Land use: arable land: 4% permanent crops: 0% other: 96% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land: 1,380 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards: hot, dust-laden harmattan haze common during dry seasons; recurring droughts; occasional Niger River flooding
Environment - current issues: deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; inadequate supplies of potable water; poaching
Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of
the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified:
Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban
Geography - note: landlocked; divided into three natural zones: the southern, cultivated Sudanese; the central, semiarid Sahelian; and the northern, arid Saharan
People Mali
Population: 11,340,480 (July 2002 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 47.2% (male 2,687,998; female 2,658,605) 15-64 years: 49.8% (male 2,698,789; female 2,950,276) 65 years and over: 3% (male 160,604; female 184,208) (2002 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.97% (2002 est.)