[addaon]

"70% of Malawians live on less than $2.15 a day. Under the World Bank’s revised $3-a-day poverty line, it’s 75%."

This sounds like an extremely bimodal distribution -- a 40% increase in the cut-off line only captures 5% more of the population, so only a small number of people are in this "poor but survivable" zone, with most well under and some well over, I assume. Does this map to the usual rural/urban divide?

[RetroTechie]

On the low end, the actual number doesn't say much. Having $2/day to buy food from, is very different from having $2/day and a small plot of land that grows the family's food subsistence-style.

Also countries where a large % of the population works in agriculture / fishing, and/or have high rates of corruption, tend to have significant informal economies.

From developed-country point of view that may appear as an almost non-existent economy, while in reality people are still growing / building / manufacturing stuff (be it low-tech / low-value mostly). And could be happy living so.

Not saying that's the case for Malawi. Just be aware that "$2/day" paints only part of the picture of how 'rich' people are.