By Twink Jones Gadama
The National Registration Bureau (NRB) has announced that 74,127 new citizens have been added to Malawi’s Civil Registry following a supplementary civil registration exercise. The exercise, which took place from December 29, 2024, to January 4, 2025, was conducted across 13 councils involved in Phase 1 of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Voter Registration exercise.
According to the NRB, the exercise aimed to allow sufficient time for processing Unique Identification Numbers, as well as for adjudicating and de-duplicating the captured records in accordance with Civil Registration procedures. Of the newly registered citizens, 37,131 are males, 36,996 are females, and 4,398 were identified as duplicate records.
As of January 10, 2025, National ID numbers have been generated and issued to 69,941 records. The duplicate records will not be issued with National ID numbers and have been subjected to further investigation. Notably, 51,526 of the newly registered citizens will have reached the age of 18 or above by September 16, 2025.
The registration numbers vary across districts, with Mulanje registering the highest number of citizens at 14,770, followed by Machinga at 14,313. Other districts, such as Chitipa and Ntchisi, registered significantly lower numbers, at 1,504 and 1,613, respectively.
The NRB reminds the public that it registers individuals who are 16 years and older. Interestingly, the youngest registered citizen was born on January 4, 2009, while the oldest registered citizen was born on May 3, 1929.
During the Voter Registration exercise by MEC, which took place from October 21, 2024, to January 4, 2025, the NRB continued to provide Civil Registration services to all citizens. This resulted in the registration of 373,996 new citizens, with 271,784 individuals expected to be 18 years or older by September 16, 2025.
The NRB will continue to provide Identity Verification services during the upcoming Supplementary Voter Registration exercise by MEC. The bureau follows relevant laws, regulations, and established standard operating procedures (SOPs) in implementing the Civil Registration process.
