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 by a military coup - led by the current president Amadou TOURE - enabling Mali's emergence as one of the strongest democracies on the continent. President Alpha KONARE won Mali's first democratic presidential election in 1992 and was reelected in 1997. In keeping with Mali's two-term constitutional limit, KONARE stepped down in 2002 and was succeeded by Amadou TOURE, who was subsequently elected to a second term in 2007. The elections were widely judged to be free and fair.

Western Africa, southwest of Algeria

17 00 N, 4 00 W

Africa

slightly less than twice the size of Texas

0 km (landlocked)

none (landlocked)

subtropical to arid; hot and dry (February to June); rainy, humid, and mild (June to November); cool and dry (November to February)

mostly flat to rolling northern plains covered by sand; savanna in south, rugged hills in northeast

gold, phosphates, kaolin, salt, limestone, uranium, gypsum, granite, hydropower

2,360 sq km (2003)

100 cu km (2001)

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

deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; inadequate supplies of potable water; poaching

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

13,796,354 (July 2010 est.)

2.607% (2010 est.)

46.09 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)

14.64 deaths/1,000 population (July 2010 est.)

-5.38 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2010 est.)

6.54 children born/woman (2010 est.)

1.5% (2007 est.)

100,000 (2007 est.)

5,800 (2007 est.)

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

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

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

4.5% of GDP (2006)

republic

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

22 September 1960 (from France)

Independence Day, 22 September (1960)

adopted 12 January 1992

based on French civil law system and customary law; judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (147 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)

Supreme Court or Cour Supreme

African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence or SADI [Oumar MARIKO, secretary general]; Alliance for Democracy or ADEMA [Diounconda TRAORE]; Alliance for Democracy and Progress or ADP (a coalition of political parties including ADEMA and URD formed in December 2006 to support the presidential candidacy of Amadou TOURE); Alliance for Democratic Change (political group comprised mainly of Tuareg from Mali's northern region); Convergence 2007 [Soumeylou Boubeye MAIGA]; Front for Democracy and the Republic or FDR (a coalition of political parties including RPM and PARENA formed to oppose the presidential candidacy of Amadou TOURE); National Congress for Democratic Initiative or CNID [Mountaga TALL]; Party for Democracy and Progress or PDP [Mady KONATE]; Party for National Renewal or PARENA [Tiebile DRAME]; Patriotic Movement for Renewal or MPR [Choguel MAIGA]; Rally for Democracy and Labor or RDT [Amadou Ali NIANGADOU]; Rally for Mali or RPM [Ibrahim Boubacar KEITA]; Sudanese Union/African Democratic Rally or US/RDA [Mamadou Basir GOLOGO]; Union for Democracy and Development or UDD [Moussa Balla COULIBALY]; Union for Republic and Democracy or URD [Soumaila CISSE]

ACP, AfDB, AU, CD, ECOWAS, FAO, FZ, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNWTO, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), yellow, and red

Mali is among the 25 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 gold and cotton, its main exports. 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 has invested in tourism and a tractor assembly factory. Mali's adherence to economic reform and the 50% devaluation of the CFA franc in January 1994 have pushed up economic growth to a 5% average in 1996-2008. Worker remittances and external trade routes for the landlocked country have been jeopardized by continued unrest in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire, however, Mali is building a road network that will connect it to all adjacent countries and it has a railway line to Senegal.

$15.52 billion (2009 est.)

$14.93 billion (2008 est.)

$14.2 billion (2007 est.)

$8.86 billion (2009 est.)

4% (2009 est.)

5.1% (2008 est.)

2.8% (2007 est.)

$1,200 (2009 est.)

$1,100 (2008 est.)

$1,100 (2007 est.)

3.241 million (2007 est.)

30% (2004 est.)

36.1% (2005 est.)

40.1 (2001)

50.5 (1994)

2.5% (2007 est.)

4.75% (31 December 2008)

4.25% (31 December 2007)

NA%

$NA (31 December 2008)

$1.58 billion (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$697.1 million (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$1.099 billion (31 December 2007)

$NA

cotton, millet, rice, corn, vegetables, peanuts; cattle, sheep, goats

food processing; construction; phosphate and gold mining

NA%

515 million kWh (2007 est.)

479 million kWh (2007 est.)

0 kWh; note - recent hydropower developments may be providing electricity to Senegal and Mauritania (2008 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

0 bbl/day (2008 est.)

5,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)

0 bbl/day (2007 est.)

4,402 bbl/day (2007 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2009 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2009 est.)

-$446 million (2007 est.)

$294 million (2006)

cotton, gold, livestock

China 26.4%, Thailand 10.6%, Denmark 6.4%, Pakistan 5.1%, Morocco 4.9% (2008)

$2.358 billion (2006)

petroleum, machinery and equipment, construction materials, foodstuffs, textiles

Senegal 13.1%, Cote dIvoire 11.9%, France 11.3%, China 5.9% (2008)

$2.8 billion (2002)

Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 481.35 (2009), 447.81 (2008), 493.51 (2007), 522.59 (2006), 527.47 (2005)

81,100 (2008)

3.439 million (2008)

AM 1, FM 230 (27 regional and government stations, and 203 private stations), shortwave 1 (2001)

2 (plus repeaters) (2007)

.ml

519 (2009)

200,000 (2008)

22 (2009)

1,800 km (2008)

Koulikoro

Malian Armed Forces: Army, Republic of Mali Air Force (Force Aerienne de la Republique du Mali, FARM), National Guard (2008)

18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; conscript service obligation - 2 years (2008)

1.9% of GDP (2006)

none