The population of Malawi is 10,548,250(2001 estimate). The nation has an overall population density of 89 persons per sq km (231 per sq mi), one of the highest in Africa. Malawi is separated into 3 regions and 24 districts. The largest city is Blantyre (population, 1998 estimate, 2,000,000). The capital, since 1975, is Lilongwe (1,000,000).

Nine major ethnic groups are historically associated with modern Malawi—the Chewa, Nyanja, Lomwe, Yao, Tumbuka, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni, and Ngonde (Nkonde). All the African languages spoken belong to the Bantu language family. Chichewa is the national language and English the official language, although English was understood by less than one-fifth of the population at freedom. Chichewa is spoken by about two-thirds of the population. Other valuable languages are Chilomwe, Chiyao, and Chitumbuka. Some two-thirds of the population are Christian, of which more than half are members of various Protestant denominations and the remainder Roman Catholic. Muslims constitute almost one-fifth of the population, and orthodox beliefs are adhered to by nearly everyone else.

The Chewas constitute 90% of the population of the central region; the Nyanja tribe predominates in the south and the Tumbuka in the north. In addition, remarkable numbers of the Tongas live in the north; Ngonis--an offshoot of the Zulus who came from South Africa in the early 1800s--live in the lower northern and lower central regions; and the Yao, who are mostly Muslim, live along the southeastern border with Mozambique.