Table 3 Socio-economic characteristics of survey respondents by districts
Characteristic | Number (%) of respondents who participated in the survey | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Chiradzulu | Mangochi | Zomba | Totals | |
1. No. of respondents | 126 (33.3) | 129 (34) | 124 (32.7) | 379 (100) |
2. Sex | ||||
 Female | 91 (72.2) | 92 (71.3) | 85 (68.5) | 268 (70.7) |
 Male | 35 (27.8) | 37 (28.7) | 39 (31.5) | 111 (29.3) |
3. Age (in years) | ||||
 Mean | 42.5 | 36.9 | 42.6 | 40.7 |
 Range | 18–89 | 18–87 | 16–81 | 16–89 |
4. Location | ||||
 Urban | 21 (16.7) | – | 1 (0.8) | 23 (6.1) |
 Rural | 105 (83.3) | 129 (100) | 123 (99.2) | 356 (93.9) |
5. Marital status | ||||
 Single | 5 (4) | 11 (8.6) | 4 (3.2) | 20 (5.3) |
 Married | 86 (68.3) | 104 (80.6) | 101 (81.5) | 291 (76.8) |
 Divorced | 18 (14.3) | 8 (6.2) | 5 (4) | 31 (8.2) |
 Widowed | 13 (10.3) | 3 (2.3) | 13 (10.5) | 29 (7.6) |
 Separated | 4 (3.2) | 3 (2.3) | 1 (0.8) | 8 (2.1) |
6. Education level | ||||
 None | 13 (10.3) | 41 (31.8) | 20 (16.1) | 74 (19.5) |
 Primary | 82 (65.1) | 67 (51.9) | 80 (64.5) | 229 (60.4) |
 Secondary | 30 (23.8) | 20 (15.5) | 22 (17.8) | 72 (19) |
 Tertiary | 1 (0.8) | 1 (0.8) | 2 (1.6) | 4 (1.1) |
7. Occupation | ||||
 Business | 34 (27) | 19 (14.7) | 29 (23.4) | 82 (21.6) |
 Farmer | 72 (57.1) | 92 (71.3) | 72 (58.1) | 236 (62.3) |
 Fisher | – | 2 (1.6) | 7 (5.6) | 9 (2.4) |
 Employed | 6 (4.8) | – | 5 (4) | 11 (2.9) |
 Unemployed | 14 (11.1) | 11 (8.5) | 10 (8.1) | 35 (9.2) |
 Other | – | 5 (3.9) | 1 (0.8) | 6 (1.6) |