Compare
Kenya vs Malawi
How Kenya and Malawi compare on 38 measures, from 1820 to 2025. The main differences:
- Life expectancy · In 2023, Malawi was higher: 67.4 years against 63.7 years
- GDP per person · In 2025, Kenya was higher: $1,908 against $548
- Population · In 2023, Kenya was higher: 55.3 million people against 21.1 million people
- Military spending · In 2025, Malawi was higher: 1.15% of GDP against 1.07% of GDP
- CO₂ per person · In 2024, Kenya was higher: 0.38 tonnes against 0.22 tonnes
Every measure
Health
- Life expectancyKenya: 63.7 years in 2023Malawi: 67.4 years in 2023
- Child mortalityKenya: 3.9 per 100 live births in 2024Malawi: 4.9 per 100 live births in 2024
- Infant mortalityKenya: 29.7 per 1,000 live births in 2023Malawi: 29.6 per 1,000 live births in 2023
- DepressionKenya: 3.51% in 2017Malawi: 3.45% in 2017
- Suicide rateKenya: 11.1 per 100,000 people in 2017Malawi: 12.1 per 100,000 people in 2017
People
- PopulationKenya: 55.3 million people in 2023Malawi: 21.1 million people in 2023
- Population growthKenya: 1.97% a year in 2023Malawi: 2.57% a year in 2023
- Fertility rateKenya: 3.21 births per woman in 2023Malawi: 3.65 births per woman in 2023
- Urban populationKenya: 32.2% in 2025Malawi: 17.6% in 2025
- Median ageKenya: 19.5 years in 2023Malawi: 17.6 years in 2023
- People aged 65 and overKenya: 2.9% in 2023Malawi: 2.6% in 2023
- Net migration rateKenya: -0.2 per 1,000 people in 2023Malawi: -0.3 per 1,000 people in 2023
Economy
Education
Politics
Conflict
Military
- Military spendingKenya: 1.07% of GDP in 2025Malawi: 1.15% of GDP in 2025
- Military spending in US dollarsKenya: $1.36B in 2025Malawi: $128M in 2025
- Military spending per personKenya: $26 in 2025Malawi: $7 in 2025
- Military share of state spendingKenya: 4.6% of government spending in 2025Malawi: 3.8% of government spending in 2025
- Armed forces personnelKenya: 24,000 people in 2020Malawi: 15,000 people in 2020
- National powerKenya: 0.23% of world capability in 2022Malawi: 0.07% of world capability in 2022
- Armed forces, share of workersKenya: 0.11% of the labour force in 2020Malawi: 0.2% of the labour force in 2020
- Arms importsKenya: 117 million TIV in 2025Malawi: 2 million TIV in 2024
- Arms exportsKenya: 2 million TIV in 1993Malawi: 1 million TIV in 2000
Climate
Technology and environment
Each country on its own
Good to know
- Sources: UN, Gapminder and UN IGME, IHME, World Bank, IMF, UNESCO, Our World in Data, V-Dem, UCDP, SIPRI, IISS, Correlates of War, ERA5, CMIP6, EDGAR, ITU and FAO. Each measure’s page names its own and what it counts.
- Values are drawn on today’s borders. Years without a published value are left empty, never filled in.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Countries through time