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Capitals of the world
Bamako, capital of Mali: facts and figures
Bamako is the capital of Mali. It has about 2,800,000 residents, which makes it the 56th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 328 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Conakry, 694 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Mali |
| Continent | Africa |
| City population | 2,800,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 56th of 172 |
| Elevation | 328 m |
| Founded | not reported |
| Time zone | Africa/Bamako |
| Coordinates | 12.64° N, 8.00° W |
| Country population | 25,198,821 residents |
| Country GDP | 30.1 billion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $1,193 |
| Life expectancy | 60.7 years |
| Internet users | 36.8 % |
| Big Mac price | not reported |
Climate through the year
Bamako averages 26.4 °C from December to February and 27.1 °C from June to August. January is the coldest month of the year and April the warmest, and the city receives 720 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 25.3 °C |
| February | 28.1 °C |
| March | 31.1 °C |
| April | 32.9 °C |
| May | 32.2 °C |
| June | 29.5 °C |
| July | 26.4 °C |
| August | 25.3 °C |
| September | 25.9 °C |
| October | 27.5 °C |
| November | 27.6 °C |
| December | 25.8 °C |
Nearest capitals
Distances are great-circle distances between city centres, which is what the Capitals game measures when it tells you how far a guess was from the answer. Conakry is the closest capital to Bamako.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Conakry | Guinea | 694 km |
| Ouagadougou | Burkina Faso | 704 km |
| Freetown | Sierra Leone | 735 km |
| Monrovia | Liberia | 769 km |
| Bissau | Guinea-Bissau | 830 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Bamako to a place and a number you already know: it is 694 km from Conakry, and it is the 56th largest capital in the atlas. Then practise retrieving it. DailyGeo Capitals gives you one mystery capital a day with distance, direction, language and population clues, the memorising method explains the review schedule, and the capitals index lists all 172.
To see how Mali compares with every other country on figures like these, the richest countries by GDP per capita ranks them on geopolitix, a country-ranking game by the same maker as DailyGeo.
Sources
- City population and coordinates: DailyGeo's own game data, the same figures the Capitals game plays with. Population follows the urban area rather than the commune, which is why no density is quoted.
- Temperature and rainfall: ten-year means (2015 to 2024) computed from ERA5 reanalysis, retrieved through Open-Meteo. Hersbach, H., et al. (2020). The ERA5 global reanalysis. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.
- Elevation: terrain height at the city's coordinates in the Copernicus DEM, read through Open-Meteo rather than taken from a curated claim.
- Time zone: resolved from the same coordinates.
- Country figures: the World Bank, latest reported year for each series: Country GDP, GDP per capita, Country population, Life expectancy, Internet users.
- This capital elsewhere: Wikipedia, UNdata, Wikidata.
- Method and limits: How this data was collected explains how each figure was collected and what it does not cover.
The short answer
Bamako is the capital of Mali, in Africa, with about 2,800,000 residents, averaging 26.4 °C from December to February and 27.1 °C from June to August.
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Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of Mali?
Bamako is the capital of Mali. It has about 2,800,000 residents and lies in Africa.
How many people live in Bamako?
About 2,800,000, which ranks Bamako 56th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Bamako?
Bamako averages 26.4 °C from December to February and 27.1 °C from June to August, with 720 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Bamako?
GDP per capita in the country is $1,193, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- Conakry, capital of Guinea: facts and figures
Conakry is the capital of Guinea: 1,900,000 residents, 107 m above sea level, 26.6 °C from December to February and 25.4 °C from June to August. Key figures and sources.
- Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso: facts and figures
Ouagadougou is the capital of Burkina Faso: 2,500,000 residents, 295 m above sea level, 25.6 °C from December to February and 27.6 °C from June to August.
- Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone: facts and figures
Freetown is the capital of Sierra Leone: 1,200,000 residents, 68 m above sea level, 26.7 °C from December to February and 25.0 °C from June to August.
- Capitals of the world: the full list by continent
Every capital in DailyGeo's atlas, grouped by continent, with population, elevation and winter and summer temperatures, each linking to its own data page.