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Updates: 

Neno district has been split from Mwanza. Source [2] says that the split happened in 2007-07. However, Wikipedia (source [3]) dates it to 2003. Source [4] states, "The Mwanza District has recently been split into two districts, namely the Mwanza and Neno districts. The Neno District does not yet have administrative structures in place, but there is a District Commissioner in place." The report doesn't seem to be dated, but it cites many dates, and none of them is later than 2003. The explanation may be that the split officially took place in 2003, but the governmental implementation wasn't complete until 2007. Newsletter II-2, an update to the ISO 3166-2 standard (2010-06-30), assigns an ISO code to the new district. Update 2 to "Geopolitical Entities and Codes" was published on 2010-11-30. It assigns the FIPS code.

Balaka, Likoma, and Phalombe districts were created in 1998. They were added to ISO 3166-2 by Newsletter Number I-2 (2002-05-21). FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 9, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4 (2004-10-01), assigned FIPS codes to the new districts. It also changed the FIPS codes of the old districts from which they were formed, except for Nkhata Bay.

Country overview: 

Short name	MALAWI
ISO code	MW
FIPS code	MI
Language	English (en),Chichewa
Time zone	+2
Capital	Lilongwe

 

In 1900, modern Malawi was the protectorate of British Central Africa. In 1907, the name was changed to Nyasaland Protectorate. On 1953-07-14, Nyasaland joined with Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) to form the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The federation was dissolved when Nyasaland withdrew in 1963. When it became independent on 1964-07-06, it changed its name to Malawi.

Other names of country: 

1. Chichewa: Dziko la Malawi (formal)
2. Danish: Malawi
3. Dutch: Malawi, Republiek Malawi (formal)
4. English: Republic of Malaŵi (formal), Nyasaland (obsolete)
5. Finnish: Malawi
6. French: Malawi m
7. German: Malawi n
8. Icelandic: Malaví
9. Italian: Malawi m
10. Norwegian: Malawi, Republikken Malawi (formal)
11. Portuguese: Malawi, Malavi, Malauí, Malaui (Brazil), República f do Malawi m (formal), Niassalândia f (obsolete)
12. Russian: Республика Малави (formal)
13. Spanish: Malaui, República f de Malawi (formal)
14. Swedish: Malawi
15. Turkish: Malavi Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

after the Chewa name for the lake

Primary subdivisions: 

Malawi is divided into 28 districts.

District	Reg	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Balaka	S	MW.BA	BA	MI26	316,748	2,193	847
Blantyre	S	MW.BL	BL	MI24	999,491	2,012	777
Chikwawa	S	MW.CK	CK	MI02	438,895	4,755	1,836
Chiradzulu	S	MW.CR	CR	MI03	290,946	767	296
Chitipa	N	MW.CT	CT	MI04	179,072	4,288	1,656
Dedza	C	MW.DE	DE	MI06	623,789	3,624	1,399
Dowa	C	MW.DO	DO	MI07	556,678	3,041	1,174
Karonga	N	MW.KR	KR	MI08	272,789	3,355	1,295
Kasungu	C	MW.KS	KS	MI09	616,085	7,878	3,042
Likoma	N	MW.LK	LK	MI27	10,445	18	7
Lilongwe	C	MW.LI	LI	MI11	1,897,167	6,159	2,378
Machinga	S	MW.MA	MH	MI28	488,996	3,771	1,456
Mangochi	S	MW.MG	MG	MI12	803,602	6,273	2,422
Mchinji	C	MW.MC	MC	MI13	456,558	3,356	1,296
Mulanje	S	MW.MJ	MU	MI29	525,429	2,056	794
Mwanza	S	MW.MN	MW	MI25	94,476	826	319
Mzimba	N	MW.MZ	MZ	MI15	853,305	10,430	4,027
Neno	S	MW.NN	NE	MI31	108,897	1,469	567
Nkhata Bay	N	MW.NA	NB	MI17	213,779	4,071	1,572
Nkhotakota	C	MW.NK	NK	MI18	301,868	4,259	1,644
Nsanje	S	MW.NS	NS	MI19	238,089	1,942	750
Ntcheu	C	MW.NU	NU	MI16	474,464	3,424	1,322
Ntchisi	C	MW.NI	NI	MI20	224,098	1,655	639
Phalombe	S	MW.PH	PH	MI30	313,227	1,394	538
Rumphi	N	MW.RU	RU	MI21	169,112	4,769	1,841
Salima	C	MW.SA	SA	MI22	340,327	2,196	848
Thyolo	S	MW.TH	TH	MI05	587,455	1,715	662
Zomba	S	MW.ZO	ZO	MI23	670,533	2,580	996
28 districts					13,066,320	94,276	36,400
Reg: Region to which the district belongs (see codes below). HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the district codes from ISO standard 3166-2. ISO: District codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "MW-" to the code (ex: MW-NU represents Ntcheu). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Population: 2008-06-08 census (preliminary results, source [5]). Capitals have the same name as their districts.

Further subdivisions:

There are also three regions, each containing several districts: Central (C), Northern (N), and Southern (S). In census reports, a few districts are shown divided into urban and rural parts: Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzimba (whose urban part is Mzuzu City), and Zomba.

At a lower level, Malawi is divided into traditional authorities, sub-traditional authorities (or sub-chiefs), towns, national parks, game reserves, etc. The urban areas are divided into wards. Some traditional authorities straddle district borders, so these subsidiary divisions don't fit precisely into a hierarchical scheme.

Territorial extent: 

Northern region contains the islands of Likoma and Chisamula in Lake Malawi. These islands are surrounded by Mozambican waters, making them exclaves.

