Since 2016, Mali has been divided into ten regions and one capital district. A reorganization of the country from eight to nineteen regions was passed into law in 2012,[1] but of the new regions, only Taoudénit (partitioned from Tombouctou Region) and Ménaka (formerly Ménaka Cercle in Gao Region) have begun to be implemented.[2] [3] Each of the regions bears the name of its capital. The regions are divided into 56 cercles. The cercles and the capital district are divided into 703 communes.[4]
In 2023, Mali has added nine new regions to its administrative structure, bringing the total to 19 regions plus the district of Bamako. This reorganization aims to improve governance and bring public services closer to local populations. This initiative continues the decentralization efforts that began with the creation of the Taoudénit and Ménaka regions in 2016. The nineteen regions in turn are subdivided into 159 cercles and 815 communes.
The most populated region is Sikasso with 2.648 million people, and the least most populated is Kidal with just 38 thousand people.
Though five regions are composed of mainly desert, they also have half the country's land mass. The largest region is Taoudénit and the smallest is Ségou, excluding Bamako.
The regions are numbered, originally west to east, with Roman numerals.[5] The capital Bamako is administered separately and is in its own district.The ten regions and the Bamako District are listed below. The population figures are from the 1998 and 2009 censuses.[6]
| Region name | Region number | Area (km2) | Population Census 1998 | Population Census 2009 | Population Estimate 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bamako - Capital Dsitrict | 00 | 252 | 1,016,296 | 1,810,366 | 2,643,130 | |
| Kayes | 01 | 119,743 | 1,374,316 | 1,993,615 | 2,910,680 | |
| Koulikoro | 02 | 95,848 | 1,570,507 | 2,422,108 | 3,536,280 | |
| 03 | 70,280 | 1,782,157 | 2,643,179 | 3,859,040 | ||
| 04 | 64,821 | 1,675,357 | 2,338,349 | 3,413,990 | ||
| 05 | 79,017 | 1,484,601 | 2,036,209 | 2,972,870 | ||
| 06 | 56,435 | 442,619 | 674,793 | 985,200 | ||
| 07 | 89,532 | 341,542 | 542,304 | 791,760 | ||
| 08 | 151,430 | 38,774 | 67,739 | 98,900 | ||
| 09 | 440,176 | – | 18,160 | – | ||
| 10 | 81,040 | – | 54,456 | 79,510 | ||
| Bougouni | 11 | 41,052 | ||||
| Dioila | 12 | 12,984 | ||||
| Nioro | 13 | 24,179 | ||||
| Koutiala | 14 | 14,739 | ||||
| Kita | 15 | 44,175 | ||||
| Nara | 16 | 26,213 | ||||
| Bandiagara | 17 | 25,709 | ||||
| San | 18 | 15,516 | ||||
| Douentza | 19 | 63,515 |