Mali

The country card for Mali: the growth identity’s three terms, population and output, external debt by creditor and the data-quality flag, each with its source.
MLI Bamako · West Africa Confidence: medium
Growth-pole chapters
Pole types
growth-destruction
Regional communities
CEN-SAD, AES
Currency
XOF (CFA), CFA franc, WAEMU (BCEAO), pegged to the euro
Official languages
fr, bm

Population doublerWithdrew from ECOWAS January 2025 (AES); WPP 2024 doubler

VintagesWEO April 2026WDI pulled 25 October 2026IDS 2025 (December 2025 release)WPP 2024, medium variantLast refreshed 25 October 2026About the data

The identity

GDP growth is output-per-worker growth plus growth in the employment-to-working-age ratio plus working-age population growth. All three are annual growth rates, so the bar adds.

0Output per worker: +1.33% a yearEmployment-to-working-age ratio: -0.72% a yearWorking-age population (15-64): +3.54% a yearimplied: +4.16% a yearimplied +4.16%observed: +4.27% a yearobserved +4.27%= 0.5 percentage points a year
Growth accounting over 2014-2024. Terms stack away from zero and add to the implied growth rate, which is marked against observed GDP growth on the same scale. A hatched block is a term not yet on the card: it is parked at the right, carries no width, and holds the sum back rather than letting a missing number pass as zero. Implied minus observed: -0.11 percentage points.
  • Output per worker+1.33%
  • Employment-to-working-age ratio-0.72%
  • Working-age population (15-64)+3.54%
  • Observed GDP growth+4.27%
  • Implied (the three terms summed)+4.16%
Overlay (beside the bar, never inside it) Value
Wage employment share 23.1%
Non-agricultural employment share 36.5%
Employment rate, women 51.5%
Employment rate, men 78.8%
Youth not in employment, education or training 30.1%
Productivity growth, within-sector not yet fetched
Productivity growth, between-sector not yet fetched
Wage employment source ILO-modelled-employees

Generative-AI exposure: 1.5 percent of employment in the most exposed occupations (gradient 4 of the ILO's 2025 index). This is the book's estimate, not an ILO figure: the index's occupation gradients weighted by labour-force survey employment in two-digit occupation groups, 2022. Beside the bar, never inside it: it is a share, not a growth rate.

Population path

24.5m202446.2m205079.4m2100
Total population, three WPP 2024 medium-variant anchor years. The cards carry totals only, not age structure, so this is a path and not a pyramid.
  • Population, 202424.5 million
  • Population, 205046.2 million
  • Population, 210079.4 million
  • Median age15.6 years
  • Total fertility rate5.51 births per woman
  • Dependency ratio94.3 per 100 of working age

Output

Levels are the IMF’s April 2026 estimates for 2025, with the World Bank’s most recent published year standing in where the IMF publishes no figure for this country. Observed growth is over the same window as the identity above, and the forecast runs five years out.

Field Value
GDP $30.1bn
GDP per capita $1,190
GDP at PPP $87.9bn
Observed GDP growth +4.27%
GDP growth, five-year forecast +5.44%
Urban share 32.2%
Informal employment share 92.8%
Largest city Bamako
Largest city population 4.2 million
Largest city population, 2050 8.5 million

External debt

Multilateral: $4.12bnOther bilateral: $1.50bnNot split by the IDS creditor classes: $0.82bn$0bn$6.4bn
External debt by creditor class, IDS 2025. The classes shown cover $5.62bn of a $6.44bn stock; the grey remainder is debt the IDS creditor split does not assign here. A creditor class with no bar is one not yet on the card; it is not a zero. The bar stacks the three classes that divide publicly guaranteed debt by type of creditor and add up to it. The three lines below the rule cut the same total a different way, so they belong inside it and never beside it.
  • Multilateral$4.1bn
  • Other bilateral$1.5bn
  • Other private$0.0bn
  • Eurobonds, of which bonds, inside other privatenot yet fetched
  • Paris Club, of which owed to Paris Club members, across all three$0.3bn
  • China, of which owed to China, across all three$0.5bn
  • Total external debt stock$6.4bn
IDS 2025, debt owed to China$0.5bnBU CLA, cumulative commitments$0.6bn
Commitments exceed the recorded debt stock by $0.14bn, the usual wedge between what was promised, what was drawn, and what has been repaid.
  • IDS 2025, owed to China$0.5bn
  • BU CLA, cumulative commitments$0.6bn
Field Value
Debt service due 2026-2030 $2.6bn
Eurobonds outstanding not yet fetched
Restructuring status none
Collateralized or resource-backed debt not yet fetched
S&P rating not yet fetched
Moody's rating not yet fetched
Fitch rating not yet fetched

Exports and the balance sheet

Field Value
Top three exports Gold, non-monetary (excluding gold ores and concentrates) (SITC 971): 83.6%; Cotton (SITC 263): 5.6%; Petroleum oils or bituminous minerals > 70 % oil (SITC 334): 1.6%
Commodity dependence 96.7%
Remittances received $1.1bn
Foreign direct investment $0.8bn
Official development assistance $1.3bn
AfCFTA status ratified
PAPSS member no
Afrobarometer lived poverty index 1.43

Data quality

Last census 2022. Last GDP rebase not recorded. Last labour-force survey 2024. SPI 66.5. Reports to the IMF under e-GDDS. Confidence: medium.The rule: high means a census within fifteen years, an SPI score of 70 or better and a labour-force survey within five years; one failure is medium, two or more failures or a census before 2000 is low, and the flag is left uncomputed when one of the three inputs is itself missing (the rule, and the reasons to argue with it, on the About the data page).

