This article is about the

demographic Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as ed ...

features of the

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

, including

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Population

In , Mali's population was an estimated million, with an annual growth rate of 2.7%.CIA world factbook
This figure can be compared to 4,638,000 in 1950. The population is predominantly

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are de ...

(68% in 2002), and 5–10% of Malians are

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

ic. More than 90% of the population lives in the southern part of the country, especially in

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on the Niger Rive ...

, which has over 1 million residents. In 2007, about 48% of Malians were less than 15 years old, 49% were 15–64 years old, and 3% were 65 and older. The median age was 15.9 years. The

birth rate The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; populati ...

in 2007 was 49.6 births per 1,000, and the

total fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if: # she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime # she were t ...

was 7.4 children per woman. The

death rate Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of d ...

in 2007 was 16.5 deaths per 1,000.

Life expectancy Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...

at birth was 49.5 years total (47.6 for males and 51.5 for females). Mali has one of the world's highest rates of

infant mortality Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...

, with 106 deaths per 1,000 live births. The proportion of the population aged below 15 in 2010 was 47.2%. 50.6% of the population were aged between 15 and 65 years of age. 2.2% of the population were aged 65 years or older.Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision

Structure of the population

Structure of the population (01.04.2009) (Census, Complete tabulation): Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2018):

Ethnic groups

Ethnic groups include: 33.3% Bambara 13.3% Fula 9.8% Soninke 9.6% Senufo / Bwa / Malinke 8.7% Dogon 5.9% Songhai 1.7%

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Al ...

6.1% Bobo 11.6% Others

's population consists of Sub-Saharan ethnic groups, sharing similar historic, cultural, and religious traditions. Exceptions are two

ic northern groups, the

s, a

Berber people , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...

, and Maurs (or Moors), of

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

o-Berber origins. In Mali and

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesAzawagh Arabs, named after the Azawagh region of the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

. Azawagh Arabs speak mainly

Hassaniya Arabic Hassānīya ( ar, حسانية '; also known as , , , , and ''Maure'') is a variety of Maghrebi Arabic spoken by Mauritanian Arabs and the Sahrawi. It was spoken by the Beni Ḥassān Bedouin tribes, who extended their authority over most of ...

which is one of the regional

varieties of Arabic The varieties (or dialects or vernacular languages) of Arabic, a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family originating in the Arabian Peninsula, are the linguistic systems that Arabic speakers speak natively. There are considerable vari ...

. The Tuaregs traditionally have opposed the central government. Starting in June 1990 in the north, Tuaregs seeking greater autonomy led to clashes with the military. In April 1992, the government and most opposing factions signed a pact to end the fighting and restore stability in the north. Its major aims are to allow greater autonomy to the north and increase government resource allocation to what has been a traditionally impoverished region. The peace agreement was celebrated in 1996 in

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...

during an official and highly publicized ceremony called "Flamme de la Paix"--(peace flame). Historically, interethnic relations throughout the rest of the country were facilitated by easy mobility on the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mal ...

and across the country's vast savannahs. Each ethnic group was traditionally tied to a specific occupation, all working within proximity to each other, although the distinctions were often blurred. The Bambara, Malinké, Sarakole, Dogon and Songhay are farmers; the Fula or Fulani, Maur, and

are herders, while the Bozo are fishers. In recent years this linkage has shifted considerably, as ethnic groups seek nontraditional sources of income.

Europeans in Mali

People of European origin form a small minority in the country. They include those of mixed European and African descendant, as well as those of full European background. The latter includes the French, as well as the Spanish, Irish, Italian and Portuguese origins. Some of them descend from the

Arma people The Arma people are an ethnic group of the middle Niger River valley, descended from Moroccan invaders of the 16th century . The name, applied by other groups, derives from the word ''ar-rumah'' ( ar, الرماة) "fusiliers". N. Levtzion, "No ...

(1% of the nation's population). They mainly live in

, Sikasso,

Kalabancoro Kalabancoro or Kalaban Koro is a rural commune and town in the ''cercle'' of Kati within the Koulikoro Region of south-western Mali. The commune has become part of the suburbs of Bamako, the Malian capital. It lies on the south side of the Nige ...

