Closing the divide in Malawi: how to reduce inequality and increase prosperity for all

Inequality between the richest and the rest in Malawi continues to rise, with poverty remaining extreme and endemic. Climate change is compounding the challenges, with recent droughts and floods likely to have worsened poverty, resulting in one in three Malawians relying on humanitarian assistance in 2016. Economic inequality threatens to undermine the hard-fought and important progress on some aspects of human development in Malawi. This report presents a vision, roadmap and policy recommendations for a more inclusive, equitable and prosperous Malawi. It shows that inequality is not inevitable but the result of policy choices made by those with power. Breaking out of slow and unequal growth requires government, development partners and institutions to work for all, especially for those living at the margins, rather than serving powerful vested interests.