Matchup file

Malawi vs Zambia

111 shared metrics.

MalawiLeads in 36

vs111 shared

ZambiaLeads in 75

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Zambia leads by 39 metrics. Use the same instinct in a quick real-data brawl.

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Country briefing

What matters for both sides

Short real-world notes so the comparison reads like more than a stat strip.

Malawi

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Republic of Malawi.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

Lake Malawi is estimated to hold the largest number of fish species of any lake.

UNESCO

Zambia

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Republic of Zambia.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

Zambia shares Victoria Falls, the world's largest curtain of falling water, with Zimbabwe.

UNESCO

Analysis

Zambia leads in 75 of 111 shared metrics, while Malawi leads in 36.

Malawi's Population Density is 7.0x that of Zambia (223.85 /km² vs 27.88 /km²).

Malawi's Water Stress (%) is 3.3x that of Zambia (8.4% vs 2.0%).

Malawi's Official Languages Count is 2.0x that of Zambia (3.0 vs 1.0).

Malawi's UNESCO World Heritage Sites is 2.0x that of Zambia (3.0 sites vs 1.0 sites).

Malawi's EV Chargers per 100,000 People is 1.8x that of Zambia (0.01 per 100k people vs 0.01 per 100k people).

Key Comparisons

Population DensityMalawi leads

Malawi

223.85 /km²

Zambia

27.88 /km²

Water Stress (%)Malawi leads

Malawi

8.4%

Zambia

2.0%

Official Languages CountMalawi leads

Malawi

3.0

Zambia

1.0

UNESCO World Heritage SitesMalawi leads

Malawi

3.0 sites

Zambia

1.0 sites

EV Chargers per 100,000 PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)Malawi leads

Malawi

0.01 per 100k people

Zambia

0.01 per 100k people

Firms Asked for BribesMalawi leads

Malawi

0.01 per 100k people

Zambia

0.01 per 100k people

180% higher

Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)

