Population notes

One interesting document that does not seem to get the attention it deserves is the NSO population and census data (http://www.nso.malawi.net/)

Lilongwe has overtaken Blantyre as the country’s largest city.

There are surprisingly sharp regional  differences in population growth rates. The growth rate declined between 1966  and 1977(from 3.3 to 2.9)  and short up quite sharply to 3.7 in the following decade only to sharply fall in the third decade to 2.0 (HIV/AIDS) and has gove up again to 2.8 (ARV?). Demographers explain!!

 Over the three decades the Northern Region has increased by 3.3 percent, Central Region by 3.1 percent and 2.4 percent in the Southern Region. For the city’s the growth rates are: Lilongwe City is 4.3 percent, Mzuzu city, 4 percent, Zomba city, 2.9 percent and Blantyre city, 2.8 percent. Any explanation for this?

 In terms of distribution, 45 percent of the people live in the Southern Region while 42 percent and 13 percent are in the Central Region and Northern Region, respectively.