Malawi is one of the ten poorest countries on the planet with 85% of its population living in rural areas and overall over half its population live on less than 60p a day. The country is often afflicted by severe famines with the famine of 2005 affecting over four million of the country's inhabitants, leaving them without proper food supplies. The United Nations declared the situation in Malawi "as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises".

Part of the reason for the chronic underdevelopment inside Malawi was the mismanagement of the economy by President Hastings Kamuzu Banda for thirty years after the country's independence. However after he left power in the 1990s political stability has provided a footing for a reformation of the country with the privatisation of many loss making state run institutions. Uranium exports are also helping to boost export earnings in a move away from reliance on foreign humanitarian aid.