Poverty at the national line — all countries

Poverty at the national line — Malawi

Poverty at the national line in Malawi in 2019 — 50.7%. Ranked 61 in the world out of 62. Since 1997, the indicator has fallen by 14.6 pp.

2019 50.7% −0.8 pp vs 2016
World rank 61of 62
Period maximum 65.3%1997
Period minimum 50.7%2010

Trend over time

1997–2019 · % of population

Poverty at the national line — Malawi, 1997–20195055606570199720002003200620092012201520181997: 65.3%2004: 52.4%2010: 50.7%2016: 51.5%2019: 50.7%
Change over the period: −14.6 pp Annual average: -0.66 pp
Poverty at the national line — Malawi, by year Malawi All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2019 50.7
2016 51.5
2010 50.7
2004 52.4
1997 65.3

Eastern Africa, 2019

The same indicator for neighboring countries — with links to their pages

About the indicator

The share of the population below the national poverty line — the one a country has defined in its legislation or in the methodology of its statistical office. The indicator answers a question the international lines do not ask: how many people are poor by the standards of their own society. That is exactly why it is unfit for comparing countries with one another — yet it shows better than any other indicator how a country assesses poverty at home, and it is what the results of national policy are judged by.

Important: There are no aggregates for country groups, and this is not a gap: poverty lines differ between countries, and a sum of shares computed against different lines has no definition. For comparing countries there are the three international lines.

Source: World Development Indicators (World Bank), license CC BY 4.0.