The 2018 Population and Housing Census revealed that Malawi’s population has grown by 35 percent from 13 million in 2008 to 17.6 million in 2018; a development that has worried the Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama), saying that the population increase is making it difficult to achieve the government’s economic growth goals.

Ecama’s President Chikumbutso Kalilombe has said that the current population is growing faster than the country’s Growth Domestic Product, hence the population poses pressure on the country’s ability to support the growing population.

As the National Statistical Office plans to release the detailed results later in April, Kalilombe urges Malawians to grow more crops for food.