Demographics of the Gambia

The demographic characteristics of the population of The Gambia are known through national censuses, conducted in ten-year intervals and analyzed by The Gambian Bureau of Statistics (GBOS) since 1963. The latest census was conducted in 2013. The population of The Gambia at the 2013 census was 1.8 million. The population density is 176.1 per square kilometer, and the overall life expectancy in The Gambia is 64.1 years. Since the first census of 1963, the population of The Gambia has increased every ten years by an average of 43.2 percent. Since 1950s, the birth rate has constantly exceeded the death rate; the natural growth rate is positive. The Gambia is in the second stage of demographic transition. In terms of age structure, The Gambia is dominated by 15- to 24-year-old segment (57.6%). The median age of the population is 19.9 years, and the gender ratio of the total population is 0.98 males per female.

Demographics of The Gambia
Gambia population pyramid in 2020
Population	2,639,916 (2021 est.)
Density	176.1/sq km (2013)
Growth rate	38.3%
Birth rate	29.4 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)
Death rate	7 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)
Life expectancy	65.1 (2017 est.)
• male	62.8 (2017 est.)
• female	67.5 (2017 est.)
Fertility rate	3.52 children born/woman (2017 est.)
Infant mortality rate	60.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2017 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years	37.44% (2017 est.)
15–64 years	59.08% (2017 est.)
65 and over	3.48% (2017 est.)
Sex ratio
Total	0.98 (2013)
At birth	1.03 (2013 est.)
Under 15	1.01 (2013 est.)
15–64 years	0.96 (2013 est.)
65 and over	0.90 (2013 est.)
Nationality
Nationality	Noun: Gambian
Major ethnic	African (99%) (2003)
Minor ethnic	Non-African (1%) (2003)
Language
Official	English
Spoken	Mandinka, Wolof, Fula

Population

Historical population of The Gambia

Year	Pop.	±%
1963	315,486	—
1973	493,499	+56.4%
1983	687,817	+39.4%
1993	1,038,145	+50.9%
2003	1,360,681	+31.1%
2013	1,882,450	+38.3%
Source: The Gambia Bureau of Statistics[1]

With a population of 1.88 million in 2013, The Gambia ranks 149th in the world by population.^[1] Its population density is 176.1 inhabitants per square kilometer (456 inhabitants per square mile).^[2] The overall life expectancy in The Gambia is 64.1 years.^[3] The total fertility rate of 3.98 is one of the highest in the world.^[4] Since 1950, the United Nations (UN) estimated the birth rate exceeds the death rate.^[5] The Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBOS) estimates the population of The Gambia is expected to reach 3.6 million in 20 years.^[1] The population of The Gambia has increased each census, starting with 315 thousand in 1963 to 1.8 million in 2013.^[1] The GBOS predicted the reason for the increase from 2003 to 2013 was more coverage in the latter census compared to the former's.^[6]

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events in Gambia is not complete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.^[7]

