Vulnerability to poverty in Malawi is highly associated with risk. Households face
multiple shocks, most of which threaten their livelihoods and impact negatively on their
welfare. Among the important risks that rural households face is drought, which is
exacerbated by environmental change. This study analyzes the impact of drought on
household’s vulnerability using a twoperiod panel dataset of 259 rural households in
Malawi. In the framework of vulnerability as expected poverty, the study employs the
methodology proposed by Christiaensen and Subbarao (2004). The results show that
recurrent drought makes households more vulnerable to the extent that households that
were affected by drought in both periods were twice as vulnerable as those who
experienced drought in only one period. Policies that are aimed at building poor
households’ resilience to recurrent drought hold more promise of enabling the households
cope with this livelihoodthreatening hazard.