Ngoni Warrior © Central Africana

Chichewa is the most commonly spoken local language. Other languages spoken in Malawi include Chiyao, Chilomwe, Chitumbuka, Chitonga and Chisena. The official language is English. Education is diffucult after primary school level - and there are still, despite the free schooling introduced by the government of Dr. Bakili Muluzi, the problems associated with developing countries; lack of money, lack of school, lack of books
Malawian music, dance and literature (particularly in the oral tradition) are alive and well and, with multi-party democracy, newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations have proliferated.

Economics

Malawi is a poor country. The population in 1996 was estimated at about 10 million although this may still have included a very substantial number of refugees from the war in Mozambique, whom Malawi hosted in those troubled times.
Urbanisation continues as fewer people are able to survive from rural activities and there are large concentrations of people around the cities - the capital, Lilongwe, business centre Blantyre (and twin suburb Limbe), the first, and still the academic, capital of Zomba and the fastest growing northern city of Mzuzu.
In the south, there is intense cultivation - and population - while in the north the people live in scattered villages and the traditional way of life is more prevalent.

Agriculture
Malawi's economy is based on agriculture and most of the people are either involved in farming projects, or are subsistence farmers. Tobacco, sugar and tea are the main exports and coffee is also grown. Rural people grow tobacco for sale at the huge auction floors in all three cities, and also plant maize, millet and rice, bananas, citrus and vegetables.