Malawi - "the warm heart of africa" - Facts
- Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world with more than 20% of the population living on less than one dollar a day.
- It has a population of approximately 12,5 million; of those 750,000 are orphans, a figure increasing by 65,000 a year.
- Over 200 people die of AIDS each day.
- 48% of children in Malawi are chronically malnourished.
- In the last decade maternal deaths in childbirth have increased by 100%. This figure is the third highest in the world, behind Sierra Leone and Afghanistan.
- Every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa
- 40% of all deaths in Malawi are children under 5 years old.
- There is a critical shortage of health workers in Malawi with less than 2 doctors, nurses, midwives per 1000 of the population.
- Government: Multi-party democratic system
- Currency: Kwacha
- Climate: Tropical
- Common Language: Chichewa
- Tribal ancestry: Bantu