Mali

Mali is a landlocked country located in interior Western Africa, southwest of Algeria, north of Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso, west of Niger, covering an area of approximately 1.24 million square kilometers. As of 2025, Mali has a population of over 22.6 million, with Bambara as the most widely spoken language and French as an official language. The country features mostly flat to rolling northern plains covered by sand, savanna in the south, and rugged hills in the northeast, with a subtropical to arid climate. Bamako serves as the capital, and the government operates as a semi-presidential republic.

Mali has a low-income economy with a GDP of $26.59 billion and a GDP per capita of $2,900, driven by food processing, construction, phosphate, and gold mining. Key agricultural products include maize, rice, millet, sorghum, onions, cotton, and sugarcane, while natural resources include gold, phosphates, kaolin, salt, limestone, uranium, and hydropower. The unemployment rate is 2.8% as of 2025, though 44.6% of the population lives below the poverty line and literacy is just 35.5%. Mali faces significant challenges including extreme poverty, political instability, terrorism, environmental fragility, and vulnerability to recurring droughts.