National name: République de Mali

Current government officials

Languages: French (official), Bambara 46.3%, Peul/foulfoulbe 9.4%, Dogon 7.2%, Maraka/soninke 6.4%, Malinke 5.6%, Sonrhai/djerma 5.6%, Minianka 4.3%, Tamacheq 3.5%, Senoufo 2.6%, unspecified 0.6%, other 8.5%. note: Mali has 13 national languages in addition to its official language

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

Religions: Muslim 94.8%, Christian 2.4%, Animist 2%, none 0.5%, unspecified 0.3% (2009 Census)

National Holiday: Independence Day, September 22

Literacy rate: 33.4% (2011 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2013 est.): $18.9 billion; per capita $1,100. Real growth rate: 4.8%. Inflation: 0.1%. Unemployment: 30% (2004 est.). Arable land: 5.53%. Agriculture: cotton, millet, rice, corn, vegetables, peanuts; cattle, sheep, goats. Labor force: 3.241 million (2007 est.); agriculture and fishing 80%, industry and services 20% (2005 est.). Industries: food processing; construction; phosphate and gold mining. Natural resources: gold, phosphates, kaolin, salt, limestone, uranium, hydropower; note: bauxite, iron ore, manganese, tin, and copper deposits are known but not exploited. Exports: $2.577 billion (2013 est.): cotton, gold, livestock. Imports: $2.895 billion (2012 est.): petroleum, machinery and equipment, construction materials, foodstuffs, textiles. Major trading partners: China, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, France, Senegal, Côte dIvoire (2012).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 112,000 (2012); mobile cellular: 14.613 million (2011). Broadcast media: national public TV broadcaster; 2 privately owned companies provide subscription services to foreign multi-channel TV packages; national public radio broadcaster supplemented by a large number of privately owned and community broadcast stations; transmissions of multiple international broadcasters are available (2007). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 437 (2012). Internet users: 249,800