Political Rights Score in Malawi
Malawi: Political Rights Score was 30 in 2025. ▲ Rising
Political Rights Score in Malawi, 2002–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Malawi recorded 30 for political rights score in 2025. That is the highest value across all 24 years on record.
The figure is up 7.1% on the previous year and up 11.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, political rights score in Malawi peaked at 30 in 2025 and was at its lowest, 23, in 2002.
That places Malawi 81st out of 197 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 24 years of available data.
Political Rights Score in Malawi, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 23 | — |
| 2003 | 25 | +8.7% |
| 2004 | 23 | -8.0% |
| 2005 | 23 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 23 | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 23 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 23 | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 26 | +13.0% |
| 2010 | 26 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 25 | -3.8% |
| 2012 | 26 | +4.0% |
| 2013 | 26 | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 27 | +3.8% |
| 2015 | 27 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 26 | -3.7% |
| 2017 | 26 | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 26 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 26 | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 29 | +11.5% |
| 2021 | 29 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 29 | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 29 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 28 | -3.4% |
| 2025 | 30 | +7.1% |
Malawi compared with similar countries
- Malawi's 30 is above the median for low income countries, which is 3, 10.0× the median. (25 countries reporting)
- Malawi's 30 is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 10.5, 2.9× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 23.62 | 23 | 26 | 8 |
| 2010s | 26.1 | 25 | 27 | 10 |
| 2020s | 29 | 28 | 30 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Malawi
More social development data for Malawi
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 35,241 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 551 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 2 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate -33.33 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 2 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 551 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0016 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is political rights score in Malawi?
- Political rights score in Malawi was 30 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest political rights score recorded in Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 30 in 2025.
- What is the lowest political rights score recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 23 in 2002.
- How does Malawi rank for political rights score?
- Malawi ranks 81st out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political rights score rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is up 11.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Malawi data come from?
- The figures come from Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Political Rights Score. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 24 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Identifies the fine-grained extent of free and fair elections, political pluralism and participation, and a functioning government. Higher scores indicate more rights.