Compare
Mali vs Nigeria
How Mali and Nigeria compare on 37 measures, from 1820 to 2025. The main differences:
- Life expectancy · In 2023, Mali was higher: 60.4 years against 54.5 years
- GDP per person · In 2025, Nigeria was higher: $2,369 against $934
- Population · In 2023, Nigeria was higher: 228 million people against 23.8 million people
- Military spending · In 2025, Mali was higher: 3.87% of GDP against 0.91% of GDP
- CO₂ per person · In 2024, Nigeria was higher: 0.57 tonnes against 0.3 tonnes
Every measure
Health
- Life expectancyMali: 60.4 years in 2023Nigeria: 54.5 years in 2023
- Child mortalityMali: 7.3 per 100 live births in 2024Nigeria: 11.6 per 100 live births in 2024
- Infant mortalityMali: 60.8 per 1,000 live births in 2023Nigeria: 69.5 per 1,000 live births in 2023
- DepressionMali: 3.01% in 2017Nigeria: 3.92% in 2017
- Suicide rateMali: 6.8 per 100,000 people in 2017Nigeria: 7.5 per 100,000 people in 2017
People
- PopulationMali: 23.8 million people in 2023Nigeria: 228 million people in 2023
- Population growthMali: 2.97% a year in 2023Nigeria: 2.1% a year in 2023
- Fertility rateMali: 5.61 births per woman in 2023Nigeria: 4.48 births per woman in 2023
- Urban populationMali: 32.2% in 2025Nigeria: 63.8% in 2025
- Median ageMali: 15.5 years in 2023Nigeria: 17.8 years in 2023
- People aged 65 and overMali: 2.4% in 2023Nigeria: 3% in 2023
- Net migration rateMali: -1.7 per 1,000 people in 2023Nigeria: -0.3 per 1,000 people in 2023
Economy
Education
Politics
Conflict
Military
- Military spendingMali: 3.87% of GDP in 2025Nigeria: 0.91% of GDP in 2025
- Military spending in US dollarsMali: $883M in 2025Nigeria: $1.76B in 2025
- Military spending per personMali: $38 in 2025Nigeria: $9 in 2025
- Military share of state spendingMali: 14.8% of government spending in 2025Nigeria: 5.9% of government spending in 2025
- Armed forces personnelMali: 41,000 people in 2020Nigeria: 223,000 people in 2020
- National powerMali: 0.1% of world capability in 2022Nigeria: 1.16% of world capability in 2022
- Armed forces, share of workersMali: 0.54% of the labour force in 2020Nigeria: 0.23% of the labour force in 2020
- Arms importsMali: 64 million TIV in 2025Nigeria: 21 million TIV in 2025
Climate
Technology and environment
Each country on its own
Good to know
- Sources: UN, Gapminder and UN IGME, IHME, World Bank, IMF, UNESCO, Our World in Data, V-Dem, UCDP, SIPRI, IISS, Correlates of War, ERA5, CMIP6, EDGAR, ITU and FAO. Each measure’s page names its own and what it counts.
- Values are drawn on today’s borders. Years without a published value are left empty, never filled in.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Countries through time