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French is the working language. [1] In 2024, the Francophone population of Mali represents 20%, which is approximately 4,884,000 people. Among them, 6.4% (around 1,491,000 individuals) speak French as their first language. [3]
There are 13 national languages spoken in Mali. They include Bambara, Soninke, Hasanya Arabia, Bomu, Tamasheq, Songhay, Fulfulde, Bozo, Maninkakan, Dogon, Syenara, Mamara, and Xasongaxango. Besides the national languages, the Ethnologue has a record of 63 languages that are spoken in Mali.
In June 2023, Mali removed French, the language of its former colonizer, as an official language with the approval of a new constitution by 97% of voters in a referendum conducted by the junta. [ 102 ]
Under Mali’s 2023 constitution, the country’s 13 national languages (Bambara, Bobo, Bozo, Dogon, Fula, Hasanya, Kassonke, Malinke, Mamara, Senufo, Songhai, Soninke, and Tamasheq) were deemed official languages.
Their best-known members are Mandinka or Mandingo, the principal language of The Gambia; Bambara, the most widely spoken language in Mali; Maninka or Malinké, a major language of Guinea and Mali; and Jula, a trade language of Ivory Coast and western Burkina Faso.
Bambara is spoken throughout Mali as a lingua franca. The language is most widely spoken in the areas east, south, and north of Bamako, where native speakers and/or those that identify as members of the Bambara ethnic group are most densely populated.
Thirteen of the most widely spoken indigenous languages are considered " national languages." Most formal education for the deaf in Mali uses American Sign Language, introduced to West Africa by the deaf American missionary Andrew Foster. There are two other sign languages in Mali.