Land use in Malawi
Malawi: Land use was 4.20 million hectares in 2023. ▲ Rising
Land use in Malawi, 1961–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Malawi recorded 4.20 million hectares for land use in 2023. That is the highest value across all 63 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 13.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, land use in Malawi peaked at 4.20 million hectares in 2021 and was at its lowest, 1.36 million hectares, in 1961.
That places Malawi 62nd out of 223 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 63 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1.67 million hectares | 1.36 million hectares | 1.92 million hectares | 9 |
| 1970s | 2.07 million hectares | 1.87 million hectares | 2.13 million hectares | 10 |
| 1980s | 2.18 million hectares | 1.99 million hectares | 2.33 million hectares | 10 |
| 1990s | 2.50 million hectares | 2.23 million hectares | 2.83 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 3.25 million hectares | 2.88 million hectares | 3.63 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 3.82 million hectares | 3.63 million hectares | 4.08 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 4.18 million hectares | 4.13 million hectares | 4.20 million hectares | 4 |
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 land use in Malawi?
- Land use in Malawi was 4.20 million hectares in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest land use recorded in Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 4.20 million hectares in 2021.
- What is the lowest land use recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.36 million hectares in 1961.
- How does Malawi rank for land use?
- Malawi ranks 62nd out of 223 countries with data for 2023.
- Is land use rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is up 13.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Malawi data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Land use. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 63 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).