Sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality in Malawi

Malawi: Sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality was 6.49 years in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
6.49 years
Change on year
down 3.3%
World rank
49th
of 236 countries
All-time high
7.14 years
in 2020
All-time low
2.39 years
in 1995
Years of data
74
1950–2023

Sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality in Malawi, 1950–2023

234567195019862023

Source: Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.

Analysis

In 2023, sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality in Malawi stood at 6.49 years.

That represents a change of down 3.3% on the previous year and up 18.2% over ten years.

Over the whole period, sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality in Malawi peaked at 7.14 years in 2020 and was at its lowest, 2.39 years, in 1995.

That places Malawi 49th out of 236 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 74 years of available data.

Sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality in Malawi, year by year

Annual values for Sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality in Malawi, 1950 to 2023.
Year years Change
1950 3.51 years
1951 3.47 years -1.1%
1952 3.5 years +0.8%
1953 3.46 years -1.3%
1954 3.5 years +1.3%
1955 3.4 years -3.0%
1956 3.35 years -1.5%
1957 3.34 years -0.1%
1958 3.25 years -2.9%
1959 3.11 years -4.2%
1960 3.2 years +3.0%
1961 3.12 years -2.6%
1962 3.09 years -0.7%
1963 3.03 years -2.2%
1964 3.09 years +2.1%
1965 3.11 years +0.6%
1966 3.12 years +0.4%
1967 3.19 years +2.4%
1968 3.08 years -3.6%
1969 3.05 years -1.0%
1970 3.04 years -0.4%
1971 2.76 years -9.0%
1972 2.84 years +2.7%
1973 2.91 years +2.5%
1974 2.92 years +0.4%
1975 3.16 years +8.1%
1976 3.41 years +8.0%
1977 3.67 years +7.6%
1978 3.94 years +7.5%
1979 3.98 years +1.0%
1980 4.09 years +2.8%
1981 4.07 years -0.4%
1982 3.94 years -3.3%
1983 3.9 years -1.0%
1984 3.88 years -0.5%
1985 3.81 years -1.8%
1986 3.69 years -3.1%
1987 3.52 years -4.7%
1988 3.25 years -7.5%
1989 3.14 years -3.4%
1990 2.98 years -5.4%
1991 2.88 years -3.2%
1992 2.7 years -6.2%
1993 2.55 years -5.7%
1994 2.49 years -2.2%
1995 2.39 years -4.1%
1996 2.55 years +7.0%
1997 2.78 years +8.7%
1998 2.99 years +7.6%
1999 3.1 years +3.8%
2000 3.17 years +2.3%
2001 3.07 years -3.2%
2002 3.16 years +2.8%
2003 3.43 years +8.7%
2004 3.42 years -0.2%
2005 3.63 years +6.0%
2006 3.6 years -0.8%
2007 3.36 years -6.7%
2008 3.5 years +4.0%
2009 3.77 years +7.8%
2010 4.26 years +13.2%
2011 4.67 years +9.5%
2012 5.02 years +7.5%
2013 5.49 years +9.3%
2014 5.71 years +3.9%
2015 5.85 years +2.5%
2016 6.08 years +3.9%
2017 6.3 years +3.6%
2018 6.88 years +9.2%
2019 6.84 years -0.5%
2020 7.14 years +4.3%
2021 6.9 years -3.3%
2022 6.71 years -2.8%
2023 6.49 years -3.3%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1950s 3.39 years 3.11 years 3.51 years 10
1960s 3.11 years 3.03 years 3.2 years 10
1970s 3.26 years 2.76 years 3.98 years 10
1980s 3.73 years 3.14 years 4.09 years 10
1990s 2.74 years 2.39 years 3.1 years 10
2000s 3.41 years 3.07 years 3.77 years 10
2010s 5.71 years 4.26 years 6.88 years 10
2020s 6.81 years 6.49 years 7.14 years 4

Countries ranked near Malawi

  1. 46 Haiti 6.57 years compare
  2. 47 Slovakia 6.56 years compare
  3. 48 Serbia 6.54 years compare
  4. 50 Hungary 6.48 years compare
  5. 51 Bosnia and Herzegovina 6.48 years compare
  6. 52 Dominican Republic 6.44 years compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

More health data for Malawi

All data for Malawi →

Frequently asked questions

What is sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality in Malawi?
Sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality in Malawi was 6.49 years in 2023, according to Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality recorded in Malawi?
The highest recorded value was 7.14 years in 2020.
What is the lowest sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality recorded in Malawi?
The lowest recorded value was 2.39 years in 1995.
How does Malawi rank for sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality?
Malawi ranks 49th out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
Is sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality rising or falling in Malawi?
Over the last ten years it is up 18.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Malawi data come from?
The figures come from Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

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Sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality in Malawi. Statizoid, drawing on Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 31 August 2026, from https://health.statizoid.com/stat/difference-in-life-expectancy-between-females-and-males-vs-child-mortality/malawi/

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About this data

Indicator
Sex gap in life expectancy versus child mortality
Unit
years
Source
Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
236 places, 18,722 data points, 1751–2023
Last refreshed

Difference in period life expectancy (females - males) at a given age.