Malawi

Malawi is a landlocked nation of 15 million people in southern Africa, sharing borders with Tanzania, Mozambique, and Zambia. Malawi became independent from Great Britain in 1964. It is one of the poorest countries in the world (its 2009 Gross Domestic Product was $900 per capita), and more than half the country lives below the poverty line. Most of the population is Christian (79.9 percent), with 12.8 percent Muslim.

Life expectancy is among the lowest in the world, at 49.39 years for men and 50.67 years for women. A high fertility rate (5.59 children per women, the 14th highest in the world) results in an extremely low median age of 16.8 years; 45.8 percent of the population is 14 years or younger. The population growth rate ...