The latest officially reported population of Malawi was 21,655,286 in 2024 vs 10,576,502 people in Papua New Guinea in 2024. In 2025, based on the adjusted UN estimation, the current Malawi's population is 22,673,513 people compared to 10,911,445 in Papua New Guinea.
Population statistics:
- Malawi's population is 2.08 times bigger than Papua New Guinea's.
- Malawi is ranked the 61st most populous country in the world, while Papua New Guinea is the 90th.
- The countries together account for 0.41% of the world: 0.27% for Malawi vs 0.13% for Papua New Guinea.
- For the last 10 years, Malawi has had an average growth rate of +2.7% per year vs +2.23% in Papua New Guinea.
- Since 2005, the population of Malawi has increased from 12.8M people to 22.7M (76.6% growth), while Papua New Guinea has grown from 6.54M to 10.9M (66.9% growth).
- Malawi is projected to reach its peak in 2100 at 59.1M people compared to the peak of 18.6M people in 2100 for Papua New Guinea.
Malawi vs Papua New Guinea: live population counter
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Current population |
22673513
|
10911445
|
| Population rank | 61/197 | 90/197 |
| Percent of world population | 0.27% | 0.13% |
| One net population change |
57.3 seconds
|
2.81 minutes
|
| One birth every |
47.6 seconds
|
2.06 minutes
|
| One death every |
4.64 minutes
|
7.76 minutes
|
| One migration net change every |
5.81 hours
|
12.4 hours
|
| Annual migration change | -1,507 | -707 |
| Daily growth/decline | +1,509 | +512 |
| Annual growth/decline | +550,804 | +186,867 |
| Annual growth/decline rate | +2.61% | +1.8% |
| Population growth rate rank | 27/197 | 61/197 |
Malawi and Papua New Guinea: population history and growth rate by year chart
| Year | Population | Growth rate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1960 | 3,628,134 | 1,995,110 | - | - |
| 1961 | 3,715,534 | 2,046,127 | 2.41% | 2.56% |
| 1962 | 3,806,307 | 2,093,919 | 2.44% | 2.34% |
| 1963 | 3,900,506 | 2,141,376 | 2.47% | 2.27% |
| 1964 | 3,997,305 | 2,188,325 | 2.48% | 2.19% |
| 1965 | 4,096,157 | 2,235,820 | 2.47% | 2.17% |
| 1966 | 4,197,926 | 2,285,774 | 2.48% | 2.23% |
| 1967 | 4,303,012 | 2,337,532 | 2.5% | 2.26% |
| 1968 | 4,411,054 | 2,390,803 | 2.51% | 2.28% |
| 1969 | 4,521,184 | 2,446,927 | 2.5% | 2.35% |
| 1970 | 4,633,944 | 2,505,628 | 2.49% | 2.4% |
| 1971 | 4,751,434 | 2,566,421 | 2.54% | 2.43% |
| 1972 | 4,874,475 | 2,628,432 | 2.59% | 2.42% |
| 1973 | 5,003,938 | 2,690,629 | 2.66% | 2.37% |
| 1974 | 5,141,337 | 2,752,671 | 2.75% | 2.31% |
| 1975 | 5,287,367 | 2,814,820 | 2.84% | 2.26% |
| 1976 | 5,443,384 | 2,877,327 | 2.95% | 2.22% |
| 1977 | 5,614,983 | 2,940,327 | 3.15% | 2.19% |
| 1978 | 5,810,132 | 3,003,714 | 3.48% | 2.16% |
| 1979 | 6,028,749 | 3,067,341 | 3.76% | 2.12% |
| 1980 | 6,265,529 | 3,131,512 | 3.93% | 2.09% |
| 1981 | 6,516,454 | 3,197,019 | 4% | 2.09% |
| 1982 | 6,778,879 | 3,264,291 | 4.03% | 2.1% |
| 1983 | 7,051,709 | 3,333,633 | 4.02% | 2.12% |
| 1984 | 7,332,810 | 3,405,198 | 3.99% | 2.15% |
| 1985 | 7,620,508 | 3,478,936 | 3.92% | 2.17% |
| 1986 | 7,906,480 | 3,554,793 | 3.75% | 2.18% |
| 1987 | 8,293,174 | 3,632,543 | 4.89% | 2.19% |
| 1988 | 8,753,262 | 3,711,880 | 5.55% | 2.18% |
| 1989 | 9,176,220 | 3,796,078 | 4.83% | 2.27% |
| 1990 | 9,545,852 | 3,896,481 | 4.03% | 2.64% |
| 1991 | 9,844,227 | 4,021,837 | 3.13% | 3.22% |
| 1992 | 10,135,079 | 4,166,699 | 2.95% | 3.6% |
| 1993 | 10,284,024 | 4,320,872 | 1.47% | 3.7% |
| 1994 | 10,164,894 | 4,480,208 | -1.16% | 3.69% |
| 1995 | 10,150,117 | 4,644,278 | -0.15% | 3.66% |
| 1996 | 10,352,228 | 4,813,361 | 1.99% | 3.64% |
| 1997 | 10,562,035 | 4,987,883 | 2.03% | 3.63% |
| 1998 | 10,792,876 | 5,166,390 | 2.19% | 3.58% |
| 1999 | 11,047,804 | 5,349,333 | 2.36% | 3.54% |
| 2000 | 11,315,942 | 5,537,064 | 2.43% | 3.51% |
| 2001 | 11,593,058 | 5,728,435 | 2.45% | 3.46% |
| 2002 | 11,880,440 | 5,924,003 | 2.48% | 3.41% |
| 2003 | 12,181,574 | 6,123,997 | 2.53% | 3.38% |
| 2004 | 12,500,737 | 6,328,041 | 2.62% | 3.33% |
