Arable land in Malawi
Malawi: Arable land was 4.00 million hectares in 2023. ▲ Rising
Arable land in Malawi, 1961–2023
Source: FAO electronic files and web site, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Measured in hectares.
Analysis
In 2023, arable land in Malawi stood at 4.00 million hectares. That is the highest value across all 63 years on record.
That represents a change of up 12.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, arable land in Malawi peaked at 4.00 million hectares in 2021 and was at its lowest, 1.30 million hectares, in 1961.
Malawi ranks 59th of 206 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 63 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1.61 million hectares | 1.30 million hectares | 1.85 million hectares | 9 |
| 1970s | 2.00 million hectares | 1.80 million hectares | 2.05 million hectares | 10 |
| 1980s | 2.08 million hectares | 1.90 million hectares | 2.20 million hectares | 10 |
| 1990s | 2.38 million hectares | 2.10 million hectares | 2.70 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 3.12 million hectares | 2.75 million hectares | 3.50 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 3.65 million hectares | 3.50 million hectares | 3.88 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 3.98 million hectares | 3.93 million hectares | 4.00 million hectares | 4 |
Countries ranked near Malawi
More agriculture & rural data for Malawi
- Agricultural raw materials exports 0.9% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 2.7% (2024)
- Rural population 82.4% (2025)
- Rural population growth 2.2% (2025)
- Rural population 18.31 million (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 30.0% (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 4.48 billion current US$ (2025)
- Land under cereal production 2.04 million hectares (2023)
- Cereal yield 1,857 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal production 3.80 million metric tons (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is arable land in Malawi?
- Arable land in Malawi was 4.00 million hectares in 2023, according to FAO electronic files and web site, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
- What is the highest arable land recorded in Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 4.00 million hectares in 2021.
- What is the lowest arable land recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.30 million hectares in 1961.
- How does Malawi rank for arable land?
- Malawi ranks 59th out of 206 countries with data for 2023.
- Is arable land rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is up 12.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Malawi data come from?
- The figures come from FAO electronic files and web site, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), published as part of Arable land (hectares). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 63 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Arable land (in hectares) includes land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow. Land abandoned as a result of shifting cultivation is excluded.