Districts of Malawi

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Updates: 

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 9, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2004-10-01. It assigns FIPS codes to the three new districts. It also changes the FIPS codes of the old districts from which they were formed, except for Nkhata Bay. Details are below under Primary subdivisions and Change history.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002-05-21. It shows the three new districts of Malawi. I have inserted the ISO codes for the new districts into the table below.

The National Statistical Office  of Malawi has posted the final results of the 1998 census.

Country overview: 

Short nameMALAWI
ISO codeMW
FIPS codeMI
LanguageEnglish (en),Chichewa
Time zone+2
CapitalLilongwe

 

In 1900, modern Malawi was the protectorate of British Central Africa. In 1907, the name was changed to Nyasaland Protectorate. On 1953-07-14, Nyasaland joined with Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) to form the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The federation was dissolved when Nyasaland withdrew in 1963. When it became independent on 1964-07-06, it changed its name to Malawi.

Other names of country: 

  1. Chichewa: Dziko la Malawi (formal)
  2. Danish: Malawi
  3. Dutch: Malawi, Republiek Malawi (formal)
  4. English: Republic of Malaŵi (formal), Nyasaland (obsolete)
  5. Finnish: Malawi
  6. French: Malawi m
  7. German: Malawi n
  8. Icelandic: Malaví
  9. Italian: Malawi m
  10. Norwegian: Malawi, Republikken Malawi (formal)
  11. Portuguese: Malawi, Malavi, Malauí, Malaui (Brazil), República f do Malawi m (formal), Niassalândia f (obsolete)
  12. Spanish: Malaui, República f de Malawi (formal)
  13. Swedish: Malawi

Origin of name: 

after the Chewa name for the lake

Primary subdivisions: 

Malawi is divided into 27 districts.

DistrictRegHASCISOFIPSPopulationArea(km.²)Area(mi.²)
BalakaSMW.BABAMI26253,0982,193847
BlantyreSMW.BLBLMI24809,3972,012777
ChikwawaSMW.CKCKMI02356,6824,7551,836
ChiradzuluSMW.CRCRMI03236,050767296
ChitipaNMW.CTCTMI04126,7994,2881,656
DedzaCMW.DEDEMI06486,6823,6241,399
DowaCMW.DODOMI07411,3873,0411,174
KarongaNMW.KRKRMI08194,5723,3551,295
KasunguCMW.KSKSMI09480,6597,8783,042
LikomaNMW.LKLKMI278,074187
LilongweCMW.LILIMI111,346,3606,1592,378
MachingaSMW.MAMHMI28369,6143,7711,456
MangochiSMW.MGMGMI12610,2396,2732,422
MchinjiCMW.MCMCMI13324,9413,3561,296
MulanjeSMW.MJMUMI29428,3222,056794
MwanzaSMW.MWMWMI25138,0152,295886
MzimbaNMW.MZMZMI15610,99410,4304,027
Nkhata BayNMW.NANBMI17164,7614,0711,572
NkhotakotaCMW.NKNKMI18229,4604,2591,644
NsanjeSMW.NSNSMI19194,9241,942750
NtcheuCMW.NUNUMI16370,7573,4241,322
NtchisiCMW.NINIMI20167,8801,655639
PhalombeSMW.PHPHMI30231,9901,394538
RumphiNMW.RURUMI21128,3604,7691,841
SalimaCMW.SASAMI22248,2142,196848
ThyoloSMW.THTHMI05458,9761,715662
ZombaSMW.ZOZOMI23546,6612,580996
27 districts9,933,86894,27636,400
  • Reg: Region to which the district belongs. See Population history for key to region codes.
  • HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced
    by hyphens, these are the same as the district codes from ISO standard 3166-2.
  • ISO: District codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context,
    prefix "MW-" to the code (ex: MW-NU represents Ntcheu).
  • FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard.
  • Population: 1998-09 census.
  • Capitals have the same name as their districts.

Territorial extent: 

Northern region contains the islands of Likoma and Chisamula in Lake Malawi. These islands are surrounded by Mozambican waters, making them exclaves.

Origins of names: 

Blantyre: named by Livingstone for his birthplace, Blantyre, Scotland

Change history: 

  1. ~1958: Name and capital of Chinteche district changed to Nkhata Bay; Chitipa district split from Karonga; Fort Manning-Lilongwe district split into Fort Manning (later Mchinji) and Lilongwe; Liwonde-Zomba district split into Liwonde (later Kasupe) and Zomba; Neno district merged with Blantyre; Ntchisi district split from Dowa; Rumphi district split from Mzimba; Salima district split from Kota Kota (later Nkhotakota).
  2. 1971-03-26: Name of Fort Johnston district, and its capital, changed to Mangoche; name of Mlange district, and its capital, changed to Mulanje; name of Rumpi district, and its capital, changed to Rumphi.
  3. 1975-01-01: Capital of Malawi moved from Zomba to Lilongwe.
  4. ~1982: Mwanza district split from Blantyre (formerly FIPS MI01).
  5. 1998-06: Balaka district split from Machinga (formerly FIPS MI10); Phalombe district split from Mulanje (formerly MI14); Likoma district split from Nkhata Bay (FIPS code unchanged). Likoma probably consists of Likoma and Chisamula Islands in Lake Malawi.

Other names of subdivisions: 

  1. Likoma: Likoma Island (variant)
  2. Machinga: Kasupe, Kasupi, Liwonde (obsolete)
  3. Mangochi: Fort Johnston (obsolete)
  4. Mchinji: Fort Manning (obsolete)
  5. Mulanje: Mlange, Mlanje (variant)
  6. Nkhata Bay: Chinteche (obsolete)
  7. Nkhotakota: Kota Kota (obsolete)
  8. Nsanje: Port Herald (obsolete)
  9. Ntcheu: Ncheu (obsolete)
  10. Ntchisi: Nchisi (variant)
  11. Rumphi: Rumpi (variant)
  12. Thyolo: Cholo (obsolete)

Population history:

RegionISO19451966-08-091977-09-201987-091998-09Area(km.²)Capital
CentralC751,3901,474,9522,143,7163,110,9864,066,34035,592Lilongwe
NorthernN290,859497,491648,853911,7871,233,56026,931Mzuzu
SouthernS1,007,8022,067,1402,754,8913,965,7344,633,96831,754Blantyre
Total2,050,0514,039,5835,547,4607,988,5079,933,86894,276
  • ISO: Region codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a
    global context, prefix "MW-" to the code (ex: MW-C represents Central).
  • Dates are census dates.
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