Economy · Life expectancy at birth · Malawi
Malawi’s life expectancy at birth rose to 67.6 years in 2024.
67.6 years
2024
Up 0.21 years from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
67.6 years
What it is. Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn would live if the death rates of every age group in a given year stayed the same for life. It is built from a life table that combines mortality at each age, so deaths in infancy and childhood weigh heavily on the result. It leaves out how healthy those years are and how long different groups within Malawi actually live.
Higher is better. A higher figure means fewer people dying young and more surviving into adulthood and old age, which is why a rise is good news. Malawi's latest figure is 67.6 years for 2024, up from 67.4 years a year earlier, a gain of 0.21 years. Since 2015 the lowest figure was 62.3 years in 2015, and the highest is the current 67.6 years. The latest reading therefore sits at the top of its range over that span.
Why it matters. For Malawian households, a life expectancy of 67.6 years means more parents live to raise their children and more adults stay in work for longer. Over time a longer-lived population increases demand on the state for health care and support for older people. Firms benefit from a workforce that keeps its skills and experience for more years.
| Period | Life expectancy at birth · Malawi |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 62.3 years |
| 2016 | 63.2 years |
| 2017 | 63.9 years |
| 2018 | 64.5 years |
| 2019 | 65 years |
| 2020 | 65.2 years |
| 2021 | 64.8 years |
| 2022 | 66 years |
| 2023 | 67.4 years |
| 2024 | 67.6 years |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Strata-AF™ Data, Life expectancy at birth, Malawi, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/life-expectancy/malawi
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
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Working this out from the published figures…
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Methodology
Life expectancy at birth, total. Unit: years.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series SP.DYN.LE00.IN), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.