Local time
Fri, 4:00 AM GMT+2Africa/BlantyreCityCapital
Lilongwe
13.98° S, 33.78° E
- Population
- 646,750
- Population from Natural Earth (POP_MAX). The source does not state which year the figure belongs to, so no year is shown.
- Population rank
- 1 of 19
- Rank by Natural Earth population among the 19 cities of Malawi in Terratlasia that have a population figure. Terratlasia does not list every city of Malawi, so this is not a national ranking.
- Founded
- 1902
- Year of founding from Wikidata (P571). Only the year is known, not the day; a city whose sources give more than one year shows no row.
- Elevation
- 1,050 m
- Elevation above sea level from Wikidata (P2044), rounded to the metre. A city whose sources give two different elevations shows no row.
- Area
- 728 km²
- Total area from Wikidata (P2046). Where two statements differ by less than half a percent the smaller is shown; a larger disagreement (land area against total area, say) shows no row.
- Administrative unit
- Lilongwe District
- The administrative unit Wikidata files this city under (P131), one level below the state. The state itself is shown on its own row and is not repeated here; a city filed under more than three units shows no row at all.
- Named after
- Lilongwe River
- Wikidata · P138 · checked 2026-09-20
- Time zone
- Africa/Blantyre
Traveler brief
Only what this atlas can source — no hours, prices, visas or safety advice.
Practical bearings for Lilongwe, from the same records as the rest of this page.
No places in Lilongwe have been recorded yet. The map and the country page still carry its context.
Overview
Name
The city takes its name from the Lilongwe River, which flows through it; the river's name has an unclear origin.
Source: CIA World Factbook · 2026-02-01 · text generated from this source, approved by a person
Connections
Sister cities
