Mali
Bamako · West Africa
Mali is a country in Africa. Its capital city is Bamako, the official currency is the West African CFA Franc, and the main language is French.
With a population of roughly 23.3 million people spread over 1,240,192 km², Mali is the 58th most populous country in the world and the 23rd largest by area. That works out at about 19 people per square kilometre.
Mali shares land borders with Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal and Mauritania — 7 neighbours in all. Its largest urban centres are Bamako, Sikasso and Mopti. The highest point in the country is Hombori Tondo, at 1,155 metres.
For scale, it covers almost exactly the same area as Angola, while its population is closest to that of Burkina Faso.
- Capital
- Bamako
- Region
- West Africa
- Population
- 23,300,000
- Area
- 1,240,192 km²
- Currency
- West African CFA Franc
- Main language
- French
- Highest point
- Hombori Tondo
1,155 m - Land borders
- 7
Mali: things worth knowing
- Timbuktu was a centre of Islamic scholarship, with manuscript libraries dating from the 13th century onward.
- The medieval Mali Empire controlled much of the trans-Saharan gold trade.
- The Great Mosque of Djenné is the largest mud-brick building in the world and is replastered each year by the town.
Mali in context
Africa has 54 sovereign countries in total. Mali ranks 20th among them by population.
See the full list of Africa countries, or browse all 195 countries.