	Mid-year population (thousands)	Live births (thousands)	Deaths (thousands)	Natural change (thousands)	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rate (TFR)	Infant mortality (per 1000 live births)	Life expectancy (in years)
1950	307	15	10	5	49.6	32.2	17.4	6.35	174.0	31.76
1951	315	16	10	6	50.1	31.8	18.4	6.35	173.1	31.87
1952	323	16	10	6	50.5	31.5	19.0	6.35	171.6	32.08
1953	331	17	10	6	50.7	31.2	19.5	6.35	170.1	32.43
1954	340	17	11	7	50.9	31.1	19.8	6.34	168.8	32.67
1955	349	18	11	7	51.0	30.9	20.0	6.33	167.6	32.88
1956	359	18	11	7	51.0	30.9	20.2	6.32	166.5	33.05
1957	368	19	11	8	51.0	30.4	20.6	6.30	163.8	33.53
1958	378	19	11	8	51.0	29.9	21.1	6.29	161.0	34.08
1959	389	20	11	8	50.9	29.4	21.4	6.27	158.4	34.59
1960	400	20	12	9	50.7	28.9	21.8	6.25	155.8	35.10
1961	411	21	12	9	50.6	28.5	22.1	6.23	153.3	35.57
1962	422	21	12	9	50.4	28.1	22.3	6.21	150.9	35.99
1963	434	22	12	10	50.1	27.6	22.5	6.20	148.6	36.50
1964	446	22	12	10	49.8	27.1	22.6	6.20	146.3	36.95
1965	459	23	12	10	49.4	26.6	22.8	6.19	143.9	37.45
1966	472	23	12	11	48.9	26.1	22.8	6.18	141.6	37.90
1967	485	24	12	11	48.6	25.6	23.0	6.21	139.3	38.43
1968	499	24	13	12	48.4	25.1	23.2	6.22	137.0	38.87
1969	514	25	13	12	48.2	24.7	23.5	6.25	134.7	39.35
1970	529	25	13	13	47.9	24.2	23.7	6.26	132.4	39.87
1971	544	26	13	13	47.8	23.7	24.0	6.28	130.1	40.35
1972	561	27	13	14	47.8	23.2	24.6	6.32	127.7	40.92
1973	577	28	13	14	47.8	22.8	24.9	6.37	125.3	41.39
1974	595	28	13	15	47.6	22.4	25.2	6.38	122.9	41.95
1975	613	29	14	15	47.4	22.1	25.3	6.41	120.4	42.44
1976	632	30	14	16	47.3	21.8	25.5	6.43	117.9	43.04
1977	652	31	14	17	47.1	21.6	25.5	6.43	115.5	43.44
1978	673	31	14	17	46.9	21.5	25.4	6.42	114.0	43.58
1979	695	32	14	18	46.8	20.9	25.9	6.41	110.9	44.56
1980	719	33	15	19	46.7	20.6	26.2	6.40	108.5	45.15
1981	743	35	16	19	46.7	21.0	25.8	6.40	106.1	44.48
1982	768	36	15	21	46.8	19.8	26.9	6.39	103.7	46.38
1983	796	37	15	22	46.6	19.5	27.1	6.38	101.2	46.92
1984	825	38	16	22	46.5	19.1	27.4	6.37	98.7	47.49
1985	856	40	16	24	46.4	18.6	27.8	6.34	96.1	48.19
1986	889	41	16	25	46.4	18.1	28.3	6.33	93.6	48.71
1987	924	42	16	26	46.2	17.6	28.7	6.29	91.1	49.41
1988	961	44	16	28	46.1	17.1	29.0	6.26	88.7	50.05
1989	1 000	46	17	29	45.8	16.6	29.2	6.24	86.3	50.64
1990	1 041	47	17	31	45.7	16.1	29.6	6.22	84.0	51.32
1991	1 084	49	17	32	45.6	15.5	30.1	6.17	81.8	52.13
1992	1 127	51	17	34	45.4	15.0	30.4	6.11	79.5	52.94
1993	1 168	53	17	36	45.1	14.4	30.7	6.04	77.3	53.75
1994	1 206	54	17	38	45.0	13.7	31.3	6.04	75.0	54.72
1995	1 242	56	16	39	44.7	13.2	31.5	6.01	72.8	55.46
1996	1 279	57	16	40	44.3	12.8	31.5	5.96	70.6	56.01
1997	1 317	58	17	42	44.1	12.6	31.5	5.92	68.7	56.06
1998	1 356	60	17	43	44.1	12.3	31.8	5.93	66.3	56.55
1999	1 396	61	17	44	43.6	12.0	31.6	5.87	64.5	56.82
2000	1 438	62	17	45	43.1	11.8	31.3	5.80	62.1	56.94
2001	1 479	64	17	46	42.9	11.7	31.2	5.75	60.1	57.04
2002	1 522	65	18	47	42.5	11.6	30.9	5.73	58.1	57.08
2003	1 566	66	18	49	42.3	11.2	31.0	5.70	56.1	57.59
2004	1 612	68	18	51	42.2	10.8	31.4	5.71	54.2	58.09
2005	1 660	70	18	53	42.1	10.6	31.6	5.72	52.4	58.39
2006	1 711	73	17	55	42.4	10.1	32.2	5.76	50.5	59.06
2007	1 765	74	17	57	42.1	9.9	32.2	5.73	48.7	59.39
2008	1 821	76	17	59	41.8	9.4	32.3	5.71	47.0	60.08
2009	1 878	78	17	61	41.5	9.2	32.3	5.69	45.4	60.43
2010	1 937	80	17	62	41.1	8.9	32.1	5.67	43.9	60.72
2011	1 998	81	17	64	40.7	8.5	32.2	5.64	42.3	61.53
2012	2 061	83	17	66	40.1	8.2	32.0	5.59	40.9	62.10
2013	2 125	84	17	67	39.4	8.1	31.3	5.51	39.5	62.11
2014	2 189	84	17	67	38.5	7.9	30.6	5.42	38.2	62.27
2015	2 253	85	17	67	37.6	7.7	29.8	5.31	36.9	62.49
2016	2 317	85	17	68	36.6	7.5	29.1	5.20	35.7	63.01
2017	2 381	85	18	68	35.7	7.4	28.3	5.09	34.5	63.00
2018	2 445	85	18	68	34.9	7.3	27.6	4.97	33.4	63.04
2019	2 509	86	18	69	34.3	7.0	27.3	4.87	32.4	63.76
2020	2 574	87	19	68	33.7	7.4	26.3	4.78	31.4	62.61
2021	2 640	88	20	68	33.3	7.5	25.7	4.68	30.5	62.08

