Malala Is a Millionaire: Earns 2.2 Million Pounds From Book Sales

‘I Am Malala’ has sold at least 1.8 million copies worldwide, including 287,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

Malala Yousafzai is also one of the higher-earning Nobel laureates, bringing in 114,000 pounds per speech. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai and her family have become millionaires as a result of royalty from the sales of her autobiography and appearances on the lecture circuit around the world.

The 18-year-old Pakistani teenager who survived a shot to the head by the Taliban, had relived the incident and her life in the Swat Valley in I am Malala, which Sunday Times journalist Christina Lamb has co-authored.

A company set up to protect the rights to her life story had made 2.2 million pounds by August 2015 and made a pre-tax profit of 1.1 million pounds.

Malala, her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, and her mother Toor Pekai are joint shareholders of the company, Salarzai Ltd, according to a report in The Times. They are now based in Birmingham, where Malala, who became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, attends Edgbaston High School for Girls.

Her autobiography was published in October 2013 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in a deal reported to be worth around 2 million pounds.

The autobiography has sold at least 1.8 million copies worldwide, according to Neilsen Book Research, including 287,000 copies in the UK, earning 2.2 million pounds in Britain in paperback and hardback sales.

According to research by the US-based Institute for Policy Studies, Malala is also one of the higher-earning Nobel laureates, bringing in 114, 000 pounds per speech, as compared to the 64, 000 pounds that Desmond Tutu earns.