Malawi
Go back Results are from an analysis of the 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 6 (MICS6). Information on methodology is in the main text of the report and in the methods briefs.
Key indicators on the deprivations and wellbeing experienced by women with and without functional difficulties are presented in Table 1. Table 1 begins with information on the multidimensional poverty headcount—the rate of women deprived in more than one dimension in the areas of education, health, and standard of living. Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty have a multidimensional poverty headcount of 80% compared to 79% for women with some functional difficulty and 78% for women with no difficulty.
Table 1_Malawi: Key indicators for women age 18 to 49 by functional difficulty status (% and percentage points)
| Indicator | No Difficulty |
Some Difficulty |
Difference between no difficulty and some difficulty |
At least a lot of difficulty |
Difference between no difficulty and at least a lot of difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multidimensional poverty headcount | 78 | 79 | -1 | 80 | -1 |
| Less than primary school | 58 | 61 | -2** | 65 | -6*** |
| Owns a mobile phone | 38 | 39 | -2 | 36 | 2 |
| Safely managed drinking water | 88 | 87 | 0 | 86 | 1 |
| Safely managed sanitation | 44 | 44 | 0 | 47 | -3 |
| Clean fuel | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Electricity | 14 | 14 | 0 | 11 | 3** |
| Adequate housing | 30 | 30 | 0 | 28 | 1 |
| Owns assets | 18 | 19 | -1** | 17 | 1* |
| Having felt discriminated against or harassed | 16 | 27 | -11*** | 32 | -16*** |
| Happiness: very or somewhat happy | 65 | 57 | 7*** | 57 | 7*** |
Notes: *, **, and *** indicate that the difference is statistically significant at the 10%, 5% and 1% levels respectively. Numbers in the difference columns are in percentage points while all other numbers in the table are percentages. The share of women having felt discriminated against or harassed is on the basis of any ground.
Source: Malawi 2019 MICS6, own calculations
Education
The share of women ages 18 to 49 who have less than primary school as their highest level of schooling attained is significantly higher among women with at least a lot of functional difficulty (65%) and women with some difficulty (61%) compared to women with no difficulty (58%). This boils down to gaps of six percentage points (p.p.) between women with at least a lot of difficulty and no difficulty and two p.p. between women with some functional difficulty and no difficulty.
Personal Activities
Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty are less likely to own a mobile phone than women with no difficulty, at 36% and 38%, respectively. At 39%, women with some difficulty are slightly more likely to own a mobile phone than women with no difficulty. However, neither of these differences are statistically significant.
Health
For safely managed water and sanitation, differences across functional difficulty status are small and not statistically significant.
Standard of Living
Rates of access to clean fuel and adequate housing are similar for the different functional difficulty groups. There are significant differences in terms of the shares of individuals with electricity and asset ownership, with lower rates for women with at least a lot of difficulty compared to women with no difficulty.
Insecurity
Women with some difficulty and at least a lot of difficulty are more likely to report feeling discriminated against or harassed based on any ground, at rates of 27% and 32% compared to 16% of women with no difficulty.
Subjective Wellbeing
Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty are significantly less likely to report feeling very or somewhat happy than women with no difficulty, at 57% and 65%, respectively. At 57%, women with some difficulty also have lower rates of happiness compared to women with no difficulty.
More results for Malawi are available in Results Tables on the DDI website.