Drinking water services in Malawi
Malawi: Drinking water services was 353,212 people in 2024. ▼ Falling
Drinking water services in Malawi, 2000–2024
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in people.
Analysis
Malawi recorded 353,212 people for drinking water services in 2024. That is the lowest value across all 25 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 10.4% on the previous year and down 47.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, drinking water services in Malawi peaked at 845,017 people in 2000 and was at its lowest, 353,212 people, in 2024.
That places Malawi 49th out of 231 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 803,793 people | 756,954 people | 845,017 people | 10 |
| 2010s | 651,803 people | 537,194 people | 743,366 people | 10 |
| 2020s | 430,897 people | 353,212 people | 504,543 people | 5 |
Countries ranked near Malawi
More environment data for Malawi
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 19.02 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 0.8785 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 5.42 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 0.7527 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 1.9 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0074 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 9.34 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0006 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0087 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 1.25 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is drinking water services in Malawi?
- Drinking water services in Malawi was 353,212 people in 2024, according to WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest drinking water services recorded in Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 845,017 people in 2000.
- What is the lowest drinking water services recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 353,212 people in 2024.
- How does Malawi rank for drinking water services?
- Malawi ranks 49th out of 231 countries with data for 2024.
- Is drinking water services rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is down 47.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Malawi data come from?
- The figures come from WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2025) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Drinking water services. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Number of people using drinking water directly collected from surface waters.