Islam by country · Africa
Islam in Mali: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in Mali, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open Mali in the interactive map
History of Islam in Mali
The Republic of Mali has an area of 1,240,192 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 3.1.5. It was occupied by France in 1892 and gained its independence from France in 1960. Its name was changed in 1958 from French Sudan to the Sudanese Republic and then after independence in 1960 to Mali. Islam entered here during the tenth century through trade. By 1010, Kusoy Muslim Dam, the ruler of the Za Dynasty of the Songhai Empire converted to Islam and ruled from 1008 to 1020. This Dynasty was based in the city of Gao, which is in the east of current Mali.
Earlier estimates of the size of the Muslim population increased from 1.06 million or 42.9% in 1921, to 1.55 million or 43.1% in 1936, to 1.90 million or 50.2% in 1945, to 4.07 million or 76.5% in 1961. According to Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), the percentage of Muslims was 76.51% in 1961, 93.37% in 1987, 90.78% in 1996, 93.15% in 2001, 92.58% in 2006, 93.50% in 2013 and 94.08% in 2018. However, the first census to record religious affiliation was in 2009, according to which the Muslim population reached 13.8 million or 95.1% of the total population. Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by a quarter of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to reach 45 million or 96.3% by 2050 and 85 million or 97.5% by 2100.
Historical Muslim population dataset for Mali
The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.
| Year | Total population (thousands) | Muslim population (thousands) | Muslim share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 2,672 | 1,146 | 42.88% |
| 2000 | 11,073 | 10,314 | 93.15% |
| 2100 | 86,867 | 84,695 | 97.50% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.