Country Facts - Mali

The People

Ethnic Composition

Mande (Bambara, Malinke, Sarakole)	50%
Peul	17%
Voltaic	12%
Songhai	6%
Tuareg and Moor	10%
Other	5%

Religious Composition

Muslim	90%
Indigenous beliefs	9%
Christian	1%

Languages Spoken

French is the official language of Mali. However 80 percent of the population speaks Bambara and numerous other African languages.

Education and Literacy

Mali's overall adult literacy is around 31 percent. Among males it is 39.4 percent and females 23.1 percent.

Labor Force

Total: NA

By occupation: agriculture and fishing 80% (1998)

Geography

Land Mass Total

478,766 sq mi (1.24 million sq km)

Land

471,044 sq mi (1.22 million sq km)

Water

7,722 sq mi (20,000 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 4,500 mi (7,243 km)
Border countries: Algeria 855 mi (1,376 km), Burkina Faso 621 mi (1,000 km), Guinea 533 mi (858 km), Cote d'Ivoire 330 mi (532 km), Mauritania 1,390 mi (2,237 km), Niger 510 mi (821 km), Senegal 260 mi (419 km)

Climate/Weather

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: Senegal River 75 ft (23 m)
Highest: Hombori Tondo 3,789 ft (1,155 m)

Natural Resources

Gold, phosphates, kaolin, salt, limestone, uranium, hydropower.
Note: Bauxite, iron ore, manganese, tin, and copper deposits are known but not exploited.

Land use

Arable land	4%
Permanent crops	0%
Other	96%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Hot, dust-laden harmattan haze common during dry seasons; recurring droughts.

Environment - current issues

Deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; inadequate supplies of potable water; poaching.

Geography Note

Landlocked; divided into three natural zones: the southern, cultivated Sudanese; the central, semiarid Sahelian; and the northern, arid Saharan

Demographics

Population

10,685,948 (July 2000)

Age structure

0-14 years:	47%	Male: 2,537,586	Female: 2,508,782
15-64 years:	50%	Male: 2,524,969	Female: 2,781,762
65 years and over:	3%	Male: 156,447	Female: 176,402

(2001)

Growth Rate

2.98% (2000)

Life Expectancy

46.66 years

Male: 45.5 years
Female: 47.85 years

GDP Per Capita

US$820 (1999)

Infant Mortality

123.25 deaths/1,000 live births (2000)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.03 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.91 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.89 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.95 male(s)/female

Net migration rate

-0.37 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000)

Economy & Trade

Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, with 65 percent of its land area desert or semi-desert. Economic activity is largely confined to the river area irrigated by the Niger. About 10 percent of the population is nomadic and some 80 percent 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. In 1997, the government 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 percent devaluation of the African franc in January 1994, has pushed up economic growth. Several multinational corporations increased gold mining operations in 1996-1998, and the government has placed Mali on the path to become a major sub-Saharan gold exporter in the next few years. Mali had a bit of an economic slowdown in 2001 with only 1.5 percent GDP growth but it bounced back in 2002 with a 9.6-percent expansion. Inflation has been kept in the 5-percent band since 2001 adding to Malis stable outlook.

Unemployment

N/A

Inflation Rate

3% (1999)

Industries

Minor local consumer goods production and food processing; construction; phosphate and gold mining.

Exports

US$640 million (f.o.b., 1999)

Imports

US$650 million (f.o.b., 1999)

Total Trade

US$1.3 billion (1999)

Top Export Partners

Thailand, Italy, China, Brazil, France.

Top Import Partners

Russia, France, Jordan, Australia, China.

Top Exports

Cotton, gold, livestock.

Top Imports

Food, medicine, manufactures.

Debt - external

US$3.1 billion (1998)

Economic aid

US$596.4 million (1995)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	Monday through Thursday 7:30a.m. to 12:30p.m., and 2:30p.m. to 6p.m. Friday 7:30a.m. to 12:30p.m., and 2:30p.m. to 5:30p.m.	Closed
Retail	8a.m. to 5p.m.	Some stores open on Saturday.
Banks	Monday through Thursday 7a.m. to noon and 1:15p.m. to 3p.m. Friday 7:30a.m. to 12:30p.m.	Closed
Government	Monday through Thursday 7a.m. to noon and 2p.m. to 4:30p.m. Friday the post office is open until noon.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Festival of Sacrifice (Eid Al Adha)¹	February 12	February 2	January 21
Easter²	April 20	April 11	March 27
Easter Monday	April 20	April 12	March 28
Birthday of Prophet Mohammad (Mawlid an Nabi)³	May 14	May 2	April 21
Africa Freedon Day	May 25	May 25	May 25
Anniversary of Proclamation of the Republic	September 22	September 22	September 22
Start of Ramadan*¹	October 27	October 15	October 4
Army Day	November 19	November 19	November 19
End of Ramadan (Eid Al Fitr)*²	November 26	November 14	November 3
Christmas Day*³	December 25	December 25	December 25

¹	Culmination of the Haj or Holy Pilgrimage.
²	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
³	The Birthday of the Prophet Mohammad is celebrated on the 12th day in the month of Rabi'l of the Islamic calendar.
*¹	Ramadan (the month of fasting) begins with the first appearance of the new moon in the ninth month of the lunar Islamic Hijra calendar, and lasts 30 days. Dates for the start of Ramadan will vary from country to country, depending on the first appearance of the moon.
*²	Feasting that officially marks the end of Ramadan, and commonly lasts for three days.
*³	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press