An Introduction to Malawi
Settled since the 10th Century, The Republic of Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) is a landlocked country in southeast Africa. By 1500 the hunter gatherer tribes of the region operated as one country. Livingstone reached Lake Malawi (then called Lake Nyasa) in 1859 and by 1861 the British had colonised the country - this lasted until 1964 when Nyasaland became independent from the UK and renamed itself Malawi. It was a single party state from 1964 to 1994 when the President was ousted from power. See full country profile.Latest Research News from Africa
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GOVERNMENT: Multiparty Democracy
AREA: 118,484 sq km
POPULATION: 15,879,252 (July 2011 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: English, Chichewa
Some business and general info
The Market Research Industry
Trade and Industry in Malawi
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Settled since the 10th Century, The Republic of Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) is a landlocked country in southeast Africa. By 1500 the hunter gatherer tribes of the region operated as one country. Livingstone reached Lake Malawi (then called Lake Nyasa) in 1859 and by 1861 the British had colonised the country - this lasted until 1964 when Nyasaland became independent from the UK and renamed itself Malawi. It was a single party state from 1964 to 1994 when the President was ousted from power.
Now, Malawi operates a democratic, multi-party government. However, it is one of the World's least developed nations, with a low life expectancy, high infant mortality and a high proportion of AIDS sufferers in the country. That said, despite tribal conflict in the past, the country is now beginning to develop the concept of a Malawian nationality - this culture combines native and colonial aspects including art, dance, sports and music.
GDP: $13.51 billion (2010 est.) - $900 per capita
Religions Christian 79.9%, Muslim 12.8%, other 3%, none 4.3% (1998 census)
Currency: Kwacha (MWK) - GBP 1 = MWK 245.61
Telephone Code: +265
MR Association(s):
The MR industry in the Sadec Region (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zambia) turned over $9m USD in 2009 - a growth of 0.7% on 2008 (T'e industry in the region has grown by a steady $1m USD a year since 2005 ($5m USD)
Source: ESOMAR
The economy of Malawi is agriculture based - 85% of the population live in rural areas, and more than one-third of GDP (and 90% of export revenue) comes from agriculture. In the past the country has relied on aid from the World Bank, the IMF and individual nations - although in 2000 the IMF stopped aid due to corruption concerns, leading many individual donors to follow suit. Malawi still received $US 75m in aid in 2005 - however many suppliers of aid are still undecided about the level of government financial discipline.
The country suffers from a lack of foreign exchange and the government consistently fails to address barriers to investment - these include high service costs and poor infrastructure for power, water and telecommunications. However, the IMF predicts strong economic growth in the coming years, with the amount of people living either under the poverty line or in extreme poverty falling.
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