Firms Asked for Bribes

Malawi

26.03% of firms

Zambia

9.6% of firms

171% higher

Inflation Rate

Malawi

32.2%

Zambia

15%

115% higher

Zambia

Malawi

Zambia

123

78% lower

Comparison of Malawi and Zambia across 111 metrics
				Winner
Population Density	223.85 /km²	27.88 /km²	703% higher	Malawi
Water Stress (%)	8.4%	2.0%	329% higher	Malawi
Official Languages Count	3.0	1.0	200% higher	Malawi
UNESCO World Heritage Sites	3.0 sites	1.0 sites	200% higher	Malawi
EV Chargers per 100,000 PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	0.01 per 100k people	0.01 per 100k people	180% higher	Malawi
Firms Asked for Bribes	26.03% of firms	9.6% of firms	171% higher	Malawi
Inflation Rate	32.2%	15%	115% higher	Malawi
Agricultural Land (%)	64.17%	32.07%	100% higher	Malawi
Air Passengers	3.5K	321.7K	99% lower	Zambia
Forest Area	21.2K km²	442.5K km²	95% lower	Zambia
Beer Consumption	0.10 L/person/yr	1.2 L/person/yr	92% lower	Zambia
Electricity Generation	1.8 TWh	19.46 TWh	91% lower	Zambia
Lowest Elevation	37 m	329 m	89% lower	Zambia
Land Area	94.3K km²	743.4K km²	87% lower	Zambia
CO2 Per Capita	0.09 t/person/yr	0.56 t/person/yr	85% lower	Zambia
Doctors (per 1,000)	0.05 per 1k	0.32 per 1k	84% lower	Zambia
Electric Generating Capacity	731.0K kW	3.99M kW	82% lower	Zambia
Firms Making Informal Payments	15.94% of firms	82.97% of firms	81% lower	Zambia
Credit Card Ownership	0.45% of adults	2.3% of adults	80% lower	Zambia
Airports	27	123	78% lower	Zambia
Nurses & Midwives	0.50 per 1k	2.1 per 1k	77% lower	Zambia
Insufficient Physical Activity	3.4% of adults	14.16% of adults	76% lower	Zambia
Railway Length	767 km	3.1K km	75% lower	Zambia
Electricity Access (%)	15.6%	51.1%	69% lower	Zambia
Exports (% GDP)	11.24% of GDP	34.98% of GDP	68% lower	Zambia
Forest Coverage (%)	22.44%	59.52%	62% lower	Zambia
Urban Population (%)	17.27%	45.47%	62% lower	Zambia
Women in Senior Management	47.74% of managers	29.59% of managers	61% higher	Malawi
Total CO2 Emissions	4.8 Mt CO2e	11.57 Mt CO2e	59% lower	Zambia
Border Neighbors	3.0	7.0	57% lower	Zambia
GDP Growth Rate	1.7%	3.8%	56% lower	Zambia
GDP Per Capita (PPP)	$1,857.62	$4,214.89	56% lower	Zambia
Meat Consumption per Person	20.34 kg/person/yr	13.12 kg/person/yr	55% higher	Malawi
GDP (Nominal)	$11,316,411,329.46	$25,303,185,342.25	55% lower	Zambia
Electricity Carbon Intensity	54.65 gCO2/kWh	119.68 gCO2/kWh	54% lower	Zambia
GNI Per Capita	$570	$1,220	53% lower	Zambia
Irrigated Land	740 km²	1.6K km²	53% lower	Zambia
Land Border Length	2.9K km	6.0K km	53% lower	Zambia
FDI Inflows (% GDP)	2.3% of GDP	4.7% of GDP	51% lower	Zambia
ATMs per 100,000 Adults	4.3 per 100k	8.5 per 100k	49% lower	Zambia
Health Spending Per Capita	$39.66	$76.06	48% lower	Zambia
Political Corruption Index	0.63	0.43	47% higher	Malawi
Internet Users (%)	18%	33%	45% lower	Zambia
Protected Land (%)	23.1%	41.3%	44% lower	Zambia
Tobacco Use Prevalence	8.5% of adults	14.6% of adults	42% lower	Zambia
Women in Parliament (%)	20.73%	14.97%	38% higher	Malawi
Mobile Subscriptions (%)	69 per 100 people	109 per 100 people	37% lower	Zambia
Solar Electricity Share	0.55%	0.86%	36% lower	Zambia
Average Weekly Work Hours	28.03 hrs/week	42.91 hrs/week	35% lower	Zambia
Smoking Rate	9.7%	14.6%	34% lower	Zambia
Youth Unemployment Rate	6.9% of youth labor force	10.47% of youth labor force	34% lower	Zambia
Education Spending (% GDP)	2.7% of GDP	4.1% of GDP	33% lower	Zambia
Elderly Population (%)	2.6%	1.9%	33% higher	Malawi
Obesity Rate	6.4%	9.4%	32% lower	Zambia
Mobile Money Accounts	47.4% of adults	69.31% of adults	32% lower	Zambia
