Introduction

 
Background: The Sudanese Republic and Senegal became independent of France in 1960 as the Mali Federation. When Senegal withdrew after only a few months, what formerly made up the Sudanese Republic was renamed Mali. Rule by dictatorship was brought to a close in 1991 with a transitional government and in 1992 when Mali's first democratic presidential election was held. After his reelection in 1997, President Alpha KONARE continued to push through political and economic reforms and to fight corruption. In keeping with Mali's two-term constitutional limit, he stepped down in 2002 and was succeeded by Amadou TOURE.

 

Geography

 

Location: Western Africa, southwest of Algeria

 

Geographic coordinates: 17 00 N, 4 00 W

 

Map references: Africa

 

Area: total: 1.24 million sq km; land: 1.22 million sq km; water: 20,000 sq km

 

Area - comparative: slightly less than twice the size of Texas

 

Land boundaries: total: 7,243 km; border countries: Algeria 1,376 km, Burkina Faso 1,000 km, Guinea 858 km, Cote d'Ivoire 532 km, Mauritania 2,237 km, Niger 821 km, Senegal 419 km

 

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

 

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

 

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

 

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Senegal River 23 m; highest point: Hombori Tondo 1,155 m

 

Natural resources: gold, phosphates, kaolin, salt, limestone, uranium, gypsum, granite, hydropower; note: bauxite, iron ore, manganese, tin, and copper deposits are known but not exploited

 

Land use: arable land: 3.82%; permanent crops: 0.03%; other: 96.15% (2001)

 

Irrigated land: 1,380 sq km (1998 est.)

 

Natural hazards: hot, dust-laden harmattan haze common during dry seasons; recurring droughts; occasional Niger River flooding

 

Environment - current issues: deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; inadequate supplies of potable water; poaching

 

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands; signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

 

Geography - note: landlocked; divided into three natural zones: the southern, cultivated Sudanese; the central, semiarid Sahelian; and the northern, arid Saharan

 

People

 

Population: 12,291,529 (July 2005 est.)

 

Age structure: 0-14 years: 47.1% (male 2,910,944/female 2,876,010); 15-64 years: 50% (male 2,955,496/female 3,185,666); 65 years and over: 3% (male 165,867/female 197,546) (2005 est.)

 

Median age: total: 16.35 years; male: 15.79 years; female: 16.92 years (2005 est.)

 

Population growth rate: 2.74% (2005 est.)

 

Birth rate: 46.77 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

 

Death rate: 19.05 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

 

Net migration rate: -0.33 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

 

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female; under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female; 65 years and over: 0.84 male(s)/female; total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

 

Infant mortality rate: total: 116.79 deaths/1,000 live births; male: 123.32 deaths/1,000 live births; female: 110.07 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

 

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 45.09 years; male: 44.69 years; female: 45.51 years (2005 est.)

 

Total fertility rate: 6.5 children born/woman (2005 est.)

 

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 1.9% (2003 est.)

 

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 140,000 (2003 est.)

 

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 12,000 (2003 est.)

 

Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: very high; food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever; vectorborne disease: malaria is a high risk in some locations; water contact disease: schistosomiasis; respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis (2004)

 

Nationality: noun: Malian(s); adjective: Malian

 

Ethnic groups: Mande 50% (Bambara, Malinke, Soninke), Peul 17%, Voltaic 12%, Songhai 6%, Tuareg and Moor 10%, other 5%

 

Religions: Muslim 90%, indigenous beliefs 9%, Christian 1%

 

Languages: French (official), Bambara 80%, numerous African languages

 

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write; total population: 46.4%; male: 53.5%; female: 39.6% (2003 est.)

 

Government

 

Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Mali; conventional short form: Mali; local long form: Republique de Mali; local short form: Mali; former: French Sudan and Sudanese Republic

 

Government type: republic

 

Capital: Bamako

 

Administrative divisions: 8 regions (regions, singular - region); Gao, Kayes, Kidal, Koulikoro, Mopti, Segou, Sikasso, Tombouctou

 

Independence: 22 September 1960 (from France)

 

National holiday: Independence Day, 22 September (1960)

 

Constitution: adopted 12 January 1992

 

Legal system: based on French civil law system and customary law; judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Court (which was formally established on 9 March 1994); has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

 

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

 

Executive branch: chief of state: President Amadou Toumani TOURE (since 8 June 2002); head of government: Prime Minister Ousmane Issoufi MAIGA (since 30 April 2004); cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister; elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (two-term limit); election last held 12 May 2002 (next to be held May 2007); prime minister appointed by the president; election results: Amadou Toumani TOURE elected president; percent of vote - Amadou Toumani TOURE 64.4%, Soumaila CISSE 35.6%

