Most Malawians strongly believe that witchcraft exists and support changing the law to criminalise its practice, a new Afrobarometer survey shows. Educated citizens are more likely to believe in the existence of witchcraft than those with no formal education. Most Malawians associate witchcraft with using magic to kill people, make them sick, or bring them misfortune.

The survey shows that the elderly, especially elderly women, are at greatest risk of being victims of witchcraft accusations. A majority of Malawians favour changing the law to criminalise witchcraft, providing support for the findings and recommendations of the Special Law Commission on the Review of the Witchcraft Act in Malawi.

These findings also suggest a need for raising public awareness and instituting measures to protect segments of the population at risk of being accused of witchcraft.

Key findings

• Three in four Malawians (74%) believe “a lot” in the existence of witchcraft. Only 14% say it doesn’t exist (Figure 1).
• Educated citizens (82%) are more likely to believe in the existence of witchcraft than those with no formal education (71%)
•  More than six in 10 Malawians (63%) say that in their communities, elderly people are most often associated with witchcraft
• Almost three-fourths (72%) of Malawians say witchcraft should be criminalised (Figure 4).

Afrobarometer surveys

Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life. Eight survey rounds in up to 39 countries have been completed since 1999. Round 9 surveys (2021/2022) are currently underway. Afrobarometer’s national partners conduct face-toface interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice.

The Afrobarometer team in Malawi, led by the Centre for Social Research, interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,200 adult Malawians in February 2022. A sample of this size yields country-level results with a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points at a 95% Copyright ©Afrobarometer 2022 2 confidence level. Previous surveys were conducted in Malawi in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2017, and 2019.