Page updated on 02/02/2009

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, its poverty severe and deeply-rooted. According to the 1998 census, 78 percent of the economically-active population were subsistence farmers. Even by African standards, the plight of these farmers is grave, with literacy low, access to water and sanitation poor, and disease and malnutrition endemic.

Malawis National Economic Council estimated in 2000 that 65.3 percent of Malawians were below the poverty line, "unable to meet their basic needs." The common feature of the Malawi poor is their inability to meet their minimum nutritional requirements and essential non-food needs, equivalent to $40 per capita per annum.

Malawi had made "little progress" in slashing the mortality rate, currently at 984 per 100,000 live births.

How you can help