Koutiala Koutiala ( Bambara: ߞߎߕߌߊߟߊ tr. Kutiala) is a city in Mali in the administrative region of Sikasso, and is located 140 km north of the city of Sikasso. Koutiala serves as the capital of its administrative Cercle, home to 575,253 peo ...

, Ségou, Kayes, Kati,

Mopti Mopti ( Bambara: ߡߏߕߌ tr. Moti) is a town and an urban commune in the Inner Niger Delta region of Mali. The town is the capital of the Mopti Cercle and the Mopti Region. Situated 630 km northeast of Bamako, the town lies at the confl ...

, Niono, Gao, San, Koro, Bla, Bougouni, Mandé, Baguineda-Camp, Kolondiéba,

Kolokani Kolokani is a town of approximately 57,307 inhabitants in Mali's Koulikoro Region. It is the capital of the Cercle of Kolokani, which consists of 10 rural communes (Didieni, Guihoyo, Kolokani, Massantola, Nonkon, Nossombougou, Ouolodo, Sagabala, ...

, and others.

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events in Mali is not complete. The website

Our World in Data Our World in Data (OWID) is a scientific online publication that focuses on large global problems such as poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, war, existential risks, and inequality. It is a project of the Global Change Data Lab, a re ...

prepared the following estimates based on statistics from the Population Department of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

Fertility and Births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR): Fertility data as of 2012-2013 (DHS Program):

Immigration and emigration

Mali had an estimated net migration rate of –6.6 migrants per 1,000 people in 2006.CIA factbook About 3 million Malians are believed to reside in Côte d'Ivoire and France. Conversely, according to a 2003 estimate, Mali hosts about 11,000 Mauritanians; most are Fulani herders who routinely engage in cross-border migration. In addition, there are several thousand refugees from Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in Bamako and other urban areas of Mali.

Demographic statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2022. *One birth every 37 seconds *One death every 3 minutes *One net migrant every 13 minutes *Net gain of one person every 51 seconds The following demographic are from the

CIA World Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available ...

unless otherwise indicated.

Population

:20,741,769 (2022 est.) :18,429,893 (July 2018 est.)

Age structure

:''0-14 years:'' 47.69% (male 4,689,121/female 4,636,685) :''15-24 years:'' 19% (male 1,768,772/female 1,945,582) :''25-54 years:'' 26.61% (male 2,395,566/female 2,806,830) :''55-64 years:'' 3.68% (male 367,710/female 352,170) :''65 years and over:'' 3.02% (male 293,560/female 297,401) (2020 est.) :''0-14 years:'' 48.03% (male 4,449,790 /female 4,402,076) :''15-24 years:'' 18.89% (male 1,657,609 /female 1,823,453) :''25-54 years:'' 26.36% (male 2,243,158 /female 2,615,695) :''55-64 years:'' 3.7% (male 346,003 /female 335,733) :''65 years and over:'' 3.02% (male 277,834 /female 278,542) (2018 est.)

Birth rate

:41.07 births/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 4th :43.2 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 3rd

Death rate

:8.53 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 73rd :9.6 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 45th

Total fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if: # she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime # she were t ...

:5.54 children born/woman (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 4th :5.9 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 5th

Population growth rate

:2.95% (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 11th :2.98% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 8th

Median age

:total: 16 years. Country comparison to the world: 224th :male: 15.3 years :female: 16.7 years (2020 est.) :total: 15.8 years. Country comparison to the world: 127th :male: 15.2 years :female: 16.5 years (2018 est.)

Mother's mean age at first birth

:19.2 years (2018 est.) :note: median age at first birth among women 20-49 :18.8 years (2012/13 est.) :note: median age at first birth among women 25-29

Contraceptive prevalence rate

:17.2% (2018) :15.6% (2015)

Net migration rate

:-3.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 181st :-3.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 181st

Dependency ratios

:total dependency ratio: 101.9 (2015 est.) :youth dependency ratio: 96.8 (2015 est.) :elderly dependency ratio: 5.1 (2015 est.) :

potential support ratio The potential support ratio (PSR) is the number of people age 15–64 per one older person aged 65 or older. This ratio describes the burden placed on the working population ( unemployment and children are not considered in this measure) by the n ...

: 19.5 (2015 est.)

