Population and Demographics
Malawi derives its name from the Maravi, a Bantu people who came from the southern Congo basin circa 1400. On reaching the area north of Lake Malawi, the Maravi divided. One branch, the ancestors of the present-day Chewas, moved south to the west bank of the lake. The other, the ancestors of the Nyanjas, moved down the east bank to the southern part of the country. By 1500, the two divisions of the tribe had established a kingdom stretching from north of the present-day city of Nkhotakota to the Zambezi River in the south, and from Lake Malawi in the east, to the Luangwa River in Zambia in the west.
Migrations and tribal conflicts precluded the formation of a cohesive Malawian society until the turn of the 20th century. In more recent years, ethnic and tribal distinctions have diminished, although regional distinctions and rivalries persist. Despite some clear differences, no significant friction currently exists between tribal groups, and the concept of a Malawian nationality has begun to take hold.
The Chewas constitute 90% of the population of the central region; the Nyanja tribe predominates in the south and the Tumbuka in the north. In addition, significant numbers of the Tongas live in the north; Ngonis (an offshoot of the Zulus who came from South Africa in the early 1800s) live in the lower northern and lower central regions; and the Yao, who are mostly Muslim, live along the southeastern border with Mozambique. Bantus of other tribes came from Mozambique as refugees.
Europeans and Asians also live in Malawi. Most Europeans are British and Portuguese from Mozambique, and Asians are mostly Indians.
The majority of the country's population (80%) is Christian, and approximately 13% is Muslim.
Life expectancy in Malawi is now as low as 36.5 years, five years lower than it was 50 years ago. This drop is due to the population's impoverishment, which is constituted by many factors, including:
- insufficient nutrition
- government economic restrictions
- low income (the mean per capita income in Malawi is less than $1 per day)
- poor access to medical treatment
- spread of HIV/AIDS
According to Malawi government estimates, 14.2% of the population are HIV-positive, and 90,000 deaths in 2003 were due to AIDS. Unofficial estimates based on private hospital entries give a HIV infection percentage of 30%. There are more than a million orphans, 700,000 of whom became orphans when their parents died of AIDS.
