Share of population using at least a basic drinking water source in Malawi
Malawi: Share of population using at least a basic drinking water source was 73.1% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of population using at least a basic drinking water source 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 %.
Analysis
Malawi recorded 73.1% for share of population using at least a basic drinking water source in 2024. That is the highest value across all 25 years on record.
That represents a change of up 1.1% on the previous year and up 12.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of population using at least a basic drinking water source in Malawi peaked at 73.1% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 54.1%, in 2000.
Malawi ranks 205th of 231 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 25 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 57.7% | 54.1% | 61.3% | 10 |
| 2010s | 65.6% | 62.1% | 69.1% | 10 |
| 2020s | 71.4% | 69.9% | 73.1% | 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 share of population using at least a basic drinking water source in Malawi?
- Share of population using at least a basic drinking water source in Malawi was 73.1% 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 share of population using at least a basic drinking water source recorded in Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 73.1% in 2024.
- What is the lowest share of population using at least a basic drinking water source recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 54.1% in 2000.
- How does Malawi rank for share of population using at least a basic drinking water source?
- Malawi ranks 205th out of 231 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of population using at least a basic drinking water source rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is up 12.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- 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 Share of population using at least a basic drinking water source. 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
Proportion of people who use an improved drinking water source, which is either located on their premises, or at a collection point, which takes no more than 30 minutes for a roundtrip.