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How the crowd draws

468 drawings of its land border, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 17 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Malawi

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area120,000 km²46,000 sq mi93,000 km²36,000 sq mi22.6% smaller
Outline2,498 km1,552 mi2,410 km1,497 mi3.5% shorter
Centre34.28° E, 13.20° S34.3° E, 13.2° S34.18° E, 13.03° S34.2° E, 13.0° S23 km north-west14 mi north-west
Westernmost32.67° E, 13.60° S32.7° E, 13.6° S33.02° E, 13.96° S33.0° E, 14.0° S38 km short23 mi short
Easternmost35.89° E, 14.90° S35.9° E, 14.9° S35.59° E, 15.93° S35.6° E, 15.9° S33 km short20 mi short
Southernmost35.20° E, 17.13° S35.2° E, 17.1° S35.22° E, 17.06° S35.2° E, 17.1° S7 km short5 mi short
Northernmost32.97° E, 9.40° S33.0° E, 9.4° S33.99° E, 9.49° S34.0° E, 9.5° S11 km short7 mi short

Near the land border, 64% of the crowd’s lines run inside Malawi.

Borders

Why two lengths?

A line’s length depends on how closely it is drawn. The game’s lines are simplified: they keep a point every few kilometres and cut across small bends. The official lengths, from the CIA World Factbook, are measured on other lines. A border measured on a finer line, following every bend of its rivers and ridges, comes out longer.

Coasts differ most, and either way. Some official coastlines follow every inlet and island (Canada’s 202,080 km); others are smoothed on purpose, crossing bays and sounds (the United States’ 19,924 km), and can come out shorter than the game’s.

Players draw against the game’s line and are scored against it, so the crowd’s length is compared with the game’s, both measured the same way. Set against an official length measured another way, the comparison would say more about the two methods than about the crowd.

Malawi and Mozambique: 1,370 km in the game, 1,498 km officially.

3 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Mozambique1,370 km in the game1,498 km officially1,354 km the crowd’s1.2% shorter
Zambia712 km in the game847 km officially684 km the crowd’s3.9% shorter
Tanzania423 km in the game512 km officially376 km the crowd’s11.1% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Malawi: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Malawi or outside it; the median over a short stretch is where the crowd puts the line there, and the real outline moved by it is the crowd’s. Where the move folds a narrow inlet over itself, the loop is cut.

The 468 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s World map, scribbles left out, the real line the game’s own. Area true to scale; the outline copies the real line’s detail, so its length changes only where the shape moves or a loop is cut.

Draw Malawi yourself and add your line to the next update.