Terrestrial protected areas in Malawi

Protected areas covered 23.1% of the land area of Malawi in 2025.

Measure: Terrestrial protected areas Unit: % of land area Data: 2013 to 2025 Source: World Bank
Malawi, 2025 23.1% % of land area
Change from 2024 0percentage points 2024: 23.1%
World, 2025 16.5% Official aggregate
Position in 2025 63rd of 213 See the full ranking

Terrestrial protected areas in Malawi over time

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Malawi World ×

% of land area. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators. Gaps mean no published value; points are not joined across missing years.

Terrestrial protected areas (% of land area), 2013 to 2025
Period MalawiWorld
2025 23.1% 16.5%
2024 23.1% 16.4%
2023 22.9% 16.1%
2022 22.9% 15.9%
2021 22.9% 15.8%
2020 22.9% 15.4%
2019 22.9% 15.1%
2018 22.9% 15.0%
2017 17.4% 15.1%
2016 16.9% 14.9%
2015 16.9% 15.0%
2014 16.9% 15.2%
2013 16.9% 15.0%

A dash means no value was published for that period.

In short

  • That is unchanged from 2024.
  • Since 2015, when it was 16.9%, the figure has changed by +6.2 percentage points.
  • Among the 213 countries with data for 2025, Malawi has the 63rd highest value.
  • The figure for the world in 2025 was 16.5%.

Source and dates

Original producer
UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, World Database on Protected Areas
Distributed by
World Bank, World Development Indicators
Dataset or series code
ER.LND.PTLD.ZS · dataset details · view at source
Observation period
2013 to 2025 for Malawi
Provider update
8 October 2026
Retrieved
9 November 2026
Published here
9 November 2026
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (per series metadata)
Attribution
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, original data: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, World Database on Protected Areas