Migration au Mali : Profil National 2009 - IOM Publications

agreements facilitate the continuation of migrants’ journeys towards the North
(Daniel, 2009).
Malian emigration
According to an administrative census for election purposes (RACE) of
2001, the number of Malians abroad was estimated at 920,388 in 2001. However,
this figure only takes into consideration people over 18 years old who registered
with Malian embassies.
Based on 2000 Census Round data, 1,578,695 Malian nationals are
estimated to live abroad. 32 per cent of these are based in Côte d’Ivoire, 28 per
cent in Burkina Faso, 10 per cent in Guinea, 6 per cent in Nigeria and 5 per cent
in Ghana (DRC, 2007).
In late 2008, there were 1,758 Malian refugees and 750 asylum seekers
(UNHCR, 2009). In 2007, the countries receiving the largest number of asylum
requests from Malian nationals were France (42%), the United States (22%), Italy
(19%), South Africa (6%) and Malta (3%) (UNHCR, 2008).
In 2008, Malians based in OECD countries worked primarily in industry,
construction, agriculture and fishing (OCED, 2008). Most of them have a low
level of education. However, Mali is confronted with a certain brain drain,
since 15 per cent of Malian university graduates emigrated during the 1995-
2005 period (Docquier and Marfouk, 2005) ; in the health sector, 23 per cent
of Malian doctors and 15 per cent of nurses moved to 9 developed countries,
mainly France (Clemens and Pettersson, 2007).
Factors leading to migration
In Mali, the reasons for migrants’ departure are thought to be linked
to poverty, which is constantly escalating because of demographic growth,
increased unemployment and difficult climatic conditions.
Rural areas are the key regions of origin of Malian migrants. According to
data from the Malian migration and urbanization survey of 1992-1993, close to
half of migrants come from rural areas (454,500), and 62% of these migrants go
abroad.
Geographical and climatic factors also contribute to amplifying migration
pressures. These factors, which vary from one region to another, relate to:
22 Migration au Mali : Profil National 2009