Mali

C

Principal Cities

The main cities are Bamako, the capital, with a population of 1,083,000 (1999 estimate); Ségou, 107,000 (1998); Sikasso, 90,000 (1998); and Mopti, 86,000 (1998). Ségou and Mopti are important fishing centres. Timbuktu (Tombouctou) is an important centre of religion and learning.

D

Religion

Islam is the religion of about 90 per cent of the population, and about 9 per cent of the people follow traditional beliefs; about 1 per cent are Christians.

E

Language

French is the official language (9,000 first-language speakers) but African languages are normally spoken. Bambara, a Niger-Congo language spoken by at least 2.7 million, tends to be used as the lingua franca. Thirty-eight other African languages are spoken, mostly from the Niger-Congo language family, including: Maasina Fulfulde (911,200), Mamara Senoufo (500,000 to 900,000), and Western Maninkakan (626,800). Five Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken in Mali, Koyraboro Senni Songhay (400,000) being the most widely used. Two Berber languages, Tamasheq (250,000 or more) and Tamajaq (30,000 to 40,000), are also heard, and Hasanya Arabic (106,100) is spoken in some areas.

F

Education

Education is free and, in theory, compulsory between 7 and 16 years of age, but less than 25 per cent of all Malian children of primary school age attend schools. In 1993, primary school enrolment was about 496,000. Approximately 99,000 students were enrolled in secondary schools, including vocational and teacher-training institutions. Bamako has schools of administration, medicine, and engineering. Approximately 6,700 students attended institutions of higher education in Mali in 1993 and many study abroad. Higher education is provided by the University of Mali (1993) in Bamako. Adult literacy in 2005 was 50 per cent; 3 per cent of the country’s gross national product (GNP) was spent on education.

IV

Economy

Mali’s GNP (World Bank estimate) in 2004 was about US$4,335 million, giving a per capita income of US$380, one of the lowest in the world. The estimated annual budget in 1992 included US$376 million in revenue and US$697 million in expenditure. The economy is predominantly agricultural, and with 65 per cent of its land area desert or semi-desert, crops depend almost entirely on irrigation or seasonal flooding from the Niger and its tributaries. Small industrial enterprises consist primarily of cotton-ginning, food processing, cement production, and bicycle assembly. Fish from the Niger provide much of the diet of the people living along the river. The fishing industry produces a surplus, which is dried and smoked for export.