Sanitation Access (%)	49.23%	37.48%	31% higher	Malawi
Digital Payments Used	48.86% of adults	71.16% of adults	31% lower	Zambia
Highest Elevation	3.0K m	2.3K m	29% higher	Malawi
Spirits Consumption	0.24 L/person/yr	0.33 L/person/yr	28% lower	Zambia
Death Rate	3.6 per 1k	4.9 per 1k	27% lower	Zambia
Renewable Energy (%)	62.9%	83%	24% lower	Zambia
Health Spending (% GDP)	6.5% of GDP	5.3% of GDP	24% higher	Malawi
Liberal Democracy Index	0.46	0.38	23% higher	Malawi
Military Spending	1.0% of GDP	1.3% of GDP	23% lower	Zambia
Government Debt (% GDP)	55.6% of GDP	71.4% of GDP	22% lower	Zambia
Seafood Consumption per Person	10.01 kg/person/yr	12.68 kg/person/yr	21% lower	Zambia
Life Evaluation Score	3.3 pts	4.1 pts	20% lower	Zambia
Tax Revenue (% GDP)	13.5% of GDP	16.78% of GDP	20% lower	Zambia
Milk Consumption per Person	8.0 kg/person/yr	9.7 kg/person/yr	18% lower	Zambia
Hypertension Prevalence	30.3% of adults	36.9% of adults	18% lower	Zambia
Capital Elevation	1.1K m	1.3K m	18% lower	Zambia
Road Traffic Death Rate	20.2 per 100k	17.1 per 100k	18% higher	Malawi
Unemployment Rate	5.0%	6.0%	15% lower	Zambia
Child Mortality	38.3 per 1k births	44.7 per 1k births	14% lower	Zambia
Water Withdrawal	1.4 B m³	1.6 B m³	14% lower	Zambia
Adult Literacy Rate	70.15%	82.04%	14% lower	Zambia
Human Development Index	0.52	0.59	13% lower	Zambia
Imports (% GDP)	31.19% of GDP	27.55% of GDP	13% higher	Malawi
Electoral Democracy Index	0.56	0.50	12% higher	Malawi
High-Tech Exports (%)	1.6%	1.5%	12% higher	Malawi
Informal Employment Share	92.65% of employed people	82.73% of employed people	12% higher	Malawi
Food Waste per Person	132.84 kg/person/yr	118.75 kg/person/yr	12% higher	Malawi
Minimum Paid Vacation Days	18 days/yr	20 days/yr	10% lower	Zambia
Fertility Rate	3.3 children/woman	3.7 children/woman	9% lower	Zambia
Corruption Perceptions Index	34 pts	37 pts	8% lower	Zambia
Armed Forces Personnel	15.0K	16.0K	6% lower	Zambia
Suicide Rate	7.6 per 100k	7.1 per 100k	6% higher	Malawi
Can Raise Emergency Money	95.15% of adults	89.52% of adults	6% higher	Malawi
Women's Political Empowerment	0.76	0.79	5% lower	Zambia
Scientific Publications	361.73	344.27	5% higher	Malawi
Birth Rate	28.04 per 1k	29.6 per 1k	5% lower	Zambia
Infant Mortality	29.4 per 1k births	30.9 per 1k births	5% lower	Zambia
Firms with Female Top Manager	13.51% of firms	12.93% of firms	5% higher	Malawi
Air Pollution (PM2.5)	23.7 µg/m³	24.31 µg/m³	3% lower	Zambia
Freedom of Expression Index	0.75	0.78	3% lower	Zambia
Teen Birth Rate	113.58 per 1k	115.91 per 1k	2% lower	Zambia
Life Expectancy	67.4 years	66.3 years	2% higher	Malawi
Youth Population (%)	40.71%	41.46%	2% lower	Zambia
Firms Hit by Power Outages	89.12% of firms	87.13% of firms	2% higher	Malawi
Population	21.76M	22.02M	1% lower	Zambia
Median Age	17.6 years	17.5 years	1% higher	Malawi
Time Zones Count	2.0 time zones	2.0 time zones	equal	Malawi
Dependency Ratio	76.34% of working-age pop.	76.69% of working-age pop.	equal	Zambia
Coastline Length	0 km	0 km	ranked higher	Malawi
Coal Electricity Share	0%	10.8%	ranked lower	Zambia
Wind Electricity Share	0%	0%	ranked higher	Malawi
Broadband Access (%)	202 per 100 people	202 per 100 people	equal	Malawi
Alcohol Consumption	3.6 L/adult/yr	3.6 L/adult/yr	equal	Zambia
Nobel Laureates Born per Million People	0 per 1M people	0 per 1M people	ranked higher	Malawi
Current Account Balance (% of GDP)	-16.5% of GDP	-3.5% of GDP	ranked lower	Zambia
McDonald's Outlets per Million PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	0 per 1M people	0 per 1M people	ranked higher	Malawi

