Mali has no single public system that organizes all life stages together. Practical transitions are handled through separate systems for état civil, education, youth policy, employment, elections and social protection. Family and community networks fill many gaps, especially for older people, care needs and crises. The 2022 Fifth General Population and Housing Census recorded 22,395,489 inhabitants. Children aged 0 to 17 represented 53.6% of the population, those under 15 represented 47.2%, and people aged 15 to 24 represented 19.2%. People aged 15 to 34 represented 32%, while adults aged 18 or more represented 46%. There were 983,047 people aged 60 or more, or 4.6% of the population, and 2.9% were aged 65 or more. The median age was 16.1 years and the average age was 21.4 years. Households averaged 9.3 members, with 7.8 members in urban areas and 10.2 in rural areas. Birth registration is the first formal transition. Parents, relatives, a doctor, midwife or village chief can report a birth to a mairie or centre d'état civil. Registration is due within 30 days. The resulting acte de naissance supports identity, school admission, voting, inheritance and travel. Registration within the deadline is officially free. A late registration generally requires a jugement supplétif, a court procedure that can create court and administrative costs. An older UNICEF field source reported a processing charge of about 100 CFA, and UNICEF reported that about 13% of children lacked registration in 2018, rising to about 16% in rural areas; local practice should be checked with the relevant civil-status centre. The Constitution recognizes a right to education, and basic education is generally compulsory from about age 6 to 15. Formal education includes school, while non-formal options include accelerated learning, community education, reintegration programmes and espaces temporaires d'apprentissage. In 2023, 18.3% of children were outside school. Lower-secondary completion was 32.6% for girls and 33.2% for boys. Costs for materials and access support depend on the programme and region rather than one national tariff. In 2025, the Multi-Year Resilience Programme supported 204,496 children aged 3 to 18 in Gao, Kidal, Ménaka, Mopti, Taoudénit and Tombouctou. Youth policy covers the transition from school to training, work and civic participation. National sources do not provide one fully consistent legal age definition for youth; statistics commonly use ages 15 to 24 or 15 to 34, while the UN uses 15 to 24 for youth and 10 to 19 for adolescents. The Ministère de la Jeunesse et des Sports, the CNJ, the SNJ, the CNPV, volunteer programmes, civic brigades, youth-enterprise initiatives and safe spaces provide different forms of support. Access depends on the programme, call for applications and region. Participation is not guaranteed nationally, and opportunities differ sharply by urban or rural location, gender and crisis conditions. The transition to work has specific age rules. The minimum age for work is 15. Light seasonal or household work may begin at 12 if it does not interfere with school, normally with parental or guardian agreement for ages 12 to 14. Apprenticeship generally starts at 14, with an exception above 13 after the first cycle of education. Hazardous work is prohibited for people under 18; a decree identifies 22 categories and 55 dangerous activities. The PANETEM II national action plan covers 2023 to 2027, but local monitoring and enforcement remain limited. Political adulthood begins at 18 for Malian citizens who retain civil and political rights, meet residence requirements and have biometric NINA identification. Voter registration is handled through the DGE or an administrative commission. Adult livelihoods are predominantly informal or self-employed: about 66.9% of employed people aged 15 and over were self-employed in the census data. Formal social insurance is divided by status. INPS covers employees as well as independent workers and liberal, artisanal, commercial and industrial professions, while CMSS covers civil servants, military personnel and parliamentarians. Old-age, disability and survivors' benefits depend on the applicable status, contributions and records. The retirement age reported in the ILO overview is 58, but access is not a universal benefit and requires the relevant conditions. Marriage is a legally relevant transition but belongs mainly to the family topic. Under the 2011 Code des personnes et de la famille, the minimum age is 18 for men and 16 for women. RGPH5 and UNFPA reported in 2025 that 54% of women aged 20 to 24 had married before 18 and 16% before 15. These figures show why age, identity records, education and protection services can intersect, without turning this overview into a family-law guide. Older people remain a smaller but growing population group. Census data recorded 70% of older household heads as homeowners; among them, 51% had no land title and 20.2% had a title. Another 15.2% rented their home. The Ministère de la Santé et du Développement Social, the DNDS and the RSU support programmes concerned with poverty, exclusion and social assistance. INPS and CMSS may provide protection where an insurance or employment status exists. Family and community support remains the main practical resource for many older people. Mali has no national public long-term-care system equivalent to a standardized home-care, residential-care or day-care service. There is also no statutory care-leave benefit and no general legal duty requiring families to provide care for older relatives. Families, communities, DNDS or social-action services and local NGOs may provide functional support, but access, cost and scope depend on need, poverty, crisis conditions and location. Health services and RAMED concern adjacent health access and should not be treated as a national long-term-care system. Conflict, displacement and floods create additional risks, especially for children and young people. School closures and insecurity can cause family separation, violence, exploitation, child labour, child marriage, recruitment and learning loss. In 2025, 2,006 schools were not functioning, affecting about 601,800 children and 12,036 teachers. UNICEF reported around 415,000 internally displaced people in its mid-year 2026 figures, 58% of them children; humanitarian assessments identified 5.1 million people in need in 2026, with children making up more than half. Available responses can include DRDS, local protection committees, CTO services, familles d'accueil, psychosocial support, temporary learning spaces and reintegration programmes. Availability varies with security, funding and physical access, particularly in northern and central regions and flood corridors.
Life stages in Mali
Life stages in Mali are shaped by a very young population, civil-status, education, work and voting systems, and strong family or community support. Children and young people make up most of the population: 53.6% are under 18, and the median age was 16.1 in 2022. Key transitions include birth registration within 30 days, basic education up to about age 15, entry to work or apprenticeship, voting from age 18 and later access to status-based social protection. Support for older people and long-term care remains largely informal, while conflict, displacement and floods can interrupt schooling, identity documents, safety and livelihoods.
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