This Overview summarizes the main findings of three recent pieces of analytical
work on poverty in Malawi: The Malawi Poverty Assessment, the policy report
Pathways to Prosperity in Rural Malawi, and the Poverty and Social Impact Analysis of
the Malawi Farm Input Subsidy Program.
1 The Overview is organized in three parts.
The first part describes the evolution of monetary poverty and shared prosperity in
the country between 2004 and 2010. Nonincome dimensions of poverty are
reported up to 2015, when available. The next section discusses the proximate
causes for the observed poverty trends observed in the same period. The final section
suggests some policy alternatives to remove the obstacles imposed by these proximate
causes and therefore reduce poverty and promote shared prosperity in Malawi.