The Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) Annual Lakeshore Conference will hold discussions on the challenges and opportunities of population growth for the country’s economic development.

The Executive Director for Ecama, Maleka Thula, revealed that the conference was themed following the 2018 Population and Housing Census, which showed that Malawi’s population is now at 17.6 million, a figure which is four times the country’s population size of 1966.

Meanwhile, the massive population rate is seeing a scarcity of maize, lowered tobacco sales/demand and constant power shortages. These statistics clearly show that the majority of Malawians are youthful. Therefore, this poses both challenges and opportunities to the Malawi economy; hence, the need for authorities to begin to seriously discuss and interrogate how Malawi can manage a bulging youthful population.” said Thula.