2016-01-19: Taoudéni (IX) region split from Timbuktu (former HASC code ML.TB) and Ménaka (X) region split from Gao (ML.GA). I have updated the HASC codes of the circles to correspond to these changes. At the same time, new circles and arrondissements were created, probably to partition the subdivisions that were split to form the new regions. Some details of these changes are not yet available, so I've made some reasonable guesses.

Mali is divided into eight regions and one district. The regions are subdivided into 57 or more cercles (circles). The circles and the district are subdivided into communes and arrondissements. I found a rough map of the circles on page 2 of a ten-year development plan (http://www.tablerondemali2008.org/html/MDG2006-15plan.pdf, dead link, dated 2008-04, retrieved 2010-05-26). The circles of Mali are listed below. I found what area data I could in a series of reports, linked to from a page called Plans de Sécurité Alimentaire (Plans for Food Security: http://www.csa-mali.org/plancommunalsa.htm, dead link).

Change history:

1. 1977-07-12: Baraouéli circle created.
2. 1977-07: Niafunké circle transferred from Mopti to Timbuktu region.
3. 1985: "Provinces and Provincial Capitals of the World, Second Edition", by Morris Fisher (1985), has a list of secondary subdivisions of Mali that shows 40 circles, plus Bamako. The capital of each circle has the same name as the circle. The ones that don't appear on Mr. Fisher's list, and thus were apparently created between 1985 and 2001, are Abéïbara, Barouéli, Bla, Diéma, Kati, Ménaka, Tessalit, Tin-Essako, and Youwarou.
4. 1991: Kidal region split from Gao.
5. 1991-08-08: Abéïbara circle created.
6. 1993: Tin-Essako circle created.
7. 2016-01-19: Taoudéni region split from Timbuktu and Ménaka region split from Gao. At least eight new circles created.