Page last modified 20 August 2023

Mali

Community

Area 1,240,192 square kilometres (land area 1,220,190 square kilometres)

Population,

1,300,000 (1900)

3,690,000 (1950)

5,263,000 (1960) +42.6%

5,950,000 (1970) +13.1%

7,090,000 (1980) +19.2%

8,465,000, (1990) +19.4%

10,970,000 (2000) +29.6%

15,050,000 (2010) +37.2%

20,251,000 (2020) +34.6%

Religion, %

	Animist	Christian	Muslim Sunni
1900	69.9		30.0
1960	44.0	1.0	55.0
1970	30.0		65.0
1990	10.0		90.0
2009	2.0	2.4	94.8

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban
1952		53.0 (+21.0)	213.0	32.0	43.9	3.1	4.1
1962	7.0	52.0 (+15.7)	210.0	36.3	41.4	2.3	11.7
1972	7.1	51.0 (+20.5)	190.0	30.5	42.6	2.7	15.1
1980	7.2	49.0 (+23.8)	160.0	25.2	44.1	3.2	18.5
1990	7.2	49.0 (+27.5)	130.0	20.5	46.7	3.8	23.3
2000	6.9	49.6 (+31.6)	115.0	18.3	46.6	3.3	28.4
2010	6.6	45.6 (+33.1)	79.5	12.5	47.5	2.7	36.0
2015	6.1	43.2 (+32.5)	69.6	10.7	48.0	2.5	39.9
2017	6.0	42.1 (+32.1)		10.0
2018					47.5	2.5	42.4

Life expectancy,

32.5 (1952); 31.0 (M), 34.0 (F)

28.2 (1960); 27.4 (M), 29.0 (F)

32.4 (1970); 31.5 (M), 33.3 (F)

37.0 (1980); 38.8 (M), 40.6 (F)

45.7 (1990); 45.0 (M), 46.4 (F)

48.0 (2000); 47.3 (M), 48.8 (F)

55.2 (2010); 54.6 (M), 55.9 (F)

59.4 (2020); 58.7 (M), 60.2 (F)

Population of principal cities, MA = Metropolitan Area

	BAMAKO	Kayes	Mopti	Segou	Sikasso	Tombouctou^1
1550						30,000
1800						9,000
1910						5,000
1960	120,000	28,500		19,400
1967	170,000		32,000	28,100	21,800	9,000
1976	404,022	44,736	53,885	64,890	47,030	20,000
1984		67,000	78,000	99,000	70,000
1990	750,000
2000	1,083,000
2009	1,809,106	127,368	114,296	130,690	225,753	54,543
2009	2,757,234 MA

¹Tombouctou, or Timbuktu, has been a caravan centre from the 11^th century. It declined significantly when trade routes shifted to marine rather than overland.

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values)

	GDP, US$ million	Total GDP, % of USA	GDP per capita, US$	GDP per capita % of USA
1958	224	0.06
1967	275		48
1970	360	0.03	60	1.14
1975	830	0.05	128	1.64
1980	1,910	0.07	250	1.98
1985	1,230	0.03	175	0.96
1990	2,470	0.04	315	1.31
1995	2,380	0.03	280	0.93
2000	2,480	0.02	270	0.74
2005	5,100	0.04	490	1.11
2010	9.077	0.00	700	1.45
2015	12,750	0.07	730	1.30
2016	14,050	0.08	780	1.36

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1960		94.0		3.0		3.0
1970		89.0
1980	46.0	73.0	11.0	12.0	43.0	15.0
1990	48.0	85.0	13.4	2.0	38.0	12.5
2000	34.2	80.0	29.7		36.1
2010	38.8	80.0	21.9		39.3
2016	40.7		19.0		40.2

Communications

Language, Official; French

Bambara

60.0% (1980)

68.0% (2005)

Literacy

2.2% (1960)

9.4% (1980); 13.5% (M), 5.7% (F)

17.0% (1990)

31.0% (1995); 39.4% (M), 23.1% (F)

26.4% (2000); 36.7% (M), 16.6% (F)

23.2% (2010); 31.4% (M), 16.0% (F)

33.1% (2015); 45.1% (M), 22.2% (F)

Physical communications � roads, Many unregistered vehicles, particularly motorbikes, are illegally present on Mali�s roads.

	Roads (km)	Surfaced (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles	Railways (km)
1964			8,000
1970						645
1974			19,500
1980	13,360	1,700	25,000			642
1986				17,500	6,900
2000	15,100	1,830		19,500	8,000	734
2005	18,912	3,900	109,000
2007			128,000	87,000	26,800	593
2009	22,474	5,522	148,000
2013			181,000			593

Electronic communications, TV broadcasting began 1983. The Internet became available in Mali in 1997.

	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios	Televisions	PCs	Internet Users
1960			8,000
1975	3,500
1976			82,000
1980	4,920
1983			116,000
1986		1,200
1990	11,150		400,000	10,000
1995			500,000	20,000	3,000
1997			570,000	45,000
1998						400
2000	39,200	10,400	597,000		13,000	18,800
2002						25,000
2005		870,000		400,000	45,000
2010	114,400	7,326,000				325,000
2012	112,000	14,613,000
2016		20,182,160				2,200,000
2017						2,212,500

Tourism: Visitors to Mali,

20,000 (1980)

44,000 (1990)

42,000 (1995)

86,000 (2000)

143,000 (2005)

169,000 (2010)

159,300 (2015)