[4] The national census and household survey conducted in 2018, enumerated the population of Mwanza, Malawi at 18,039 inhabitants.

The majority of people in the town and the district belong to the Chewa ethnic group.

Mwanza also acts as a transshipment point for goods going down the Zambeze River via Tete.

[5] In 2007, Ethiopian illegal immigrants were discovered hidden in an oil tanker at Mwanza, Malawi, at the border with Mozambique, on their way to South Africa.

The group which started in Tanzania, had intended to cross into Mozambique and finally to South Africa.