Higher than 3% of 213 territories
GDP per capita in current US dollars, World Bank Open Data, most recent reported year. A rough guide to what people can spend, not what your product will earn.
Can pay online
50%
0%world median 71%100%
Adults aged 15 and over holding a bank or mobile-money account, World Bank Global Findex 2024. Below half means a card-only checkout excludes most of the market.
Languages
5
English 63% · Nyanja 63% · Tumbuka 8%
Languages CLDR records here with a share of 0.1% or more. 2 of them are official nationally.
English proficiency
465
Very lowVery high
Low proficiency on the EF EPI 2025 scale. The sample is self-selected online test takers, so treat it as colour for a discussion. It never enters any score on this site.
Adult literacy
75%
0%world median 95%100%
Share of adults who can read, as recorded in CLDR territory data. Low literacy shifts a product toward icons, audio, and video before it shifts toward another language.
What people speak
Shares count first and second languages, so they sum past 100% and one bilingual person is counted twice.
Most spoken in Malawi
share of 21.8M people
- Englishofficial63%13.7M
- Nyanjaofficial63%13.7M
- Tumbuka8%1.8M
- Nyasa Tonga1.0%213.3K
- Zulu0.3%71.8K
Filled bars are nationally official languages. Every bar is drawn against the largest language rather than against 100%, so a 1% language stays visible.
One country understates a language. CLDR records diaspora too, so a language usually reaches further than any single page shows. The language profiles show each one's full footprint.
What you would ship
Configuration for day one, computed live with Intl.* against en-MW, the dominant locale for this market.
Plural categories
2
Standard. Use Intl.PluralRules for the few cases that matter.
Script family
Latin
Default system fonts cover this script on all major platforms.
Reading direction
Left-to-right
Standard. Use dir='auto' on user-generated content fields.
Date
21 April 2026
Short: 21/04/2026
Time
6:30 pm
Week starts Mon
Currency
MK 1,234.56
1,234.56 in MWK · Malawian Kwacha