Mali

Location

• interior Western Africa, southwest of Algeria, north of Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso, west of Niger
• landlocked; divided into three natural zones: the southern, cultivated Sudanese; the central, semiarid Sahelian; and the northern, arid Saharan

Population

Notable Population Centers

City	Population	Note
Bamako	4,227,569	Capital
Sikasso	349,324
Koutiala	218,031
Ségou	205,787
Kayes	194,716
Mopti	186,187
Kalaban Koro	148,247
Gao	133,110
Kati	130,254
San	103,227

Size

• 478,764 square miles
• 1,240,000 square kilometers
• slightly less than twice the size of Texas

History

Present-day Mali is named after the Mali Empire that ruled the region between the 13th and 16th centuries. At its peak in the 14th century, it was the largest and wealthiest empire in West Africa and controlled an area about twice the size of modern-day France. Primarily a trading empire, Mali derived its wealth from gold and maintained several goldfields and trade routes in the Sahel. The empire also influenced West African culture through the spread of its language, laws, and customs, but by the 16th century, it had fragmented into mostly small chiefdoms. The Songhai Empire, previously a Mali dependency centered in Timbuktu, gained prominence in the 15th and 16th centuries. Under Songhai rule, Timbuktu became a large commercial center, well-known for its scholarship and religious teaching. Timbuktu remains a center of culture in West Africa today. In the late 16th century, the Songhai Empire fell to Moroccan invaders and disintegrated into independent sultanates and kingdoms. France, expanding from Senegal, seized control of the area in the 1890s and incorporated it into French West Africa as French Sudan. In 1960, French Sudan gained independence from France and became the Mali Federation. When Senegal withdrew after only a few months, the remaining area was renamed the Republic of Mali. Mali saw 31 years of dictatorship until 1991, when a military coup led by Amadou Toumani TOURE ousted the government, established a new constitution, and instituted a multi-party democracy. Alpha Oumar KONARE won Mali's first two democratic presidential elections in 1992 and 1997. In keeping with Mali's two-term constitutional limit, he stepped down in 2002 and was succeeded by Amadou Toumani TOURE, who won a second term in 2007. In 2012, rising ethnic tensions and an influx of fighters -- some linked to Al-Qa’ida -- from Libya led to a rebellion and military coup. Following the coup, rebels expelled the military from the country’s three northern regions, allowing terrorist organizations to develop strongholds in the area. With a 2013 French-led military intervention, the Malian government managed to retake most of the north. However, the government’s grasp in the region remains weak with local militias, terrorists, and insurgent groups competing for control. In 2015, the Malian Government and northern rebels signed an internationally mediated peace accord. Despite a 2017 target for implementation of the agreement, the signatories have made little progress. Terrorist groups were left out of the peace process, and terrorist attacks remain common.   Ibrahim Boubacar KEITA won the Malian presidential elections in 2013 and 2018. Aside from security and logistic shortfalls, international observers deemed these elections credible. Terrorism, banditry, ethnic-based violence, and extra-judicial military killings plagued the country during KEITA’s second term. In 2020, the military arrested KEITA, his prime minister, and other senior members of the government and established a military junta called the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP). The junta then established a transition government and appointed Bah N’DAW, a retired army officer and former defense minister, as interim president and Colonel Assimi GOITA, the coup leader and chairman of the CNSP, as interim vice president. The transition government’s charter allowed it to rule for up to 18 months before calling a general election.  In 2021, GOITA led a military takeover, arresting the interim president after a Cabinet shake-up removed GOITA’s key allies. GOITA was sworn in as transition president, and Choguel Kokalla MAIGA was sworn in as prime minister. In 2022, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed sanctions on the transition government, and member states closed their borders with Mali after the transition government presented a five-year extension to the electoral calendar. The transition government and ECOWAS agreed to a new two-year timeline, which would have included presidential elections in February 2024, but the transition government postponed the elections indefinitely in September 2023 and withdrew from ECOWAS in January 2024.

Climate

subtropical to arid; hot and dry (February to June); rainy, humid, and mild (June to November); cool and dry (November to February)

Terrain

mostly flat to rolling northern plains covered by sand; savanna in south, rugged hills in northeast

Languages

Bambara (official), French 17.2%, Peuhl/Foulfoulbe/Fulani 9.4%, Dogon 7.2%, Maraka/Soninke 6.4%, Malinke 5.6%, Sonrhai/Djerma 5.6%, Minianka 4.3%, Tamacheq 3.5%, Senoufo 2.6%, Bobo 2.1%, other 6.3%, unspecified 0.7% (2009 est.)note: Mali has 13 national languages in addition to its official language

Religions

Muslim 93.9%, Christian 2.8%, animist 0.7%, none 2.5% (2018 est.)