Fertility Rate (The Demographic Health Survey and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys)

Population, fertility rate and net reproduction rate, United Nations estimates

Sources:^[8][9]

Fertility Rate TFR (Wanted Fertility Rate) and CBR (Crude Birth Rate):

Year	CBR (Total)	TFR (Total)	CBR (Urban)	TFR (Urban)	CBR (Rural)	TFR (Rural)
2013	40.5	5.6 (4.7)	37.7	4.7 (4.1)	43.4	6.8 (5.6)
2019-20	34.4	4.4 (4.0)	32.5	3.9 (3.6)	38.9	5.9 (5.3)

Structure of the population (DHS 2013) (males 23,904, females 25,649, total 49,553) :

Age Group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0–4	18.5	16.4	17.4
5–9	16.6	15.3	15.9
10–14	12.8	12.5	12.6
15–19	10.3	10.4	10.3
20–24	8.5	9.1	8.8
25–29	6.8	8.0	7.4
30–34	5.5	6.5	6.0
35–39	4.5	4.7	4.6
40–44	3.8	3.3	3.5
45–49	2.9	2.4	2.6
50–54	2.1	4.1	3.1
55–59	1.5	1.9	1.7
60–64	2.3	1.9	2.1
65–69	1.5	1.2	1.3
70–74	1.0	0.9	1.0
75–79	0.7	0.5	0.6
80+	0.8	1.0	0.9

Age group	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total (%)
0–14	47.9	44.2	45.9
15–64	48.1	52.2	50.3
65+	4.0	3.6	3.8

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (30.XII.2015) (Source: Integrated Household Survey (IHS) 2015/2016.):^[10]

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	915 357	1 007 593	1 922 950	100
0–4	155 654	155 502	311 156	16.18
5–9	150 122	147 966	298 089	15.50
10–14	115 261	113 727	228 988	11.91
15–19	87 274	111 093	198 367	10.32
20–24	76 050	104 429	180 479	9.39
25–29	62 431	89 237	151 669	7.89
30–34	57 532	70 222	127 754	6.64
35–39	49 913	59 248	109 161	5.68
40–44	39 032	42 666	81 698	4.25
45–49	32 235	29 522	61 757	3.21
50–54	27 286	25 441	52 727	2.74
55–59	18 075	17 685	35 759	1.86
60–64	16 034	14 121	30 155	1.57
65+	28 457	26 734	55 191	2.87
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	421 037	417 195	838 232	43.59
15–64	465 863	563 664	1 029 527	53.54
65+	28 457	26 734	55 191	2.87

Fertility data as of 2019-20 (DHS Program):^[11]

Local Government Area	Total fertility rate	Percentage of women age 15–49 currently pregnant	Mean number of children ever born to women age 40–49
Banjul	3.1	5.3	4.2
Kanifing	3.3	5.7	4.5
Brikama	4.1	6.9	5.7
Mansakonko	5.4	9.7	7.1
Kerewan	5.4	8.2	6.9
Kuntaur	6.4	11.9	7.2
Janjanbureh	5.7	8.7	7.0
Basse	5.7	9.6	6.5

Gambian girl

Life expectancy

Period	Life expectancy in Years[12]
1950–1955	30.24
1955–1960	31.52
1960–1965	32.79
1965–1970	35.78
1970–1975	40.04
1975–1980	44.21
1980–1985	48.20
1985–1990	51.33
1990–1995	52.85
1995–2000	54.91
2000–2005	56.92
2005–2010	58.83
2010–2015	60.31

Other demographic statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2022.^[13]

• One birth every 6 minutes
• One death every 29 minutes
• One net migrant every 180 minutes
• Net gain of one person every 7 minutes

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook.^[14]

Population

2,413,403 (2022 est.)

