ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Malawi. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Malawi. Fear grew in 2001 that Malawi was on the way back to the kind of authoritarian rule that preceded the 1994 election that brought President Elson Bakili Muluzi to power. The citizens of Malawi are guaranteed the right to choose their leaders. The opposition appealed the results of the 1994 elections, which were considered Malawi's first generally free and fair multiparty elections. Malawi is 75 percent Christian and about 20 percent Muslim. About 60 percent of Malawi's ten million people have no access to land, and the issue is a potential breeding ground for social unrest.