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Malawi Zambia

Analysis

Zambia leads in 75 of 111 shared metrics, while Malawi leads in 36.

Malawi's Population Density is 7.0x that of Zambia (223.85 /km² vs 27.88 /km²).

Malawi's Water Stress (%) is 3.3x that of Zambia (8.4% vs 2.0%).

Malawi's Official Languages Count is 2.0x that of Zambia (3.0 vs 1.0).

Malawi's UNESCO World Heritage Sites is 2.0x that of Zambia (3.0 sites vs 1.0 sites).

Malawi's EV Chargers per 100,000 People is 1.8x that of Zambia (0.01 per 100k people vs 0.01 per 100k people).

Key Comparisons

Population DensityMalawi leads

Malawi

223.85 /km²

Zambia

27.88 /km²

Water Stress (%)Malawi leads

Malawi

8.4%

Zambia

2.0%

Official Languages CountMalawi leads

Malawi

3.0

Zambia

1.0

UNESCO World Heritage SitesMalawi leads

Malawi

3.0 sites

Zambia

1.0 sites

Malawi

0.01 per 100k people

Zambia

0.01 per 100k people

Firms Asked for BribesMalawi leads

Malawi

26.03% of firms

Zambia

9.6% of firms

Population Density

223.85 /km²

27.88 /km²

Water Stress (%)

8.4%

2.0%

Official Languages Count

3.0

1.0

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

3.0 sites

1.0 sites

0.01 per 100k people

Firms Asked for Bribes

26.03% of firms

9.6% of firms

Inflation Rate

32.2%

15%

Agricultural Land (%)

64.17%

32.07%

Air Passengers

3.5K

321.7K

Forest Area

21.2K km²

442.5K km²

Beer Consumption

0.10 L/person/yr

1.2 L/person/yr

Electricity Generation

1.8 TWh

19.46 TWh

Lowest Elevation

37 m

329 m

Land Area

94.3K km²

743.4K km²

CO2 Per Capita

0.09 t/person/yr

0.56 t/person/yr

Doctors (per 1,000)

0.05 per 1k

0.32 per 1k

Electric Generating Capacity

731.0K kW

3.99M kW

Firms Making Informal Payments

15.94% of firms

82.97% of firms

Credit Card Ownership

0.45% of adults

2.3% of adults

Airports

123

Malawi vs Zambia

Think you can spot the next winner?

What matters for both sides

Malawi

Zambia

Analysis

Key Comparisons

All Metrics

Population Density

Water Stress (%)

Official Languages Count

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

EV Chargers per 100,000 People

Firms Asked for Bribes

Inflation Rate

Agricultural Land (%)

Air Passengers

Forest Area

Beer Consumption

Electricity Generation

Lowest Elevation

Land Area

CO2 Per Capita

Doctors (per 1,000)

Electric Generating Capacity

Firms Making Informal Payments

Credit Card Ownership

Airports

Nurses & Midwives

Insufficient Physical Activity

Railway Length

Electricity Access (%)

Exports (% GDP)

Forest Coverage (%)

Urban Population (%)

Women in Senior Management

Total CO2 Emissions

Border Neighbors

GDP Growth Rate

GDP Per Capita (PPP)

Meat Consumption per Person

GDP (Nominal)

Electricity Carbon Intensity

GNI Per Capita

Irrigated Land

Land Border Length

FDI Inflows (% GDP)

ATMs per 100,000 Adults

Health Spending Per Capita

Political Corruption Index

Internet Users (%)

Protected Land (%)

Tobacco Use Prevalence

Women in Parliament (%)

Mobile Subscriptions (%)

Solar Electricity Share

Average Weekly Work Hours

Smoking Rate

Youth Unemployment Rate

Education Spending (% GDP)

Elderly Population (%)

Obesity Rate

Mobile Money Accounts

Sanitation Access (%)

Digital Payments Used

Highest Elevation

Spirits Consumption

Death Rate

Renewable Energy (%)

Health Spending (% GDP)

Liberal Democracy Index

Military Spending

Government Debt (% GDP)

Seafood Consumption per Person

Life Evaluation Score

Tax Revenue (% GDP)

Milk Consumption per Person

Hypertension Prevalence

Capital Elevation

Road Traffic Death Rate