2,092,731 (July 2018 est.)

Religions

Muslim 96.4%, Christian 3.5%, other or none 0.1% (2019-20 est.)

Age structure

Population pyramid of the Gambia in 2020

0-14 years: 35.15% (male 391,993/female 388,816)

15-24 years: 20.12% (male 221,519/female 225,414)

25-54 years: 36.39% (male 396,261/female 412,122)

55-64 years: 4.53% (male 48,032/female 52,538)

65 years and over: 3.81% (male 38,805/female 45,801) (2021 est.)

0-14 years: 36.97% (male 388,615 /female 385,172)

15-24 years: 20.31% (male 210,217 /female 214,807)

25-54 years: 34.9% (male 357,934 /female 372,428)

55-64 years: 4.26% (male 42,655 /female 46,591)

65 years and over: 3.55% (male 34,328 /female 39,984) (2018 est.)

Elderly Gambian woman, January 2008, The Gambia.

Birth rate

28.78 births/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 32nd

28.6 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 43rd

Death rate

5.81 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 167th

6.9 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 132nd

Total fertility rate

3.79 children born/woman (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 32nd

3.42 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 44th

Median age

total: 21.8 years. Country comparison to the world: 182nd

male: 21.5 years

female: 22.2 years (2020 est.)

total: 21.3 years. Country comparison to the world: 184th

male: 20.9 years

female: 21.6 years (2018 est.)

Population growth rate

2.29% (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 33rd

1.99% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 48th

Mother's mean age at first birth

20.7 years (2019/20 est.)

note: median age at first birth among women 25-49

20.9 years (2013 est.)

note: median age at first birth among women 25-29

Contraceptive prevalence rate

16.8% (2018)

note: percent of women aged 15-49

9% (2013)

Net migration rate

-0.04 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 99th

-1.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 158th

Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio: 92.3 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio: 87.8 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio: 4.5 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio: 22.3 (2015 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 63.9% of total population (2022)

rate of urbanization: 3.75% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

urban population: 61.3% of total population (2018)

rate of urbanization: 4.07% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 67.6 years. Country comparison to the world: 188th

male: 65.83 years

female: 69.41 years (2022 est.)

total population: 65.4 years (2018 est.)

male: 63 years (2018 est.)

female: 67.8 years (2018 est.)

Education expenditures

2.9% of GDP (2019) Country comparison to the world: 154th

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.)

total population: 50.8%

male: 61.8%

female: 41.6% (2015)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 9 years (2010)

male: 9 years (2010)

female: 9 years (2010)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: very high (2020)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever

water contact diseases: schistosomiasis

animal contact diseases: rabies

respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis

note: on 21 March 2022, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; The Gambia is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

total: 25.8%

male: 21%

female: 32.3% (2018 est.)

See also

• Languages of the Gambia
• Religion in the Gambia

References

1. The Gambia Bureau of Statistics 2013, p. 6
2. The Gambia Bureau of Statistics 2013, p. 10
3. "Africa :: Gambia, The". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
4. "Country Comparison :: Total Fertility Rate". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
5. "World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision". United Nations. Archived from the original on May 6, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
6. The Gambia Bureau of Statistics 2013, pp. 6–7
7. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (2022). "World Population Prospects 2022 Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XLS (91MB)). United Nations Population Division. 27 (Online ed.). New York: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. rows 5261:5332, cols M,X,AE,S,AH,S,AA,AV,AI. Archived from the original on 2022-08-09.
8. "The DHS Program - Quality information to plan, monitor and improve population, health, and nutrition programs". www.dhsprogram.com.
9. "The Gambia MICS 2018" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 29, 2021.
10. "UNSD — Demographic and Social Statistics".
11. "The Gambia Demographic and Health Survey 2019-20" (PDF). The Gambia Demographic and Health Survey. 2021.
12. "World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". esa.un.org. Archived from the original on 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
13. "Gambia Population 2022", World Population Review
14. "The World FactBook - Gambia, The", The World Factbook, 2022 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

References

• The Gambia Bureau of Statistics (2013). "The Gambia 2013 Population and Housing Census Preliminary Results" (PDF). The Gambia Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved February 24, 2014.^{[permanent dead link‍]}