Malawi vs Zambia: Number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet
Malawi
19.80 million people
in 2024
Zambia
17.50 million people
in 2024
Malawi rank
24th
Zambia rank
26th
Number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet over time
- Malawi
- Zambia
How they compare
Malawi currently reports 19.80 million people against 17.50 million people in Zambia, a difference of 2.30 million people.
That makes Malawi's figure about 1.1 times Zambia's.
Across all 8 years both countries report, Malawi has been ahead every year.
Malawi ranks 24th and Zambia ranks 26th of 150 countries.
Malawi has averaged higher in every one of the 2 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Malawi | Zambia | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 15.77 million people | 14.07 million people | 1.70 million people | Malawi |
| 2020s | 18.42 million people | 16.44 million people | 1.98 million people | Malawi |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet, Malawi or Zambia?
- Malawi, at 19.80 million people against 17.50 million people in Zambia as of 2024.
- What is the difference in number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet between Malawi and Zambia?
- 2.30 million people, with Malawi ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Malawi and Zambia?
- 8 years are reported by both, from 2017 to 2024.
- How do Malawi and Zambia rank globally for number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet?
- Malawi ranks 24th and Zambia ranks 26th of 150 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- FAO and World Bank (2025), using data and methods from Bai et al. (2024) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Total number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet in a given country and year.