Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Malawi
Malawi: Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade was 9.1% in 2023. ◆ Volatile
Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Malawi, 1971–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Malawi is 9.1%, measured in 2023.
That represents a change of down 11.6% on the previous year and down 19.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Malawi peaked at 22.4% in 2004 and was at its lowest, -0.4%, in 1983.
Malawi ranks 25th of 225 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The series is highly variable year to year, so single readings are best treated with caution.
Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Malawi, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 20.5% | — |
| 1972 | 18.4% | -10.4% |
| 1973 | 18.1% | -1.5% |
| 1974 | 16.5% | -9.1% |
| 1975 | 8.5% | -48.3% |
| 1976 | 7.1% | -16.8% |
| 1977 | 8.6% | +21.3% |
| 1978 | 7.0% | -18.1% |
| 1979 | 5.7% | -19.5% |
| 1980 | 3.3% | -41.5% |
| 1981 | 1.9% | -43.0% |
| 1982 | 3.1% | +66.3% |
| 1983 | -0.4% | -113.6% |
| 1984 | 0.8% | -276.3% |
| 1985 | 2.4% | +220.7% |
| 1986 | 4.9% | +103.1% |
| 1987 | 5.0% | +1.0% |
| 1988 | 3.7% | -25.6% |
| 1989 | 4.9% | +32.6% |
| 1990 | 10.1% | +106.2% |
| 1991 | 9.9% | -2.0% |
| 1992 | 6.0% | -40.0% |
| 1993 | 8.4% | +40.6% |
| 1994 | 2.0% | -76.1% |
| 1995 | 6.9% | +242.5% |
| 1996 | 6.7% | -2.4% |
| 1997 | 7.8% | +16.2% |
| 1998 | 11.3% | +45.1% |
| 1999 | 12.4% | +9.4% |
| 2000 | 12.1% | -1.8% |
| 2001 | 11.8% | -2.7% |
| 2002 | 13.1% | +11.1% |
| 2003 | 16.6% | +26.8% |
| 2004 | 22.4% | +34.5% |
| 2005 | 21.0% | -6.0% |
| 2006 | 20.7% | -1.7% |
| 2007 | 19.3% | -6.6% |
| 2008 | 18.7% | -3.3% |
| 2009 | 17.2% | -7.9% |
| 2010 | 16.0% | -7.2% |
| 2011 | 13.6% | -15.0% |
| 2012 | 13.6% | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 11.3% | -16.3% |
| 2014 | 13.5% | +18.8% |
| 2015 | 10.2% | -24.6% |
| 2016 | 9.0% | -11.1% |
| 2017 | 10.1% | +11.5% |
| 2018 | 8.1% | -19.9% |
| 2019 | 8.1% | +0.2% |
| 2020 | 9.1% | +12.6% |
| 2021 | 10.3% | +13.2% |
| 2022 | 10.3% | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 9.1% | -11.6% |
Malawi compared with similar countries
- Malawi's 9.1% is above the median for low income countries, which is 0.6%, 15.1× the median. (23 countries reporting)
- Malawi's 9.1% is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.9%, 10.1× the median. (46 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Malawi changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | +276.3% | -0.4% | 0.8% |
| 1995 | +242.5% | 2.0% | 6.9% |
| 1985 | +220.7% | 0.8% | 2.4% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 12.3% | 5.7% | 20.5% | 9 |
| 1980s | 3.0% | -0.4% | 5.0% | 10 |
| 1990s | 8.1% | 2.0% | 12.4% | 10 |
| 2000s | 17.3% | 11.8% | 22.4% | 10 |
| 2010s | 11.3% | 8.1% | 16.0% | 10 |
| 2020s | 9.7% | 9.1% | 10.3% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Malawi
More agriculture & rural data for Malawi
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), annual 24.6 % change on previous year (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 0.3003 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 201.66 current US$ per person (2025)
- Rural population, annual growth rate 2.19 % change on previous year (2025)
- Rural population, per unit of GDP 0.0012 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Rural population, per capita 0.8241 units per person (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 30.0% (2025)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 30.0% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 0.9% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 2.7% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Malawi?
- Is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Malawi was 9.1% 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 is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade recorded in Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 22.4% in 2004.
- What is the lowest is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was -0.4% in 1983.
- How does Malawi rank for is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade?
- Malawi ranks 25th out of 225 countries with data for 2023.
- Is is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is down 19.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- 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 Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 53 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage change in surface area devoted to agriculture with respect to 10 years before. Negative values imply that surface area has decreased with respect to the previous decade. This data is used to assess which countries may have already peaked in their agricultural land use.