91% Malawians jobless—official

Malawi launched the 2023 Population Week with the revelation that a paltry nine percent of the country’s population is in the labour workforce, shouldering the burden of providing for the remaining 91 percent.

Briefing journalists in Lilongwe yesterday, Principal Secretary for Economic Planning and Development Patrick Zimpita said the country’s age dependency ratio is at 91 percent.

He said the ratio of people below working age of less than 15 to the workforce is 86 percent, which shows a high pressure on Malawi’s productive age group of 15 years to 65 years.

Said Zimpita: “These statistics informed the development of the theme ‘Harnessing gender-centred human capital investment for inclusive socio-economic transformation’ for Malawi Population Week.”

He said currently, the country’s population is estimated at 20.9 million and is projected to rise further to 21.2 million by 2024.

On the other hand, the average fertility rate calculated as births per woman is at 3.9.

Zimpita said the age and sex pyramid shows that the population is youthful with 45 percent below the age of 15. The median population age is 18.1 years, comprising three percent infants aged less than one year, 15 percent under-five years and 49 percent aged 18.

He said: “The special emphasis on this year’s celebrations is on gender. This is upon recognition that gender equality is key for Malawi to achieve Sustainable Development Goals and aspirations in Malawi 2063.

“The ministry is, therefore, calling upon all stakeholders to fully support the youth with emphasis on adolescent girls, both in school and out of school, to make decisions that set them on a more productive path and continue building on successful efforts to reduce fertility, improve women’s entrepreneurship outcomes, and increase women’s access to resources and reduce their exposure to GBV [gender-based violence].”

Zimpita said moving forward, government commits to promoting inclusiveness in human capital development interventions by promoting gender transformative approaches and expanding the provision of social services and opportunities for minority and marginalised groups, including persons with disabilities to fully participate in wealth creation activities as well as provision of safety nets to marginalised and vulnerable groups to ensure shared prosperity.

National Planning Commission director general Thomas Chataghalala Munthali has since called for the need to incorporate issues of population growth across all sectors of the economy, saying it has become a binding constraint to national development.

Speaking in an interview, he said the Malawi 2063, the country’s long-term development strategy, recognises that the size and quality of a population matters in relation to the speed of socio-economic development.

Said Munthali: “A population characterised by a healthy, well-educated and skilled workforce as well as relatively wealthy individuals is critical in spurring economic growth. This is because it offers both the market and means for producing goods and services competitively.”

United Nations Development Programme country representative Nelida Rodrigues, who was also present at the launch, said the rapid population growth being experienced in Malawi is worsening poverty levels and putting pressure on the country’s limited resources and infrastructure.

She said addressing population dynamics through effective family planning and reproductive health programmes can help reduce the poverty rates by ensuring that families adequately provide for themselves.

Said Rodrigues: “Empowering women economically, socially and politically will also enable them to make autonomous decisions regarding their reproductive choices.

“When women have control of their reproductive choices through access to family planning and reproductive health services, they can space their pregnancies and achieve better maternal health.”

On her part, African Institute for Development Policy (Afidep) director of research for sustainable development policies and head of Malawi office Professor Nyovani Madise said if nothing is done to address the rapid population growth, by 2050 Malawi’s population will reach 42 million.

She said: “The population growth is not matching with the economic growth nor with the resources the nation has and, therefore, per capita, what the nation has, is getting lower and lower.

“We have to share the limited resources with a lot more people. Countries such as China had to manage their population to get to where they are today. Those in rural areas are the ones having many children, so they need to be supported so that those who want to have fewer children are able to do so.”

Afidep is currently working in about 20 countries, including Malawi in addressing issues of population dynamics and the demographic dividend.

Ministry of Health head of national family planning programmes Mary Phiri said considering that fertility is high among the young population, the ministry is lobbying for a policy that will allow the distribution of contraceptives in schools.

Currently, the distribution of contraceptives can only be done 100 metres away from the school.

The National Population Week coincides with World Population Day which falls on July 11 2023. This year’s World Population Day global theme is ‘Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities’.