Mali’s manufacturing value added rose to 7.5% of GDP in 2025.

Higher is better. A higher share is better because it means more of the country's income comes from turning raw materials into goods, which tends to support steadier jobs and less dependence on selling unprocessed commodities. The latest figure, for 2025, is 7.5% of GDP, up from 7.3% a year earlier, a rise of 0.14 percentage points. Since 2016 the range has run from a low of 7.1% of GDP in 2020 to a high of 8.4% of GDP in 2018. The current level therefore sits in the lower part of that range, closer to the low than to the high.

Why it matters. At 7.5% of GDP, factories account for a small slice of Mali's economy, so most households still earn their living from farming, trade and services rather than from industrial wages. Firms that process local produce have limited weight in output, which leaves the country buying many finished goods from abroad. For the state, a narrow manufacturing base means a thin pool of industrial activity to tax and few formal factory jobs to draw on.