| 2005 | 12,840,031 | 6,535,905 | 2.71% | 3.28% |
| 2006 | 13,198,701 | 6,747,720 | 2.79% | 3.24% |
| 2007 | 13,576,343 | 6,963,345 | 2.86% | 3.2% |
| 2008 | 13,976,417 | 7,183,002 | 2.95% | 3.15% |
| 2009 | 14,395,788 | 7,406,438 | 3% | 3.11% |
| 2010 | 14,826,463 | 7,633,523 | 2.99% | 3.07% |
| 2011 | 15,265,022 | 7,859,346 | 2.96% | 2.96% |
| 2012 | 15,709,577 | 8,081,390 | 2.91% | 2.83% |
| 2013 | 16,161,816 | 8,302,698 | 2.88% | 2.74% |
| 2014 | 16,621,538 | 8,523,441 | 2.84% | 2.66% |
| 2015 | 17,085,587 | 8,743,246 | 2.79% | 2.58% |
| 2016 | 17,557,739 | 8,961,718 | 2.76% | 2.5% |
| 2017 | 18,039,715 | 9,178,714 | 2.75% | 2.42% |
| 2018 | 18,528,081 | 9,394,513 | 2.71% | 2.35% |
| 2019 | 19,025,752 | 9,609,010 | 2.69% | 2.28% |
| 2020 | 19,533,888 | 9,815,746 | 2.67% | 2.15% |
| 2021 | 20,047,258 | 10,012,896 | 2.63% | 2.01% |
| 2022 | 20,568,728 | 10,203,169 | 2.6% | 1.9% |
| 2023 | 21,104,482 | 10,389,635 | 2.6% | 1.83% |
| 2024 | 21,655,286 | 10,576,502 | 2.61% | 1.8% |
| 2025 | 22,216,113 | 10,762,813 | 2.59% | 1.76% |
| 2026 | 22,785,530 | 10,947,845 | 2.56% | 1.72% |
| 2027 | 23,366,187 | 11,131,268 | 2.55% | 1.68% |
| 2028 | 23,954,450 | 11,312,895 | 2.52% | 1.63% |
| 2029 | 24,553,499 | 11,492,799 | 2.5% | 1.59% |
| 2030 | 25,160,293 | 11,671,420 | 2.47% | 1.55% |
| 2031 | 25,763,534 | 11,848,221 | 2.4% | 1.51% |
| 2032 | 26,366,760 | 12,023,121 | 2.34% | 1.48% |
| 2033 | 26,978,417 | 12,196,639 | 2.32% | 1.44% |
| 2034 | 27,595,295 | 12,369,248 | 2.29% | 1.42% |
| 2035 | 28,213,784 | 12,540,596 | 2.24% | 1.39% |
| 2036 | 28,835,595 | 12,710,682 | 2.2% | 1.36% |
| 2037 | 29,462,509 | 12,879,737 | 2.17% | 1.33% |
| 2038 | 30,081,741 | 13,047,122 | 2.1% | 1.3% |
| 2039 | 30,691,578 | 13,212,668 | 2.03% | 1.27% |
| 2040 | 31,302,092 | 13,376,156 | 1.99% | 1.24% |
| 2041 | 31,911,242 | 13,537,361 | 1.95% | 1.21% |
| 2042 | 32,517,509 | 13,696,139 | 1.9% | 1.17% |
| 2043 | 33,122,481 | 13,853,410 | 1.86% | 1.15% |
| 2044 | 33,736,523 | 14,009,926 | 1.85% | 1.13% |
| 2045 | 34,350,947 | 14,165,578 | 1.82% | 1.11% |
| 2046 | 34,959,606 | 14,318,889 | 1.77% | 1.08% |
| 2047 | 35,567,989 | 14,469,210 | 1.74% | 1.05% |
| 2048 | 36,165,757 | 14,617,364 | 1.68% | 1.02% |
| 2049 | 36,760,998 | 14,763,600 | 1.65% | 1% |
| 2050 | 37,361,672 | 14,906,584 | 1.63% | 0.97% |
From 2005 to 2015, the population of Malawi increased by 4,245,556 people (a 33.1% growth), while Papua New Guinea gained 2,207,341 people (a 33.8% growth).
For the next 10 years, from 2015 to 2025, Malawi gained 5,587,926 (a 32.7% growth), while Papua New Guinea's population increased by 2,168,199 (a 24.8% growth).
Malawi was ranked 69th most populous country in 2005 and is 61st in 2025. Papua New Guinea was ranked 100th in 2005 and ranked 90th now.
The UN's World Population Prospects forecasts that with changing growth rate trends in 25 years (in 2050) Malawi's population will grow by 64.8% to 37,361,672 people with a rank change from 61st to 55th. The population of Papua New Guinea will increase by 36.6% to 14,906,584 people and rank change from 90th to 85th.
Biggest cities by population
|
|
|
|---|---|
| City | Population |
| Lilongwe | 989K |
| Mzimba | 936K |
| Blantyre | 800K |
| Mzuzu | 150K |
| Zomba | 101K |
| Mangochi | 53.5K |
| Mulanje | 14.8K |
| Ntcheu | 14.6K |
| Monkey Bay | 14.6K |
|
|
|
|---|---|
| City | Population |
| Port Moresby | 317K |
| Lae | 101K |
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Population differences between Malawi and Papua New Guinea
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Life expectancy | 67.7 years | 66.4 years |
| Average age | 22.8 years | 26.7 years |
| Median age | 18.9 years | 23.6 years |
| Male:Female ratio | 48.8:51.2 | 51.4:48.6 |
| Fertility rate | 3.65 births per woman | 3.1 births per woman |
| Population density | 595 ppl/mi² | 60.5 ppl/mi² |
Population map with other countries
Population
Growth rate visualization in other countries
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