Economic Trivia

Tobacco accounts for more than half of Malawi's exports.

Trade Source: United Nations Comtrade
Note: Top 3 trade partners are calculated by imports + exports.

Top 3 Trade Partners (2020): South Africa, China, and United Arab Emirates
Top 3 Exported Goods (2020): Tobacco, Coffee & Spices, and Sugar & Confectionery

Top Industries Source: CIA World Factbook

Tobacco; Tea; Sugar; Sawmill Products

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) [1]

GDP, PPP (current international) $35,342,628,210 (2022)
GDP Growth Rate (annual %) 0.923% (2022)
GDP Per Capita, PPP (current international) $1,732 (2022)
Click on a row to display its 5-year graph on the right.

GDP Country Rank 137/197 (2022)

GDP Composition %

Note: GDP composition percentage may exceed 100. Manufacturing is included in the Industry figures and is also reported separately because it plays a critical role in many economies.

Economic Indicators [1]

Inflation, consumer prices (annual %) 20.954% (2022)
External debt stocks, total (DOD, current US$) $3,185,407,054 (2021)
Total tax rate (% of commercial profits) 34.5% (2019)
Real Interest Rate (5 year average %) 2.839% (2022)
Manufacturing, value added (% of GDP) 11.538% (2019)
Current Account Balance (BoP, current US$) ($1,543,008,196) (2021)
Click on a row to display its 5-year graph on the right.

Labor and Employment [1]

Labor Force, Total 7,922,748 (2022)
Employment in Agriculture (% of total employment) 61.916% (2021)
Employment in Industry (% of total employment) 8.131% (2021)
Employment in Services (% of total employment) 29.953% (2021)
Unemployment Rate 5.614% (2022)
Click on a row to display its 5-year graph on the right.

Trade [1]

Imports of goods and services (current US$) $2,729,078,033 (2019)
Exports of goods and services (current US$) $2,377,292,852 (2019)
Total Merchandise Trade (% of GDP) 31.258% (2022)
FDI, net inflows (BoP, current US$) $188,564,034 (2022)
Commercial Service Exports (current US$) $389,975,998 (2021)
Click on a row to display its 5-year graph on the right.

Economic Snapshot [1]

Note: Percentile ranks are calculated using the latest available data for all countries within the last 5 years.

How to interpret the graph: The purpose of this graph is to take a snapshot of a country’s economy in comparison to other economies. For example, Malawi’s Exports rank is higher than (please wait...) of the countries in the dataset. For Exports, FDI and GDP measures, a higher rank (closer to 100%) indicates a stronger economy. Conversely, for Unemployment and Inflation, a lower rank (closer to 0%) indicates a stronger economy.

Due to unavailable data the following indicators have been omitted:
  • Exports
  • FDI, net inflows
  • GDP Growth Rate
  • GDP Per Capita
  • Inflation
  • Unemployment

Sources

  1. The World Bank