At One Place

Mali

Mali
Capital Bamako
1,240,192 km² · 25,198,821 people (2025) · West African CFA franc

The Niger River bends north into the Sahara here and spreads into the Inner Niger Delta, a seasonal wetland of up to 30,000 km² in the middle of dry country. Timbuktu sits at its northern edge, where the river comes closest to the desert caravan routes.

The facts

Capital
Bamako
Area
1,240,192 km² — 478,841 sq mi
Population
25,198,821 (2025)
Density
20.3 people per km²
Currency
West African CFA franc (XOF, Fr)
Official language
French
Time zone
UTC+00:00
Calling code
+223
Drives on the
right
ISO codes
ML · MLI
Continent
Africa

How it compares

By area
24 of 200
By population
58 of 200

Population is the only figure on this page that dates — it is a 2025 estimate and will drift. Area, capital, currency, languages, calling code and driving side change rarely or never.

Countries of a similar size

Country Area (km²) Population
Niger 1,267,000 27,917,831
Angola 1,246,700 39,040,039
Mali ← 1,240,192 25,198,821
South Africa 1,219,090 64,747,319
Colombia 1,138,910 53,425,635

Common questions

What is the capital of Mali?
Bamako
What currency does Mali use?
The West African CFA franc (XOF).
How big is Mali?
1,240,192 km², or 478,841 square miles — 24 of 200 by area.
Which side of the road does Mali drive on?
The right.

Related pages

Sources

  1. The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))
  2. World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (CC BY 4.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked