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MW · Malawi

Districts that have burned most often in Malawi

Districts of Malawi with at least one fire larger than 1,000 hectares with a perimeter since 2016: 21. With two or more: 19. Top of the list is Nkhata Bay, which has burned 168 times in 11 years, with 753,579 hectares burned inside its boundaries.

By number of fires

  1. 1Nkhata BayNorthern Region168×11 years · 753,579 ha
  2. 2NkhotakotaCentral Region133×11 years · 279,626 ha
  3. 3RumphiNorthern Region117×11 years · 199,814 ha
  4. 4ChitipaNorthern Region99×11 years · 158,677 ha
  5. 5KarongaNorthern Region78×11 years · 122,569 ha
  6. 6MzimbaNorthern Region77×11 years · 84,233 ha
  7. 7KasunguCentral Region61×11 years · 99,237 ha
  8. 8ChikwawaSouthern Region49×10 years · 114,977 ha
  9. 9MangochiSouthern Region24×9 years · 35,125 ha
  10. 10MachingaSouthern Region22×9 years · 34,480 ha
  11. 11SalimaCentral Region16×9 years · 17,405 ha
  12. 12LilongweCentral Region11×6 years · 11,443 ha
  13. 13DedzaCentral Region6×4 years · 3,497 ha
  14. 14ZombaSouthern Region5×4 years · 6,315 ha
  15. 15NsanjeSouthern Region5×4 years · 4,783 ha
  16. 16NenoSouthern Region5×4 years · 3,744 ha
  17. 17NtcheuCentral Region4×4 years · 3,351 ha
  18. 18NtchisiCentral Region4×4 years · 2,414 ha
  19. 19BlantyreSouthern Region4×2 years · 921 ha
  20. 20MchinjiCentral Region1×1 year · 1,554 ha

By hectares burned

  1. 1Nkhata BayNorthern Region753,579 ha168× · 1.8×
  2. 2NkhotakotaCentral Region279,626 ha133× · 64 %
  3. 3RumphiNorthern Region199,814 ha117× · 43 %
  4. 4ChitipaNorthern Region158,677 ha99× · 37 %
  5. 5KarongaNorthern Region122,569 ha78× · 36 %
  6. 6ChikwawaSouthern Region114,977 ha49× · 23 %
  7. 7KasunguCentral Region99,237 ha61× · 12 %
  8. 8MzimbaNorthern Region84,233 ha77× · 7.9 %
  9. 9MangochiSouthern Region35,125 ha24× · 5.2 %
  10. 10MachingaSouthern Region34,480 ha22× · 8.7 %
  11. 11SalimaCentral Region17,405 ha16× · 8.1 %
  12. 12LilongweCentral Region11,443 ha11× · 1.8 %
  13. 13ZombaSouthern Region6,315 ha5× · 2.0 %
  14. 14NsanjeSouthern Region4,783 ha5× · 2.5 %
  15. 15NenoSouthern Region3,744 ha5× · 2.3 %
  16. 16DedzaCentral Region3,497 ha6× · 0.9 %
  17. 17NtcheuCentral Region3,351 ha4× · 1.0 %
  18. 18NtchisiCentral Region2,414 ha4× · 1.4 %
  19. 19MchinjiCentral Region1,554 ha1× · 0.5 %
  20. 20MulanjeSouthern Region1,237 ha1× · 0.6 %

By share of the municipality (10 km² or more)

  1. 1Nkhata BayNorthern Region1.8×753,579 ha · 4,200 km²
  2. 2NkhotakotaCentral Region64 %279,626 ha · 4,352 km²
  3. 3RumphiNorthern Region43 %199,814 ha · 4,685 km²
  4. 4ChitipaNorthern Region37 %158,677 ha · 4,280 km²
  5. 5KarongaNorthern Region36 %122,569 ha · 3,431 km²
  6. 6ChikwawaSouthern Region23 %114,977 ha · 4,920 km²
  7. 7KasunguCentral Region12 %99,237 ha · 8,116 km²
  8. 8MachingaSouthern Region8.7 %34,480 ha · 3,953 km²
  9. 9SalimaCentral Region8.1 %17,405 ha · 2,158 km²
  10. 10MzimbaNorthern Region7.9 %84,233 ha · 10,691 km²
  11. 11MangochiSouthern Region5.2 %35,125 ha · 6,774 km²
  12. 12NsanjeSouthern Region2.5 %4,783 ha · 1,951 km²
  13. 13NenoSouthern Region2.3 %3,744 ha · 1,634 km²
  14. 14ZombaSouthern Region2.0 %6,315 ha · 3,129 km²
  15. 15LilongweCentral Region1.8 %11,443 ha · 6,261 km²
  16. 16NtchisiCentral Region1.4 %2,414 ha · 1,731 km²
  17. 17NtcheuCentral Region1.0 %3,351 ha · 3,274 km²
  18. 18DedzaCentral Region0.9 %3,497 ha · 3,782 km²
  19. 19MulanjeSouthern Region0.6 %1,237 ha · 2,013 km²
  20. 20MchinjiCentral Region0.5 %1,554 ha · 3,163 km²

How it is calculated

We count fires larger than 1,000 hectares with a perimeter since 2016 that reached each municipality, even partly. Hectares are those burned inside the municipality and are added fire by fire, so land that burned twice counts twice; that is why the share, given only for municipalities of 10 km² or more, can exceed 100 % (it is then shown as a multiple). It describes what happened: it does not measure risk or say anything about causes.