Human Development & Quality of Life in Mali
HDI 0.419 · UNDP rank 188 · latest published data
With HDI 0.419 for 2023, Mali sits at rank 188 in UNDP's latest table and falls in the low human development group. What makes the country profile more informative than the rank alone is that the planetary-pressure adjustment is limited at 1.9%, leaving PHDI at 0.411. Separately, the health component is anchored by life expectancy of 60.4 years.
What sits inside Mali's HDI
When reading this profile, Mali's 2023 HDI inputs include life expectancy of 60.4, expected schooling of 7.0, mean schooling of 1.6, and GNI per capita of $2,342 in 2021 PPP dollars. Together they explain the headline index without turning any single input into a separate ranking.
Inequality changes the headline
Looking at the published indicators, IHDI is the HDI after allowing for unequal distribution of achievement. For Mali, it remains an objective development measure rather than a subjective well-being indicator.
Gender and planetary-pressure adjustments
The broader UNDP dashboard for Mali adds GDI 0.812, GII 0.612, PHDI 0.411 to the HDI result. These measures remain distinct because they measure different aspects of development.
Quality-of-life coverage is conditional
A comparable life-satisfaction observation was not available in the OECD extract used for Mali. The profile does not turn an absent source observation into a calculated replacement.
What Mali's numbers say together
Within the UNDP framework, the complementary evidence for Mali includes IHDI 0.281 with a 32.9% loss; PHDI 0.411 after a 1.9% adjustment; GDI 0.812. Reading them together is useful, but combining them would obscure their different definitions.
At 0.419, Mali's 2023 HDI corresponds to UNDP rank 188. The ranking reflects the HDI framework only and does not capture every aspect of lived experience.
The IHDI is 0.281, and UNDP reports an overall loss of 32.9% relative to the headline index.
The GDI value is 0.812 in group 5; it should be read alongside, not merged into, HDI.
The PHDI is 0.411, with a 1.9% adjustment from the HDI value in UNDP's 2023 table.
Frequently asked questions
What is Mali's HDI?
In the Human Development Report 2025, Mali is listed at HDI 0.419 for 2023, rank 188.
How does inequality affect Mali's HDI?
UNDP reports IHDI 0.281 for Mali, which is 32.9% below the headline HDI after inequality across the three dimensions is taken into account.
Why is there no life satisfaction score on this page?
For Mali, subjective well-being is shown only with a verified comparable observation, the absence of a published observation is preserved explicitly. For the evidence on this page, keep unlike indices separate instead of treating all development measures as interchangeable.
Is HDI the same as quality of life?
No. HDI is built from health, schooling and income indicators. Life satisfaction is shown only as a separate subjective well-being measure. When looking across the UNDP tables, use the UNDP definition rather than a proxy so the source year is not silently treated as the publication year.
Sources & methodology
Sources for the development indicators and definitions shown above.
View sources used for this page
Primary source for 2023 HDI and its components, plus IHDI, GDI, GII and PHDI where reported.
Report edition underlying the 2023 human-development indices and ranking.
Data note: Reference years are shown with each indicator; unavailable observations remain unfilled.