Mali: Ad1216 - Most Malian Youth See Their Country As Headed in the Right Direction

Even so, majority say they have considered emigration.

Key findings

Malian youth (aged 18-35) have more education than their elders, though 41% still report having no formal schooling.
Despite more education, youth are also more likely than their elders to be unemployed. Almost four in 10 (38%) say they are not working and are actively looking for a job. Only 6% of youth say they have full-time employment.
Young Malians cite a lack of adequate training (29%), unwillingness to take certain types of jobs (16%), a lack of required experience (15%), and a mismatch between education and employment requirements (12%) as key barriers to youth employment.
If given a choice, a majority (57%) of youth would prefer to start their own businesses, while 17% would opt for public-sector positions and 9% for jobs in the private sector.
Job creation tops the list of youth priorities for increased government investment to help young people, followed by education and job training.
Health is the most important problem that Malian youth want their government to address, ahead of food shortages, crime and security, unemployment, and education.
On these priority issues, youth offer largely favourable reviews of their government's performance. Clear majorities approve of efforts to reduce crime (71%) and improve basic health services (67%). But approval on job creation stands at only 44%.
Three-quarters (75%) of youth say the country is headed "in the right direction," up from just 14% in 2020.
o However, 62% describe the country's economic condition as "fairly bad" or "very bad," and only 40% say the country's economic situation has improved over the past year.
o Views of personal living conditions remain cautious, with 47% giving a positive assessment - an improvement from 31% in 2020.
o But almost three-fourths (73%) are optimistic that economic conditions will improve over the coming year.
About six in 10 young Malians (59%) say they have considered emigrating, including 21% who have thought about it "a lot."
o Among those who have considered emigration, the top motivations are economic: finding work (45%) and escaping economic hardship or poverty (44%).

Mali has an exceptionally young population: Nearly half of Malians are under age 20, and more than one-third are between ages 15 and 29 (Institut National de la Statistique, 2024). This youthful demographic holds immense potential for driving social, political, and economic transformation. However, high rates of youth unemployment and underemployment are a major development barrier. In the capital of Bamako, for instance, youth unemployment is estimated at 32%, far exceeding the 12% rate for the country as a whole (Aikins, 2026). Without policies to educate and employ this demographic dividend, Mali's youth bulge risks becoming a source of instability rather than resilience and growth (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2024).

The Malian government has launched several initiatives aimed at overcoming this hurdle. One major effort is the Programme for the Promotion of Access to Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Employment in Mali, spearheaded by the Ministry of Economy and Finance with support from the World Bank and UNICEF. This programme targets vulnerable groups - including displaced youth, unemployed graduates, women, and people with disabilities - offering tools for economic self-reliance and inclusion (UNICEF, 2024, 2025). In 2023, the transitional government adopted a National Youth Policy and Action Plan that aims to empower young people as key actors in reform and development and to foster national unity and peace (Mali Coura Média, 2023).

The Afrobarometer Round 10 survey (2024) offers some insights into the perspectives and priorities of Mali's youth. While young adults (aged 18-35) have more education than their elders, a large proportion still lack formal schooling, and youth unemployment remains a pressing concern. Health tops the list of problems that young people want the government to address, ahead of other key concerns such as food insecurity, crime/safety, unemployment, and education.

Young Malians offer mixed assessments of economic and personal living conditions, but most express optimism about the country's trajectory.

Even so, a majority of youth say they have considered emigrating, mainly for better work and economic opportunities.

Baba Adou Baba Adou is a researcher of Political Science at the University of Florida and the UF Sahel Research Group

Read the original article on Afrobarometer.

Mali: Ad1216 - Most Malian Youth See Their Country As Headed in the Right Direction

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