Koutiala Region

Koutiala Region is an administrative region in southern Mali with its capital in the city of Koutiala. It was created from the division of the former Sikasso Region, by Law No. 2023-006 of 13 March 2023 on the creation of administrative districts, and was formed mainly from the former cercles of Koutiala and Yorosso. It covers 14,600 square kilometres, about 1.17 percent of the national territory, and borders Burkina Faso to the east and south-east. The landscape is dominated by savannas, farmland, small watercourses and seasonal bodies of water, within the drainage basin of the Niger River. The region belongs to the agriculturally important south of the country and is considered one of the most important cotton-growing areas of Mali. It is divided into eight cercles and comprises 22 arrondissements, 46 communes and 386 villages, and it had a population of 1,153,961 in 2023. Its name comes from its capital, which was founded between the 16th and 17th centuries as a small village.