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
Population2,639,916 (2021 est.)
Density176.1/sq km (2013)
Growth rate38.3%
Birth rate29.4 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)
Death rate7 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)
Life expectancy65.1 (2017 est.)
 • male62.8 (2017 est.)
 • female67.5 (2017 est.)
Fertility rate3.52 children born/woman (2017 est.)
Infant mortality rate60.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2017 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years37.44% (2017 est.)
15–64 years59.08% (2017 est.)
65 and over3.48% (2017 est.)
Sex ratio
Total0.98 (2013)
At birth1.03 (2013 est.)
Under 151.01 (2013 est.)
15–64 years0.96 (2013 est.)
65 and over0.90 (2013 est.)
Nationality
NationalityNoun: Gambian
Major ethnicAfrican (99%) (2003)
Minor ethnicNon-African (1%) (2003)
Language
OfficialEnglish
SpokenMandinka, Wolof, Fula

Population
Historical population of The Gambia
YearPop.±%
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
Banjul3.15.34.2
Kanifing3.35.74.5
Brikama4.16.95.7
Mansakonko5.49.77.1
Kerewan5.48.26.9
Kuntaur6.411.97.2
Janjanbureh5.78.77.0
Basse5.79.66.5
Gambian girl

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

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, 2022Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

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