The latest Integrated Household Survey (IHS), released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) has shown that the average number of people leaving below poverty line has reduced to 50.7% in 2020 from 51.5% in 2017.
The survey was released in Lilongwe on Wednesday, September 22.
According to the survey, analysis by place of residence shows that 56.6% of people from rural areas were poor compared to 19.2% in urban areas in 2019/2020.
At regional level, central region had the highest proportion of population that was poor (55.8%) followed by southern region (51.0%) and northern region (32.9%).
Overall, 20.5% proportion of the population lived in extreme poverty in 2019/2020 compared to 20.1% recorded in 2016/2017 survey.
In her remarks, Commissioner of Statistics, Mercy Kanyuka, said the latest data shows the country needs to do more in the reduction of poverty.
The report was launched by the State Vice president Saulos Chilima who said government understands concerns by Malawians on the levels of poverty in the country, however, he asked citizens to put trust in the Tonse Alliance administration as it is addressing the matter.
The estimates from the survey have been generated from the results of the 5th IHS conducted by NSO over a period of one year, from April 2019 to April 2020.
The main objective of the survey is to provide timely and reliable information for generating country’s welfare and socio-economic indicators which are key to monitoring and evaluation of national and international development frameworks such as the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MDG), Malawi 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs).