Urbanization

:urban population: 45.4% of total population (2022) :rate of urbanization: 4.57% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) :urban population: 42.4% of total population (2018) :rate of urbanization: 4.86% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

:total population: 62.41 years. Country comparison to the world: 211st :male: 60.19 years :female: 64.7 years (2022 est.) :total population: 60.8 years (2018 est.) :male: 58.6 years (2018 est.) :female: 63 years (2018 est.)

Major infectious diseases

:degree of risk: very high (2020) :food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever :vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever :water contact diseases: schistosomiasis :animal contact diseases: rabies :respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis

Education expenditures

:3.4% of GDP (2019) Country comparison to the world: 131st

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.) :total population: 35.5% :male: 46.2% :female: 25.7% (2018) :total population: 33.1% (2015 est.) :male: 45.1% (2015 est.) :female: 22.2% (2015 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

:total: 7 years :male: 8 years :female: 7 years (2017)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

:total: 2.4% :male: 2.6% :female: 2.3% (2018 est.)

Languages

Although each ethnic group speaks a separate language, nearly 80% of Malians communicate over ethnic borders in Bambara, which is the common language of the

marketplace A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

. French is the country's official language and is spoken somewhat by 30% of Malians.

Religion

An estimated 95% of Malians are

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

, 4% adhere to indigenous or traditional animist beliefs, and 1% are Christian (about two-thirds

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

and one-third

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

and

agnosticism Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficien ...

are believed to be rare among Malians, most of whom practice their religion on a daily basis. Islam as practiced in Mali can be moderate, tolerant, and adapted to local conditions; relations between Muslims and practitioners of minority religious faiths are generally amicable. The constitution establishes a

secular state A secular state is an idea pertaining to secularity, whereby a state is or purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state claims to treat all its citizens equally regard ...

and provides for

freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedo ...

, and the government largely respects this right.

Health

Mali's health and development indicators rank among the worst in the world. In 2000 only 62–65 percent of the population was estimated to have access to safe drinking water and only 69 percent to sanitation services of some kind; only 8 percent was estimated to have access to modern sanitation facilities. Only 20 percent of the nation’s villages and livestock watering holes had modern water facilities. There were an estimated 140,000 cases of

human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

(HIV/AIDS) reported in 2003, and an estimated 1.9 percent of the adult population was afflicted with HIV/AIDS that year, among the lowest rates in

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

(see also HIV/AIDS in Africa). In the same year, there were 12,000 AIDS deaths. The

infant mortality rate Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...

is 69.5 deaths/1,000 live births (75.3/1,000 among males and 63.5/1,000 among females) (2017 est.). Life expectancy at birth is 60.3 years (58.2 years among males and 62.5 years among females) (2017 est.).

Life expectancy

Education

In the 2000–01 school year, the primary school enrollment rate was 61% (71% of males and 51% of females). The primary school completion rate is also low: only 36 percent of students in 2003 (and lower for females). The majority of students reportedly leave school by age 12. In the late 1990s, the secondary school enrollment rate was 15% percent (20% of males and 10% of females).Mali country profile

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

Federal Research Division The Federal Research Division (FRD) is the research and analysis unit of the United States Library of Congress. The Federal Research Division provides directed research and analysis on domestic and international subjects to agencies of the Unit ...

(January 2005). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired ...

.'' According to

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

government estimates, the adult

literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in Writing, written form in some specific context of use. In other wo ...

rate (defined as those over age 15 who can read and write) was 46.4 percent for the total population in 2003 (53.5 percent for males and 39.6 percent for females). According to

sources, however, the literacy rate is actually much lower—only 27–30 percent overall and as low as 12 percent for females, among the lowest rates in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Population

Structure of the population

Ethnic groups

Europeans in Mali

Vital statistics

Fertility and Births

Immigration and emigration

Demographic statistics

Population

Age structure

Birth rate

Death rate

Total fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if: # she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime # she were t ...

Population growth rate

Median age

Mother's mean age at first birth

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Net migration rate

Dependency ratios

Urbanization

Life expectancy at birth

Major infectious diseases

Education expenditures

Literacy

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

Languages

Religion

Health

Life expectancy

Education

References

Further reading