Malawi vs Zambia: Age dependency ratio
Malawi
74.6%
in 2025
Zambia
75.3%
in 2025
Malawi rank
29th
Zambia rank
27th
Age dependency ratio over time
- Malawi
- Zambia
How they compare
Zambia currently reports 75.3% against 74.6% in Malawi, a difference of 0.7%.
The two have swapped places 2 times across 66 shared years of data; in 1960 it was Zambia ahead.
Malawi ranks 29th and Zambia ranks 27th of 218 countries.
Across the 7 decades both report, Malawi averaged higher in 3 and Zambia in 4.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Malawi | Zambia | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 86.1% | 98.4% | 12.3% | Zambia |
| 1970s | 91.7% | 107.1% | 15.4% | Zambia |
| 1980s | 96.2% | 108.5% | 12.3% | Zambia |
| 1990s | 97.5% | 103.7% | 6.2% | Zambia |
| 2000s | 99.4% | 97.3% | 2.1% | Malawi |
| 2010s | 94.1% | 88.6% | 5.5% | Malawi |
| 2020s | 79.4% | 78.8% | 0.6% | Malawi |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher age dependency ratio, Malawi or Zambia?
- Zambia, at 75.3% against 74.6% in Malawi as of 2025.
- What is the difference in age dependency ratio between Malawi and Zambia?
- 0.7%, with Zambia ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Malawi and Zambia?
- 66 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2025.
- How do Malawi and Zambia rank globally for age dependency ratio?
- Malawi ranks 29th and Zambia ranks 27th of 218 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Population Division, published as Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Age dependency ratio is the ratio of dependents--people younger than 15 or older than 64--to the working-age population--those ages 15-64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population.