Republic of Malawi
Eastern Africa
Warm · Lakeside · Friendly
Malawi (officially Republic of Malawi) is a country located in Eastern Africa. Its capital city is Lilongwe, with other major cities including Blantyre and Mzuzu. With a population of approximately 20.4M, the main languages spoken are English, Chichewa. The country covers an area of 118,484 km². The official currency is the Malawian kwacha (MK). Traffic drives on the left side.
Lake Malawi contains more species of fish than any other lake on Earth — over 1,000 species of cichlid, many found in no other body of water, making it the world's most important freshwater fish biodiversity hotspot.
Lilongwe serves as the political, cultural and economic heart of Malawi, positioned in Eastern Africa. As the seat of government and often the most populous city, it concentrates the country's main institutions, universities and cultural landmarks. Beyond the capital, major cities include Blantyre, Mzuzu, Zomba — each a hub of regional culture, economy and history. Lilongwe became Malawi's capital in 1975 when the government relocated administration from the colonial capital Zomba to a planned city that Banda built in his home region — a capital with a split personality between the modern Government Area and the Old Town market district that has grown organically into a genuinely busy commercial centre more characteristic of Malawian urban life.
With a population of approximately 20.4M, Malawi is a vibrant society with a rich mix of traditions and communities. The principal languages spoken are English, Chichewa, which reflect the country's cultural heritage and open doors to a wide international community. Internationally, Malawi is reached via the dialling code +265. Malawians maintain what David Livingstone described on his 1859 Shire River exploration as a quality of warmth and openness that gave rise to the tourist slogan 'The Warm Heart of Africa' — a characterisation that risks sentimentality but reflects a documented tradition of ubuntu communal hospitality that persists even in a country of deep poverty.
Malawi spans 118,484 km², in the Eastern Africa subregion of Africa. Geographically centred around 13.5°S, 34.0°E, the country offers a diverse range of landscapes shaped by its location, climate and geology. Road traffic follows the left-hand rule, in line with surrounding Africa convention.
The official currency is the Malawian kwacha (MK), used for everyday transactions and commerce throughout the country. Malawi's economy is shaped by its geography, natural resources and trade relationships. Business and daily life operate under UTC+02:00, aligning the country with its regional neighbours.
Football holds a special place in the heart of Malawi's national identity. Football is Malawi's dominant sport, with the Flames national team's first Africa Cup of Nations appearance in 2021 generating national celebrations across a country where television access to football programming has grown rapidly alongside mobile phone penetration — but the lake-based sport of traditional fishing competitions on dugout canoes represents the athletic tradition most embedded in the everyday lives of lakeside communities.
The highest point in Malawi is Sapitwa (Mulanje Massif), rising to 3,002 metres above sea level. Lake Malawi contains more freshwater fish species than any other lake in the world — over 1,000 cichlid species, 90% of them found nowhere else, in water so clear that visibility reaches 20 metres in some areas, creating a snorkelling and diving environment where the evolutionary drama of speciation that produced all those species from a small ancestral population can be observed directly.