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Updates: 

A secessionist movement claims to have broken off from Mali to form the Independent State of Azawad, consisting of Gao, Kidal, Timbuktu, and part of Mopti regions. No countries have recognized it yet.

Sorin Cosoveanu sent me information from the website of Mali's National Statistics Institute, showing the provisional results of the 2009 census (source [1]).

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 9, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2004-10-01. It assigns a FIPS code to the new region of Kidal, and changes the FIPS code of the old region (Gao) from which the new one was formed. Details are below under Primary subdivisions and Change history.

Country overview: 

Short name	MALI
ISO code	ML
FIPS code	ML
Language	French (fr)
Time zone	+0
Capital	Bamako

 

In 1900, the French possessions in West Africa as a whole were called French Sudan. In 1904, the French administration created the gouvernement général of French West Africa (Afrique Occidentale Française, or A.O.F.; the name had already been in use for some time). A.O.F. initially comprised the French colonies of Ivory Coast, Dahomey, French Guinea, Senegal, and Upper Senegal and Niger. Upper Senegal and Niger contained most of the older territory of Senegambia and Niger. Its name was changed to French Sudan on 1920-12-04. French Sudan and Senegal formed the Federation of Mali on 1959-04-04. On 1960-06-20, the Federation of Mali became independent. It split up into its two original components, Sudan and Senegal, on 1960-08-22. One month later (1960-09-22), Sudan changed its name to the Republic of Mali.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Mali
2. Dutch: Mali, Republiek Mali (formal)
3. English: Republic of Mali (formal), French Sudan (obsolete), Upper Senegal and Niger (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Mali
5. French: Mali, République f du Mali m (formal), Haut-Sénégal-Niger (obsolete), Soudan m Français (obsolete)
6. German: Mali n
7. Icelandic: Malí
8. Italian: Mali m
9. Norwegian: Mali, Republikken Mali (formal)
10. Portuguese: Mali, República f do Mali m (formal)
11. Russian: Республика Мали (formal)
12. Spanish: Mali, Malí (variant), República f de Mali (formal), Sudán Francés (obsolete)
13. Swedish: Mali
14. Turkish: Mali Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

named for an ancient Islamic empire in the same area

Primary subdivisions: 

Mali is divided into eight régions (regions) and one district.

Region	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Bamako	ML.BA	BKO	ML01	1,809,106	252	97
Gao	ML.GA	7	ML09	544,120	170,572	65,858
Kayes	ML.KY	1	ML03	1,996,812	119,743	46,233
Kidal	ML.KD	8	ML10	67,638	151,430	58,467
Koulikoro	ML.KK	2	ML07	2,418,305	95,848	37,007
Mopti	ML.MO	5	ML04	2,037,330	79,017	30,509
Ségou	ML.SG	4	ML05	2,336,255	64,821	25,028
Sikasso	ML.SK	3	ML06	2,625,919	70,280	27,135
Timbuktu	ML.TB	6	ML08	681,691	496,611	191,743
9 divisions				14,517,176	1,248,574	482,077
Region: except for Bamako, which is a district. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 2009-04-14 census (provisional). Area: Source [2]. Capitals have the same name as their divisions.

Further subdivisions:

See the Circles of Mali page.

The regions are subdivided into cercles (circles), which are further subdivided into arrondissements.

Origins of names: 

1. Bamako: from the capital, which is Mandingo for behind Bama (name of a tribal chief)
2. Ségou: Mandingo for walled city
3. Timbuktu: Tamashek ti-n-butu: the one in the hollow

Change history: 

1. 1932-09-06: Part of Upper Volta annexed to French Sudan.
2. 1947-09-04: Districts of Ouahigouya and Tougan restored to Upper Volta.
3. 1954-01-01: Hodh district of French Sudan annexed to Mauritania.
4. 1959-04-04: Before independence, French Sudan was divided into 19 districts, including Bamako, Koutiala, Mopti, San, Ségou, and Sikasso. Afterwards, it was reorganized into the districts of Bamako, Gao, Kayes, Mopti, Ségou, and Sikasso.
5. ~1980: Timbuktu district split from Gao.
6. ~1984: Bamako district split from Bamako region, which was renamed to Koulikoro.
7. 1991: Kidal region split from Gao (formerly FIPS code ML02).

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Bamako: Capital District (variant)
2. Koulikoro: Bamako (obsolete)
3. Timbuktu: Timbouctou, Tombouctou (French); Timbuctu (Italian); Timbuctu, Tombuktu (Portuguese); Tombuctú (Spanish)

Population history:

Region	1976-12-16	1987-04-30	1998-04-17 [2]	2009-04-14 [1]
Bamako	404,022	646,153	1,178,977	1,809,106
Gao	367,819	383,734	495,178	544,120
Kayes	871,871	1,058,575	1,424,657	1,996,812
Kidal			65,524	67,638
Koulikoro	916,148	1,180,260	1,620,811	2,418,305
Mopti	1,104,708	1,261,383	1,405,370	2,037,330
Ségou	1,111,810	1,328,250	1,652,594	2,336,255
Sikasso	1,044,664	1,308,828	1,839,747	2,625,919
Timbuktu	487,278	453,032	496,312	681,691
Total	6,308,320	7,620,215	10,179,170	14,517,176

Sources: 

1. [1] Résultats Provisoires Nationales du RGPH 2009 , Institut National de la Statistique (retrieved 2009-12-02).
2. [2] The Statesman's Yearbook, 2006 edition.
3. [3] Almanaque Abril '85, Editora Abril, São Paulo, 1985.
4. [4] Populations of circles from the 1998 census retrieved from "Telephone service forecast" at http://207.253.213.101/mali/previsions.pdf (dead link), 2001-09-11.
5. [5] 1979 Demographic Yearbook , 31st Ed. Statistical Office, United Nations, New York, 1980 (retrieved 2011-12-28).