Fewer than half say help is available for children who have been abused or neglected, have physical disabilities, or have mental health problems.
Key findings
- About three out of four Malawians (74%) say it is "never" justified for parents to use physical force to discipline their children, a 9-percentage-point increase in opposition to corporal punishment since 2017.
- A majority (58%) of respondents say the use of physical force to discipline children is infrequent in their community, though 42% disagree.
- More than half (57%) of Malawians say child abuse and neglect are infrequent in their community, while 62% perceive out-of-school children as a common problem.
- Fewer than half of Malawians say people in their community are generally able to get help for children who have been abused, mistreated, or neglected (41%), for children with physical disabilities (38%), and for children and adults who have mental or emotional problems (29%).
- Almost two-thirds (63%) of Malawians say the government is doing a "fairly" or "very" good job of protecting and promoting the well-being of vulnerable children.
Malawi is one of the world's least developed countries, ranking 172nd out of 185 countries on the 2023/2024 Human Development Index (United Nations Development Programme, 2024). Seven in 10 Malawians live on less than $2.15 a day, with adverse consequences for children's health, education, and long-term prospects (UNICEF, 2020, 2022).
In its National Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Development and National Plan of Action for Vulnerable Children, the government outlined wide-ranging efforts to strengthen child protection, reduce child poverty, and improve health care, nutrition, and other essential services (Government of Malawi, 2009, 2015).
The country has recorded substantial progress in a number of areas, including reductions in child mortality and stunting, establishment of a National Child Protection System to prevent and respond to violence, and scale-up of a social cash transfer programme for vulnerable households (UNICEF, 2020).
But threats to child well-being remain severe and widespread. Almost two-thirds of children still live in poverty, seven in 10 young children experience violent discipline, and almost half of girls are married before age 18, among other risk factors (Government of Malawi, 2015; UNICEF, 2020, 2022).
This dispatch reports on a special survey module included in the Afrobarometer Round 9 (2022) questionnaire to explore Malawians' attitudes and perceptions related to child welfare.
Findings show that most Malawians oppose using physical force to discipline children. A majority of respondents say that child abuse and neglect are infrequent problems in their community, though a sizeable minority disagree.
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While a majority of Malawians say the government is doing a good job of protecting and promoting the well-being of vulnerable children, fewer than half report that help is available in their community for abused or neglected children, children with disabilities, and children and adults with mental or emotional problems.
Eric Otu Beecham Eric Otu Beecham is a monitoring, evaluation, and learning assistant for Afrobarometer.
Caroline Nakayiza Caroline Nakayiza is a sampling assistant at Hatchile Consult Ltd.
