What is the population of Blantyre?
Blantyre has a city population of 902,588. That is the population within the city's own boundary, not its wider metropolitan area. City population, GeoNames.
City profile · Malawi · Africa
Blantyre
City population
902,588
#2
in Malawi
#1
in Southern Region
#616
worldwide
-15.785, 35.009 · 241 km from Lilongwe
About Blantyre
At 1,041 m elevation, Blantyre holds a population of 902,588 and accounts for 4.1% of Malawi's total. The city ranks second among Malawi's listed cities and first in the Southern Region. Zomba, the nearest major city, lies 55 km away with a population of 118,440. Blantyre sits 241 km from the national capital, Lilongwe.
This summary is AI-generated from the figures on this page. The figures themselves come from the sources cited beside each value.
Key Facts
Country
Region
Rank in region
#1of 9
Elevation
1,041 m
Approximate — modelled, not surveyed
Time zone
Africa/Blantyre
Coordinates
-15.785, 35.009
Record updated
2026-04-14
Entry edited, not measured
City population, GeoNames. GeoNames publishes no year for its population figures, so “record updated” is when the entry was last edited — not the date the population was measured. Elevation is modelled from a digital elevation model rather than surveyed, so it is approximate.
Nearby Cities
All 23 in MalawiClosest listed cities by great-circle distance from the city centre.
Compared with the World's Largest Cities
City-proper population against the fifteen largest cities in the dataset.
| Name | City population |
|---|---|
| Shanghai | 24.9M |
| Beijing | 19M |
| Shenzhen | 17.5M |
| Guangzhou | 16.1M |
| Kinshasa | 16M |
| Istanbul | 15.7M |
| Lagos | 15.4M |
| Ho Chi Minh City | 14M |
| Chengdu | 13.6M |
| Lahore | 13M |
| Mumbai | 12.7M |
| São Paulo | 12.4M |
| Mexico City | 12.3M |
| Karachi | 11.6M |
| Tianjin | 11.1M |
| Blantyre | 903K |
Blantyre Population FAQ
Where is Blantyre?
Blantyre is in Southern Region, Malawi, 241 km from the capital, Lilongwe. Its coordinates are -15.785, 35.009.
How big is Blantyre compared with other cities in Malawi?
It is the 2nd largest of the 23 cities of 15,000 or more listed in Malawi, holding 4.1% of the national population.