Malawi 2015-16

Table 2.4 Household characteristics
Percent distribution of households and de jure population by housing characteristics, percentage using solid fuel for cooking, and percent
distribution by frequency of smoking in the home, according to residence, Malawi DHS 2015-16
Households
Population
Housing characteristic Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total
Electricity
Yes 48.7 3.9 10.8 50.1 4.1 10.7
No 51.3 96.1 89.2 49.9 95.9 89.3
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Flooring material
Earth, sand 24.7 82.6 73.7 23.7 81.9 73.5
Dung 0.3 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.6 0.6
Ceramic tiles 3.4 0.1 0.6 3.8 0.1 0.6
Cement 71.1 16.6 24.9 71.8 17.2 25.1
Carpet 0.5 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.1
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Rooms used for sleeping
One 28.3 37.5 36.1 18.0 28.1 26.6
Two 38.4 38.5 38.5 39.0 40.3 40.1
Three or more 33.3 24.0 25.4 43.1 31.6 33.3
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Place for cooking
In the house 27.8 4.8 8.3 25.9 4.0 7.2
In a separate building 22.7 67.3 60.4 26.0 70.6 64.1
Outdoors 49.4 27.7 31.0 48.1 25.3 28.6
No food cooked in household 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.1
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Cooking fuel
Electricity 11.9 0.3 2.1 11.3 0.3 1.9
LPG/natural gas/biogas 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.1
Coal/lignite 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0
Charcoal 64.4 6.9 15.7 62.5 6.0 14.2
Wood 23.0 91.4 80.9 25.6 92.6 82.8
Straw/shrubs/grass 0.0 1.1 0.9 0.0 0.9 0.8
Agricultural crop 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
No food cooked in household 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.1
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Percentage using solid fuel for
cooking 1 87.7 99.4 97.6 88.4 99.6 98.0
Frequency of smoking in the home
Daily 8.0 12.8 12.1 7.9 13.4 12.6
Weekly 3.0 3.8 3.7 3.2 4.0 3.8
Monthly 0.3 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.6 0.5
Less than once a month 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.7 0.5 0.5
Never 88.1 82.3 83.2 87.9 81.6 82.5
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Number of households/population 4,042 22,319 26,361 17,230 101,536 118,766
LPG = Liquefied petroleum gas.
1
Includes coal/lignite, charcoal, wood, straw/shrubs/grass, agricultural crops, and animal dung.
20 • Housing Characteristics and Household Population