This paper reports on the enumeration of nomads by the Census Office of Mali for the 1976 Census. Livestock rearing is the principal economic activity over large areas of Mali, and the existence of many sparsely distributed mobile groups poses considerable problems for demographers and statisticians. It was necessary to study the traditions and migratory routes of the pastoralists during the Census preparatory period in order to achieve reasonably complete population coverage. Most of Mali's nomads and semi-nomads come from 3 ethnic groups: Fulani, Moors, and Kel Tamasheq. All 3 groups have marked social classes: nobles at the top, followed by the castes, and finally the ex-captives. All of these ethnic groups are strongly Islamic. The Census Office experimented with 3 different approaches to enumeration: 1) the system of social organization, 2) water points and transhumance routes, and 3) a combination of the 2 methods. Finally, a decision was reached to enumerate nomads at central assembly points to be determined in advance. A total of 426,422 nomads were enumerated in December 1976, compared with 5,968,496 for the settled population of Mali. The sex ratio was 105 males: 100 females, compared with a ratio of 95:100 among the sedentary population. Marriage occurs early among the nomads and is almost universal. Only 2204 (2.8%) of nomadic women had 3 or more marriages. In Mali as a whole, the singulate male mean age at 1st marriage in 1976 was 27.4 years while that for females was 18.0 years. Among the nomadic population, mean age at marriage was 27.2 years for males and 18.7 years for females. These findings are regarded only as an outline, and will be used to guide future research. - See more at: http://www.popline.org/node/420096#sthash.VJ6Hdx70.dpuf