The share of households describing themselves as poor ranges from 58.5% in Gao-Ménaka to 14.0% in Ségou, according to Mali’s National Institute of Statistics (INSTAT). The 44.5-percentage-point difference comes from the Modular and Permanent Household Survey (EMOP), conducted in April–June 2026, with reports available on the official page updated on 9 November 2026.
Across Mali, 35.5% of households describe themselves as poor, while 63.1% say they are neither poor nor rich and 1.4% regard themselves as rich. This is a self-assessment of living conditions, not a monetary poverty rate measured against an income or consumption threshold.
In % of surveyed households
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Source: INSTAT Mali, EMOP 2026, second round April–June, August 2026 synthesis report, self-assessed poverty table p. 13.
| Category | % of surveyed households |
|---|---|
| Gao-Ménaka | 58.5 |
| Mopti | 57.3 |
| Kita | 48.5 |
| Koulikoro-Nara | 48.4 |
| Timbuktu | 47.2 |
| Dioïla | 46 |
| Bamako | 26.9 |
| Sikasso | 20.1 |
| Ségou | 14 |
Mopti at 57.3%, Bamako at 26.9%
The official INSTAT table places Mopti at 57.3%, behind the combined Gao-Ménaka statistical area at 58.5%. The shares are 48.5% in Kita, 48.4% in Koulikoro-Nara, 47.2% in Timbuktu and 46.0% in Dioïla. Bamako records 26.9%, compared with 20.1% in Sikasso and 14.0% in Ségou.
The data show how surveyed households assess their own living standards. They do not establish that average incomes in Gao-Ménaka are four times lower than in Ségou, or that the percentages measure the share of people below a monetary poverty line.
Female-headed households report poverty more often
42.4% of female-headed households describe themselves as poor, compared with 34.6% of male-headed households, a gap of 7.8 percentage points. This categorisation refers to the sex of the household head, not of every individual living there.
Asked about the monthly resources necessary for acceptable living conditions, 50.3% of households said they needed at least CFAF120,000 to meet essential needs, while 27.9% put the minimum between CFAF75,000 and CFAF120,000. These amounts are perceived requirements rather than recorded household expenditure.
Survey covers 14,422 households
The second EMOP round covers 1 April to 30 June 2026. INSTAT says it surveyed 14,422 households across 2,285 sample clusters. Insecurity hampered fieldwork in some areas, particularly Kidal. The synthesis report is dated August 2026; its online publication page bears the date 9 November.
Subjective poverty is distinct from poverty measured against a national or international monetary threshold. The 2025 second-round summary lacks the same regional self-assessment table, so no annual trend in this indicator has been inferred from the two summaries.