 

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (147 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms); elections: last held 14 July and 28 July 2002 (next to be held July 2007); election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - Hope 2002 coalition 66, ADEMA 51, other 30

 

Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Cour Supreme

 

Economy

 

Economy - overview: Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, with 65% of its land area desert or semidesert and with a highly unequal distribution of income. Economic activity is largely confined to the riverine area irrigated by the Niger. About 10% of the population is nomadic and some 80% of the labor force is engaged in farming and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on processing farm commodities. Mali is heavily dependent on foreign aid and vulnerable to fluctuations in world prices for cotton, its main export, along with gold. The government has continued its successful implementation of an IMF-recommended structural adjustment program that is helping the economy grow, diversify, and attract foreign investment. Mali's adherence to economic reform and the 50% devaluation of the African franc in January 1994 have pushed up economic growth to a sturdy 5% average in 1996-2004. Worker remittances and external trade routes have been jeopardized by continued unrest in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire.

 

GDP: purchasing power parity - $11 billion (2004 est.)

 

GDP - real growth rate: 4% (2004 est.)

 

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $900 (2004 est.)

 

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 45%; industry: 17%; services: 38% (2001 est.)

 

Labor force: 3.93 million (2001 est.)

 

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture and fishing 80% (2001 est.)

 

Unemployment rate: 14.6% urban areas; 5.3% rural areas (2001 est.)

 

Population below poverty line: 64% average; 30% of the total population living in urban areas; 70% of the total population living in rural areas) (2001 est.)

 

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.8%

highest 10%: 40.4% (1994)

 

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 50.5 (1994)

 

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.5% (2002 est.)

 

Budget: revenues: $764 million; expenditures: $828 million, including capital expenditures of NA (2002 est.)

 

Agriculture - products: cotton, millet, rice, corn, vegetables, peanuts; cattle, sheep, goats

 

Industries: food processing; construction; phosphate and gold mining

 

Industrial production growth rate: NA (FY96/97)

 

Electricity - production: 700 million kWh (2002)

 

Electricity - consumption: 651 million kWh (2002)

 

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh; note - recent hydropower developments may be providing electricity to Senegal and Mauritania (2002)

 

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2002)

 

Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

 

Oil - consumption: 4,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

 

Oil - exports: NA

 

Oil - imports: NA

 

Exports: $915 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)

 

Exports - commodities: cotton, gold, livestock

 

Exports - partners: China 32%, India 10.3%, Italy 7.6%, Bangladesh 6.8%, Thailand 5.9%, Germany 5.2%, Taiwan 4% (2004)

 

Imports: $927 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)

 

Imports - commodities: petroleum, machinery and equipment, construction materials, foodstuffs, textiles

 

Imports - partners: France 15.4%, Senegal 7.2%, Cote d'Ivoire 6.6%, Germany 4.1% (2004)

 

Debt - external: $3.3 billion (2000)

 

Economic aid - recipient: $596.4 million (2001)

 

Currency (code): Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States

 

Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000)

 

Fiscal year: calendar year

 

Communications

 

Telephones - main lines in use: 56,600 (2002)

 

Telephones - mobile cellular: 250,000 (2003)

 

Telephone system: general assessment: domestic system unreliable but improving; provides only minimal service; domestic: network consists of microwave radio relay, open-wire, and radiotelephone communications stations; expansion of microwave radio relay in progress; international: country code - 223; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean)

 

Radio broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 28, shortwave 1; note: the shortwave station in Bamako has seven frequencies and five transmitters and relays broadcasts for China Radio International (2001)

 

Television broadcast stations: 1 (plus repeaters) (2001)

 

Internet country code: .ml

 

Internet hosts: 187 (2003)

 

Internet users: 25,000 (2002)

 

Transportation

 

Railways: total: 729 km; narrow gauge: 729 km 1.000-m gauge (2004)

 

Highways: total: 15,100 km; paved: 1,827 km; unpaved: 13,273 km (1999 est.)

 

Waterways: 1,815 km (2004)

 

Ports and harbors: Koulikoro

 

Airports: 28 (2004 est.)

 

Airports - with paved runways: total: 9; 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4; 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4; 914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2004 est.)

 

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 19; 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1; 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5; 914 to 1,523 m: under 914 m: 8 (2004 est.)

 

Transnational Issues

 

Disputes - international: none.