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.

Population

Census population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1963	315,486	—
1973	493,499	+4.58%
1983	687,817	+3.38%
1993	1,038,145	+4.20%
2003	1,360,681	+2.74%
2013	1,882,450	+3.30%
2024	2,422,712	+2.32%
Source: The Gambia Bureau of Statistics

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

Vital statistics

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

	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	2 516	79	17	62	31.5	6.8	24.7	4.25	32.5	64.4
2021	2 576	80	18	62	31.2	7.0	24.2	4.17	31.5	63.8
2022	2 636	81	17	64	30.8	6.6	24.1	4.08	30.5	64.9
2023	2 698	82	17	65	30.4	6.3	24.1	4.01	29.5	65.9

Demographic and Health Surveys

Sources:

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.):

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):

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

Life expectancy

Period	Life expectancy in Years
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

Ethnic groups

Population of Gambia according to ethnic group 1973-2023
Ethnic group	census 1973	census 1983	census 1993	census 2003	census 2013	census 2023
Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Mandinka/Jahanka	186,241	42.3	251,997	40.8	353,840	39.5	446,914	35.9	600,165	34.4	793,300	34.4
Fula/Tukulor/Lorobo	79,994	18.2	117,092	19.0	168,284	18.8	272,54	21.9	420,206	24.1	576,500	25.0
Wolof	69,291	15.7	84,404	13.7	130,546	14.6	179,890	14.5	258,065	14.8	355,100	15.4
Jola	41,988	9.5	64,494	10.4	95,262	10.6	141,360	11.4	182,807	10.5	219,100	9.5
Sarahule	38,478	8.7	51,137	8.3	79,690	8.9	101,347	8.1	142,606	8.2	189,100	8.2
Serere	9,229	2.1	15,511	2.5	24,710	2.8	37,979	3.1	53,567	3.1	66,900	2.9
Krio (Creole)	5,596	1.3	10,741	1.7	7,458	0.8	24,492	2.0	8,477	0.5	9,200	0.4
Manjago	1,722	0.4	3,035	0.5	6,194	0.7	13,043	1.0	32,408	1.9	39,200	1.7
Bambara	4,386	1.0	5,032	0.8	16,550	1.8	6,556	0.5	22,583	1.3	27,700	1.2
Other/not stated	3,791	0.9	13,796	2.2	13,601	1.5	19,938	1.6	25,548	1.5	30,000	1.3
Total	440,716	617,239	896,135	1,243,873	1,746,432	2,306,066
The figures refer to the Gambian population only. Foreigners are excluded.

References

The Gambia Bureau of Statistics (2013). (PDF). The Gambia Bureau of Statistics.[permanent dead link]