Field Value
WPP estimate basis not recorded
Climate vulnerability high
Fragility FCS: conflict

Census: RGPH5, enumerated 15 June to 7 July 2022, population 22,395,485. LFS: INSTAT's continuous Enquete modulaire et permanente aupres des menages (EMOP) carries the employment module and is the ILO's source for Mali; the 2024 edition collected data in four passages from 1 January to 31 December 2024 and its annual results are published (https://bibliostat.instat.ml/greenstone3/library/sites/localsite/collect/emploiet/index/assoc/HASH1719.dir/ranuel24_eq.pdf). ILOSTAT's latest survey-based observations for Mali (NEET and informality) are 2024, which matches. Recorded as 2024. Rebase: not sourced.

The shelf

The latest reports on this country from the Fund and the Bank. Each line under “what it argued” is the publisher's own summary, quoted, not a paraphrase; where a summary says nothing the line is blank. A country with no Article IV consultation in the last three years says so, with the report that establishes it.

Report What it argued
IMF Article IV2025 Article IV ConsultationIMF · September 2025 · No. 2025/255Ch. 21 “The 2025 Article IV Consultation discusses that Mali’s economy has shown some resilience despite significant headwinds. Economic growth is expected to reach 5 percent in 2025, supported by strong agricultural production, the start of lithium extraction and continued growth in services.”IMF, abstract of Country Report No. 2025/255
IMF Selected IssuesSelected IssuesIMF · September 2025 · No. 2025/256Ch. 21 “This Selected Issues paper shows how multiple challenges facing Mali over a number of years have increased economic uncertainty. Specifically, economic agents have less confidence about predicting the future and see an increased risk of negative outcomes.”IMF, abstract of Country Report No. 2025/256

Sources

Numbers on this card were last refreshed on 25 October 2026.

Release behind this card Last pulled
African Union AfCFTA signature and ratification register 25 October 2026
Africapolis 2025 25 October 2026
Afrobarometer Round 9 lived-poverty index 25 October 2026
Boston University Chinese Loans to Africa database, 2000-2024 25 October 2026
ILO modelled estimates, November 2025 25 October 2026
IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026 13 September 2026
ND-GAIN Country Index, 2026 release 25 October 2026
PAPSS Payments Network Coverage sheet 25 October 2026
UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant Not recorded
UNCTADstat merchandise trade matrix 25 October 2026
World Bank Group FY26 list of fragile and conflict-affected situations 25 October 2026
World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025 25 October 2026
World Bank Statistical Performance Indicators 25 October 2026
World Bank World Development Indicators 25 October 2026
World Bank World Development Indicators, cross-border flows 25 October 2026
hand-entered Not pulled
derived here from the three identity terms Not pulled
Field on this page Where the number comes from
AfCFTA status African Union AfCFTA signature and ratification register (22/05/2026)
Afrobarometer lived poverty index Afrobarometer Round 9 lived-poverty index, 2022 observation
Chinese loan commitments, cumulative Boston University Chinese Loans to Africa database, 2000-2024
Climate vulnerability ND-GAIN Country Index, 2026 release, 2024 observation
Commodity dependence UNCTADstat merchandise trade matrix, 2025 observation
Debt service due 2026-2030 World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025 (2026-2030)
Dependency ratio UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Employment rate, men ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Employment rate, women ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Employment-to-working-age growth ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
External debt stock World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025
Foreign direct investment World Bank World Development Indicators, cross-border flows, 2025 observation
Fragility World Bank Group FY26 list of fragile and conflict-affected situations
GDP IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2025 observation
GDP at PPP IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2025 observation
GDP growth, five-year forecast IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2030 observation
GDP per capita IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2025 observation
Identity window UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
IMF dissemination standard Hand-entered, cited to dsbb.imf.org/e-gdds/country/MLI/contacts-list
Implied GDP growth derived here from the three identity terms
Informal employment share ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Largest city Africapolis 2025, 2025 observation
Largest city population Africapolis 2025, 2025 observation
Largest city population, 2050 Africapolis 2025, 2050 observation
Last census Hand-entered, cited to www.instat-mali.org/laravel-filemanager/files/sha…
Last labour-force survey Hand-entered, cited to microdata.instat.ml/index.php/catalog/100
Median age UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Non-agricultural employment share ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Observed GDP growth IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2024 observation
Official development assistance World Bank World Development Indicators, cross-border flows, 2023 observation
Output per worker growth ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Owed to China World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025, 2024 observation
Owed to multilaterals World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025
Owed to other bilaterals World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025
Owed to other private creditors World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025
Owed to Paris Club creditors World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025, 2024 observation
PAPSS member PAPSS Payments Network Coverage sheet (June 2026)
Population, 2024 UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Population, 2050 UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Population, 2100 UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Remittances received World Bank World Development Indicators, cross-border flows, 2024 observation
Restructuring status Hand-entered, cited to clubdeparis.org/en/sites/clubdeparis/accueil/pays…
Statistical Performance Indicators score World Bank Statistical Performance Indicators
Top three exports UNCTADstat merchandise trade matrix, 2025 observation
Total fertility rate UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Urban share World Bank World Development Indicators, 2025 observation
Wage employment share ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Wage employment source ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Working-age population growth (15-64) UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Youth not in employment, education or training ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation

Card schema african-economic-future/country_card/v1, built 2026-10-25. The release behind each key, and the day each was last pulled, are listed on the About the data page, and the record behind this page is one of the fifty-four in cards.csv and cards.json.

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