Malawi

Malawi is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast and Mozambique to the east, south and southwest, spanning more than 118,484 square kilometers. Lilongwe is its capital and largest city, and the population was about 22.2 million in 2025. The region was settled around the tenth century by hunter-gatherers, followed by Bantu migrations that established kingdoms such as the Maravi Empire; British colonial rule began in 1891, and the territory was renamed Nyasaland in 1907, gaining independence in 1964 under Hastings Banda, who became president for life in 1971. A 1993 referendum introduced multi-party democracy, and Banda lost the 1994 election, since which Malawi has experienced peaceful transitions of power through democratic elections. Malawi is a democratic, multi-party republic with an elected president as head of state and government, ranking among the world's least developed countries, its economy heavily dependent on agriculture; the population is predominantly rural, at 85 percent, and Christian.