Government

semi-presidential republic

• Constitution: history: several previous; latest drafted 13 October 2022 and submitted to Transition President Assimi GOITA; final draft completed 1 March 2023; approved by referendum 18 June 2023; validated by Constitutional Court 22 July 2023
• Political Parties and Leaders: n/a
• Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
• Legal System: civil law system based on the French civil law model and influenced by customary law; Constitutional Court reviews legislative acts
• Executive Branch: chief of state: Transition President Assimi GOITA (since 7 June 2021)head of government: Transition Prime Minister Abdoulaye MAIGA (since 22 November 2024)cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime ministerelection/appointment process: president directly elected by absolute-majority popular vote in 2 rounds, if needed, for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); prime minister appointed by the presidentmost recent election date: 29 July 2018, with runoff on 12 August 2018election results: 2018: Ibrahim Boubacar KEITA reelected president in second round; percent of vote in first round - Ibrahim Boubacar KEITA (RPM) 41.7%, Soumaila CISSE (URD) 17.8%, other 40.5%; percent of vote in second round - Ibrahim Boubacar KEITA 67.2%, Soumaila CISSE 32.8%2013: Ibrahim Boubacar KEITA elected president in second round; percent of vote in first round - Ibrahim Boubacar KEITA (RPM) 39.8%, Soumaila CISSE (URD) 19.7%, other 40.5%; percent of vote in second round - Ibrahim Boubacar KEITA (RPM) 77.6%, Soumaila CISSE (URD) 22.4%note: in 2022, the transition government adopted a charter allowing transition authorities to rule for up to 5 years, but the military junta pushed through a referendum in 2023 that created the potential for transition President GOITA to maintain his hold on power indefinitely
• Judicial Branch: highest court(s): Supreme Court or Cour Suprême (consists of 19 judges organized into judicial, administrative, and accounting sections); Constitutional Court (consists of 9 judges)judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court judges appointed by the Ministry of Justice to serve 5-year terms; Constitutional Court judges selected - 3 each by the president, the National Assembly, and the Supreme Council of the Magistracy; members serve single renewable 7-year termssubordinate courts: Court of Appeal; High Court of Justice (jurisdiction limited to cases of high treason or criminal offenses by the president or ministers while in office); administrative courts (first instance and appeal); commercial courts; magistrate courts; labor courts; juvenile courts; special court of state security
• Legislative Branch: legislature name: Transitional National Council (Conseil national de transition)legislative structure: unicameralchamber name: Transitional National Council (Conseil national de transition )number of seats: 147 (all appointed)electoral system: plurality/majorityscope of elections: full renewalmost recent election date: 12/5/2020percentage of women in chamber: 30.1%expected date of next election: December 2030note 1: the National Assembly was dissolved on 18 August 2020 after a military coup; the transitional government created a Transitional National Council (CNT) that acts as the transitional government's legislative body; a new constitution was ratified in July 2023 that expanded the military junta's powers, and no plans for legislative elections have been announcednote 2: coup leaders appointed a president and vice president; the president then apportioned CNT seats to various groups and political parties

Demographic Profile

n/a

Economy

• low-income Saharan economy; recession due to COVID-19 and political instability; extreme poverty; environmentally fragile; high public debt; agricultural and gold exporter; terrorism and warfare are common
• Budget: revenues: $2.841 billion (2020 est.)expenditures: $3.563 billion (2020 est.)note: central government revenues and expenses (excluding grants/extrabudgetary units/social security funds) converted to US dollars at average official exchange rate for year indicated
• Credit Rating: n/a
• Natural Resources: gold, phosphates, kaolin, salt, limestone, uranium, gypsum, granite, hydropowernote: bauxite, iron ore, manganese, tin, and copper deposits are known but not exploited
• Industries: food processing; construction; phosphate and gold mining
• Agricultural Products: maize, rice, millet, sorghum, onions, okra, sugarcane, cotton, mangoes/guavas, sweet potatoes (2023)note: top ten agricultural products based on tonnage
• Land Use: agricultural land: 35.5% (2022 est.)arable land: 6.8% (2022 est.)permanent crops: 0.2% (2022 est.)permanent pasture: 28.4% (2022 est.)forest: 10.9% (2022 est.)other: 53.6% (2022 est.)
• Labor Force by Occupation: n/a
• Imports
• Imported Commodities: refined petroleum, broadcasting equipment, cement, cotton fabric, plastic products (2023)note: top five import commodities based on value in dollars
• Import Partners: Cote d'Ivoire 25%, Senegal 19%, China 12%, France 5%, Burkina Faso 4% (2023)note: top five import partners based on percentage share of imports
• Exports
• Exported Commodities: gold, cotton, oil seeds, fertilizers, gum resins (2023)note: top five export commodities based on value in dollars
• Export Partners: UAE 73%, Switzerland 15%, Australia 5%, China 1%, Uganda 1% (2023)note: top five export partners based on percentage share of exports