Rural population in Malawi
Malawi: Rural population was 82.4% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Rural population in Malawi, 1960–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN). Measured in % of total population.
Analysis
Malawi recorded 82.4% for rural population in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 66 years on record.
That represents a change of down 0.4% on the previous year and down 2.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rural population in Malawi peaked at 96.0% in 1960 and was at its lowest, 82.4%, in 2025.
That places Malawi 4th out of 215 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 66 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 95.4% | 94.6% | 96.0% | 10 |
| 1970s | 92.5% | 91.1% | 94.3% | 10 |
| 1980s | 89.9% | 88.8% | 90.9% | 10 |
| 1990s | 86.7% | 85.4% | 88.4% | 10 |
| 2000s | 84.9% | 84.6% | 85.3% | 10 |
| 2010s | 84.2% | 83.9% | 84.5% | 10 |
| 2020s | 83.1% | 82.4% | 83.7% | 6 |
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 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)
- Fertilizer consumption 87.36 kilograms per hectare of arable land (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rural population in Malawi?
- Rural population in Malawi was 82.4% in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest rural population recorded in Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 96.0% in 1960.
- What is the lowest rural population recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 82.4% in 2025.
- How does Malawi rank for rural population?
- Malawi ranks 4th out of 215 countries with data for 2025.
- Is rural population rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is down 2.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Malawi data come from?
- The figures come from World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Rural population (% of total population). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population.