Cropland area in Malawi
Malawi: Cropland area was 4.20 million hectares in 2023. ▲ Rising
Cropland area 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 cropland area in 2023. That is the highest value across all 63 years on record.
That represents a change of up 13.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, cropland area in Malawi peaked at 4.20 million hectares in 2021 and was at its lowest, 1.36 million hectares, in 1961.
Malawi ranks 62nd of 219 countries on this measure, 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 agriculture & rural data for Malawi
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 4.48 billion current US$ (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 30.0% (2025)
- Rural population 18.31 million (2025)
- Rural population growth 2.2% (2025)
- Rural population 82.4% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 2.7% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 0.9% (2024)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 30.0% (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 30.0% (2025)
- Land under cereal production 2.04 million hectares (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is cropland area in Malawi?
- Cropland area 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 cropland area recorded in Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 4.20 million hectares in 2021.
- What is the lowest cropland area recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.36 million hectares in 1961.
- How does Malawi rank for cropland area?
- Malawi ranks 62nd out of 219 countries with data for 2023.
- Is cropland area 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 Cropland area. 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).