The UN LOCODE page  for Malawi lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

Blantyre: named by Livingstone for his birthplace, Blantyre, Scotland

Change history: 

The Institute for Security Studies says (source [6]), "The number of districts can be increased or decreased at any time as determined by the Office of the President and Cabinet. As such, the number of districts has been varying since independence.... (Muula & Chanika, 2005)"

1. ~1958: Name and capital of Chinteche district changed to Nkhata Bay; Chitipa district split from Karonga; Fort Manning-Lilongwe district split into Fort Manning (later Mchinji) and Lilongwe; Liwonde-Zomba district split into Liwonde (later Kasupe) and Zomba; Neno district merged with Blantyre; Ntchisi district split from Dowa; Rumphi district split from Mzimba; Salima district split from Kota Kota (later Nkhotakota).
2. 1964-07-06: At independence, Malawi had 23 districts. If I haven't missed anything in the change history since then, they would have been Blantyre, Chikwawa, Chiradzulu, Chitipa, Dedza, Dowa, Karonga, Kasungu, Lilongwe, Machinga, Fort Johnston, Mchinji, Mlange, Mzimba, Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Nsanje, Ntcheu, Ntchisi, Rumpi, Salima, Thyolo, and Zomba.
3. 1969-05: Chiradzulu district merged with Blantyre.
4. 1970-01: Chiradzulu district split from Blantyre again.
5. 1971-01: Mwanza district split from Blantyre (formerly FIPS MI01).
6. 1971-03-26: Name of Fort Johnston district, and its capital, changed to Mangoche; name of Mlange district, and its capital, changed to Mulanje; name of Rumpi district, and its capital, changed to Rumphi.
7. 1975-01-01: Capital of Malawi moved from Zomba to Lilongwe.
8. 1998-06: Balaka district split from Machinga (formerly FIPS MI10); Phalombe district split from Mulanje (formerly MI14); Likoma district split from Nkhata Bay (FIPS code unchanged). Likoma probably consists of Likoma and Chisamula Islands in Lake Malawi.
9. 2003: Neno district split from Mwanza (former HASC code MW.MW).

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Likoma: Likoma Island (variant)
2. Lilongwe: Lilongüe (Spanish)
3. Machinga: Kasupe, Kasupi, Liwonde (obsolete)
4. Mangochi: Fort Johnston (obsolete)
5. Mchinji: Fort Manning (obsolete)
6. Mulanje: Mlange, Mlanje (variant)
7. Nkhata Bay: Chinteche (obsolete)
8. Nkhotakota: Kota Kota (obsolete)
9. Nsanje: Port Herald (obsolete)
10. Ntcheu: Ncheu (obsolete)
11. Ntchisi: Nchisi (variant)
12. Rumphi: Rumpi (variant)
13. Thyolo: Cholo (obsolete)

Population history:

Regions:

Region	ISO	1945	1966-08-09	1977-09-20	1987-09	1998-09	2008-06-08	Area(km.²)	Capital	Malawi
Central	C	751,390	1,474,952	2,143,716	3,110,986	4,066,340	5,491,034	35,592	Lilongwe	Chapakati
Northern	N	290,859	497,491	648,853	911,787	1,233,560	1,698,502	26,931	Mzuzu	Chakumpoto
Southern	S	1,007,802	2,067,140	2,754,891	3,965,734	4,633,968	5,876,784	31,753	Blantyre	Chakumwera
Total		2,050,051	4,039,583	5,547,460	7,988,507	9,933,868	13,066,320	94,276
ISO: Region codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "MW-" to the code (ex: MW-C represents Central). Dates are census dates. Malawi: region name in Malawi language.

 

Districts:

District	1987-09	1998-09	2008-06-08
Balaka		253,098	316,748
Blantyre	589,525	809,397	999,491
Chikwawa	316,733	356,682	438,895
Chiradzulu	210,912	236,050	290,946
Chitipa	96,794	126,799	179,072
Dedza	411,787	486,682	623,789
Dowa	322,432	411,387	556,678
Karonga	148,014	194,572	272,789
Kasungu	323,453	480,659	616,085
Likoma		8,074	10,445
Lilongwe	976,627	1,346,360	1,897,167
Machinga	515,265	369,614	488,996
Mangochi	496,578	610,239	803,602
Mchinji	249,843	324,941	456,558
Mulanje	638,062	428,322	525,429
Mwanza	121,513	138,015	94,476
Mzimba	433,696	610,994	853,305
Neno			108,897
Nkhata Bay	138,381	164,761	213,779
Nkhotakota	158,044	229,460	301,868
Nsanje	204,374	194,924	238,089
Ntcheu	358,767	370,757	474,464
Ntchisi	120,860	167,880	224,098
Phalombe		231,990	313,227
Rumphi	94,902	128,360	169,112
Salima	189,173	248,214	340,327
Thyolo	431,157	458,976	587,455
Zomba	441,615	546,661	670,533

Sources: 

1. [1] 1998 Malawi Census Analytical Report  has census population for the whole country going back to 1901 on p. 8 (document numbering; retrieved 2010-10-17).
2. [2] Mwanza District Assembly District Education Plan  (December 2007).
3. [3] Wikipedia, "Neno District ", first posted 2008-09-20.
4. [4] Environmental Impact Assessment: Mozambique-Malawi Interconnection Draft  (retrieved 2010-10-17).
5. [5] "2008 Population and Housing Census, Preliminary Report", National Statistical Office. Zomba, Malawi, Sept. 2008. http://nso.malawi.net/data_on_line/demography/census_2008/MWCensus08_report.pdf (dead link, retrieved 2008-11-15).
6. [6] Institute for Security Studies http://www.issafrica.org/index.php?link_id=14&slink_id=5599&link_type=12&slink_type=12&tmpl_id=3 (dead link),