Characteristics of the Malawian population according to area of residence and sex
| All n=24 943 (%) | Rural residents | Urban residents | ||||
| Women n=7096 (58.7%) | Men n=5000 (41.3%) | Women n=8563 (66.7%) | Men n=4284 (33.3%) | |||
| Age—mean (SD) | 35.2 (14.7) | 37.6 (15.6) | 38.1 (16.5) | 32.4 (12.4) | 33.2 (14.1) | |
| Ethnicity—N (%) | Chewa | 4934 (19.8) | 180 (2.5) | 106 (2.1) | 3183 (37.2) | 1465 (34.2) |
| Tumbuka | 10 815 (43.4) | 5355 (75.5) | 3847 (77.0) | 1025 (12.0) | 588 (13.7) | |
| Ngoni | 2746 (11.0) | 142 (2.0) | 99 (2.0) | 1691 (19.8) | 814 (19.0) | |
| Yao | 1052 (4.2) | 18 (0.2) | 20 (0.4) | 665 (7.7) | 349 (8.1) | |
| Lomwe | 1810 (7.2) | 13 (0.2) | 10 (0.2) | 1146 (13.4) | 641 (15.0) | |
| Nkonde | 979 (3.9) | 517 (7.3) | 267 (5.3) | 133 (1.5) | 62 (1.5) | |
| Other | 2607 (10.5) | 871 (12.3) | 651 (13.0) | 720 (8.4) | 365 (8.5) | |
| Education—N (%) | No formal | 892 (3.6) | 376 (5.3) | 82 (1.6) | 382 (4.4) | 52 (1.2) |
| Standard 1–5 | 2632 (10.5) | 1142 (16.1) | 522 (10.4) | 779 (9.1) | 189 (4.4) | |
| Standard 6–8 | 8352 (33.5) | 3715 (52.3) | 2076 (41.5) | 1958 (22.9) | 603 (14.1) | |
| Secondary | 10 722 (43.0) | 1794 (25.3) | 2177 (43.6) | 4315 (50.4) | 2436 (56.9) | |
| Tertiary | 2345 (9.4) | 69 (1.0) | 143 (2.9) | 1129 (13.2) | 1004 (23.4) | |
| Quintiles of household assets score—median (IQR) | 1 | 41.0 (52.5) | 31.5 (31.0) | 33.0 (33.0) | 70.5 (41.0) | 72.5 (39.5) |
| 2 | 117.5 (131.0) | 74.5 (14.0) | 74.5 (16.5) | 205.5 (46.5) | 205.5 (58.5) | |
| 3 | 282.5 (209.5) | 115.5 (10.0) | 115.5 (10.0) | 325.5 (183.5) | 325.5 (160.5) | |
| 4 | 520.5 (286.0) | 234 (38.5) | 234.5 (39.5) | 520.5 (35.0) | 520.5 (35.0) | |
| 5 | 2405.5 (2058.5) | 457.5 (177.2) | 459.5 (200.0) | 2520.5 (35.0) | 2520.5 (35.0) | |
| Marital status—N (%) | Never married | 5442 (21.8) | 508 (7.2) | 1134 (22.7) | 1777 (20.8) | 2023 (47.2) |
| Married | 16 119 (64.7) | 4946 (69.8) | 3616 (72.5) | 5490 (64.1) | 2067 (48.3) | |
| Widowed | 1563 (6.3) | 878 (12.4) | 62 (1.2) | 561 (6.5) | 62 (1.4) | |
| Divorced | 1799 (7.2) | 752 (10.6) | 180 (3.6) | 735 (8.6) | 132 (3.1) | |
| Number of pregnancies*—N (%) | 0 | 2031 (13.0) | 469 (6.6) | NA | 1560 (18.2) | NA |
| 1 | 2181 (13.9) | 704 (10.0) | NA | 1476 (17.3) | NA | |
| 2 | 2420 (15.5) | 886 (12.5) | NA | 1534 (17.9) | NA | |
| 3 | 2254 (14.4) | 937 (13.2) | NA | 1317 (15.4) | NA | |
| 4+ | 6754 (43.2) | 4079 (57.7) | NA | 2675 (31.2) | NA | |
| Smoking status—N (%) | Never | 23 323 (93.5) | 7077 (99.7) | 4114 (82.3) | 8518 (99.5) | 3614 (84.4) |
| Former | 565 (2.3) | 8 (0.1) | 227 (4.5) | 29 (0.3) | 301 (7.0) | |
| Current | 1055 (4.2) | 11 (0.2) | 659 (13.2) | 16 (0.2) | 369 (8.6) | |
| Alcohol intake—N (%) | Never | 20 540 (82.4) | 6854 (96.6) | 2906 (58.1) | 8036 (93.8) | 2744 (64.0) |
| <1 month | 1174 (4.7) | 98 (1.4) | 477 (9.5) | 240 (2.8) | 359 (8.4) | |
| 1–3 days/month | 1520 (6.1) | 87 (1.2) | 670 (13.4) | 202 (2.4) | 561 (13.1) | |
| 1–4 days/week | 1333 (5.3) | 49 (0.7) | 759 (15.2) | 63 (0.7) | 462 (10.8) | |
| 5+ days/week | 376 (1.5) | 8 (0.1) | 188 (3.8) | 22 (0.3) | 158 (3.7) | |
| Physical activity level†—N (%) | Low | 527 (2.1) | 100 (1.4) | 115 (2.3) | 127 (1.5) | 185 (4.3) |
| Moderate | 1545 (6.2) | 224 (3.2) | 529 (10.6) | 204 (2.4) | 588 (13.7) | |
| High | 22 871 (91.7) | 6772 (94.4) | 4356 (87.1) | 8232 (96.1) | 3511 (82.0) | |
| Lipid-lowering medication—N (%) | No raised cholesterol | 24 881 (99.75) | 7088 (99.9) | 4997 (99.94) | 8528 (99.6) | 4268 (99.63) |
| No medication | 53 (0.21) | 8 (0.1) | 2 (0.04) | 28 (0.3) | 15 (0.35) | |
| Taking medication | 9 (0.04) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.02) | 7 (0.1) | 1 (0.02) | |
| HIV status—N (%) | HIV negative | 18 739 (89.4) | 4729 (87.0) | 3325 (89.5) | 7203 (89.1) | 3551 (93.6) |
| HIV positive | 2217 (10.6) | 709 (13.0) | 381 (10.5) | 883 (10.9) | 244 (6.4) | |
| ART status‡—N (%) | On ART | 1440 (90.8) | 482 (94.2) | 239 (89.9) | 573 (89.4) | 139 (86.9) |
| Not on ART | 146 (9.2) | 30 (5.8) | 27 (10.1) | 68 (10.6) | 21 (13.1) | |
*Information available only for women.
†Level of physical activity based on metabolic equivalent (MET).
‡Based on those who reported being HIV positive.
ART, anti-retroviral therapy; NA, not applicable.