Malawi
Malawi is one of the 193 UN member states, in Eastern Africa. UN Tourism counted 871,000 international arrivals there in 2018, rarer than 72% of the 199 places with figures, so its stamp in Globestamp is printed in Hologram.
- International arrivals
- 871,000in 2018, UN Tourism
- Rank by visitors
- 143rd of 199most visited first
- Stamp finish
- Hologramrarer than 72%
- Area
- 119,849 km² (46,274 sq mi)
- Population
- 18.6 millionNatural Earth estimate
- Districts
- 27in Globestamp’s regions layer
- Airports
- 2with scheduled flights
- World Heritage Sites
- 3on Globestamp’s list
Does Malawi count as a country?
Yes. Malawi is one of the 193 UN member states, so every common list counts it: the UN’s 193, Globestamp’s 250 and the Travelers’ Century Club’s 330.
| List | Counts Malawi? |
|---|---|
| UN member states (193) | Yes, a member |
| Globestamp’s countries and territories (250) | Yes |
| Travelers’ Century Club (330) | Yes, as Malawi |
| European Union | No |
| Schengen area | No |
The Malawi stamp
Every country in Globestamp has its own stamp, drawn after a real entry stamp. Its finish shows how few travelers get there. Malawi’s is Hologram: cracked ice, a mosaic of small mirrors, the finish for places with 500,000 to 2 million visitors a year. With 871,000 international arrivals in 2018, Malawi is rarer than 72% of the 199 places with figures. See every stamp on the stamp wall, or the rarest on the least-visited countries.
What counts as a visit to Malawi
The common rule among travelers is that you set foot there: an airport layover usually doesn’t count, and a port where you went ashore does. Globestamp counts Malawi when one of your photos was taken on its ground, or just off its coast; a photo taken from a plane never counts. Photos only at an airport make a transit stamp in lighter ink, counted only if you count layovers. Read more in how to count the countries you’ve visited.
Places in Malawi you can collect
Under the country itself, Globestamp keeps layers of places on your globe, and a photo taken at one ticks it. These are the ones it knows in Malawi, from 3 World Heritage Sites.
World Heritage Sites 3
Lake Malawi National Park (1984) · Mulanje Massif (2025) · Chongoni Rock Art Area (2006). On the bucket list →
National parks 1
Lake Malawi National Park. On the bucket list →
Largest cities
| City | People (urban area) |
|---|---|
| Lilongwe | 646,750 |
| Blantyre | 584,877 |
| Mzuzu | 110,201 |
| Mangochi | 97,711 |
| Zomba | 80,932 |
| Salima | 71,181 |
| Nkhotakota | 59,854 |
Airports
Malawi has 2 airports with scheduled flights, 2 of them large. Each is a dot on Globestamp’s airports layer, and every flight you log adds to how far you’ve flown (try the flight distance calculator).
27 districts to fill in
Globestamp goes deeper than countries: its regions layer splits Malawi into 27 districts (Natural Earth’s first-level divisions), and each one fills in when a photo was taken there.
All 27
Balaka · Blantyre · Chikwawa · Chiradzulu · Chitipa · Dedza · Dowa · Kasungu · Likoma · Lilongwe · Machinga · Mangochi · Mchinji · Mulanje · Mwanza · Mzimba · Neno · Nkhata Bay · Nkhotakota · Nsanje · Ntcheu · Ntchisi · Phalombe · Rumphi · Salima · Thyolo · Zomba
Questions people ask
Is Malawi a country?
Yes. Malawi is one of the 193 UN member states, so every common list counts it: the UN’s 193, Globestamp’s 250 and the Travelers’ Century Club’s 330.
How many tourists visit Malawi a year?
UN Tourism (via the World Bank) counted 871,000 international arrivals in Malawi in 2018, the 143rd most of the 199 places with figures. Countries count arrivals in different ways (some include day-trippers and cruise passengers), so treat it as a rough rank rather than an exact number of tourists.
How rare is a Malawi stamp in Globestamp?
It is printed in Hologram, the finish for places with 500,000 to 2 million visitors a year, rarer than 72% of the places with figures. The fewer travelers a place receives, the rarer its finish, from plain Ink to Mythic.
Does Malawi count for the Travelers’ Century Club?
Yes. The Travelers’ Century Club counts it as “Malawi”, one of its 330 destinations.
Places as rare as Malawi
Near Malawi
Sources
- Countries, cities and regions: Natural Earth 10m admin-0 (public domain); lists as of October 2026.
- Visitors: UN Tourism via the World Bank, ST.INT.ARVL (International tourism, number of arrivals), CC BY 4.0, data updated 2026-10-08. Each country's latest year before 2020. Countries count visitors differently; use as a rough rank.
- World Heritage Sites, parks, landmarks and the bucket-list places: Wikidata (CC0), as compiled in the app, October 2026.
- Airports: OurAirports (public domain), airports with scheduled service.
- Travelers’ Century Club: the club’s list of 330 destinations, as of January 2022.