What is life expectancy in Malawi?

Life expectancy in Malawi was 67.35 years in 2023, according to Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.

What is the highest life expectancy recorded in Malawi?

The highest recorded value was 67.35 years in 2023.

What is the lowest life expectancy recorded in Malawi?

The lowest recorded value was 32.66 years in 1950.

How does Malawi rank for life expectancy?

Malawi ranks 189th out of 236 countries with data for 2023.

Is life expectancy rising or falling in Malawi?

Over the last ten years it is up 10.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.

Where does this Malawi data come from?

The figures come from Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Life expectancy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Life expectancy in Malawi

Name: Life expectancy in Malawi
Creator: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
License: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)

Malawi: Life expectancy was 67.35 years in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)

67.35 years

Change on year

up 2.0%

World rank

189th

of 236 countries

All-time high

67.35 years

in 2023

All-time low

32.66 years

in 1950

Years of data

1950–2023

Life expectancy in Malawi, 1950–2023

Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.

Analysis

In 2023, life expectancy in Malawi stood at 67.35 years. That is the highest value across all 74 years on record.

Compared with earlier readings it is up 2.0% on the previous year and up 10.8% over ten years.

Over the whole period, life expectancy in Malawi peaked at 67.35 years in 2023 and was at its lowest, 32.66 years, in 1950.

Malawi ranks 189th of 236 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 74 years of available data.

Averages by decade

Decade	Average	Lowest	Highest	Years
1950s	33.57 years	32.66 years	34.76 years	10
1960s	35.69 years	34.99 years	36.3 years	10
1970s	39.87 years	36.64 years	43.7 years	10
1980s	44.35 years	43.52 years	44.97 years	10
1990s	43.96 years	43.54 years	45.06 years	10
2000s	51.55 years	46.17 years	56.71 years	10
2010s	61.78 years	57.79 years	65 years	10
2020s	65.85 years	64.78 years	67.35 years	4

Countries ranked near Malawi

186 East Timor 67.69 years compare
187 Pakistan 67.65 years compare
188 Namibia 67.38 years compare
190 Fiji 67.32 years compare
191 Ethiopia 67.31 years compare
192 Micronesia (country) 67.2 years compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

More health data for Malawi

Age population, age 11, male, interpolated 283,873 (2025)
Age population, age 14, male, interpolated 276,497 (2025)
Age population, age 14, female, interpolated 278,971 (2025)
Age population, age 13, male, interpolated 279,081 (2025)
Age population, age 13, female, interpolated 281,167 (2025)
Age population, age 12, male, interpolated 281,852 (2025)
Age population, age 12, female, interpolated 283,499 (2025)
Age population, age 10, female, interpolated 284,369 (2025)
Population ages 65 and above, total 575,082 (2025)
Population ages 65 and above 2.6% (2025)

All data for Malawi →

Frequently asked questions

What is life expectancy in Malawi?: Life expectancy in Malawi was 67.35 years in 2023, according to Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest life expectancy recorded in Malawi?: The highest recorded value was 67.35 years in 2023.
What is the lowest life expectancy recorded in Malawi?: The lowest recorded value was 32.66 years in 1950.
How does Malawi rank for life expectancy?: Malawi ranks 189th out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
Is life expectancy rising or falling in Malawi?: Over the last ten years it is up 10.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Malawi data come from?: The figures come from Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Life expectancy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 74 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator: Life expectancy
Unit: years
Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 236 places, 19,452 data points, 1543–2023
Last refreshed: 06 August 2026

Period life expectancy is the number of years the average person born in a certain year would live if they experienced the same chances of dying at each age as people did that year.