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

With a population of 1.88 million in 2013, The Gambia ranks 149th in the world by population. Its population density is 176.1 /km2. 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.

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

Sources: Fertility Rate TFR (Wanted Fertility Rate) and CBR (Crude Birth Rate): Structure of the population (DHS 2013) (males 23,904, females 25,649, total 49,553) : Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (30.XII.2015) (Source: Integrated Household Survey (IHS) 2015/2016.): Fertility data as of 2019-20 (DHS Program):

Life expectancy

Other demographic statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2022. The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook.

Population

Religions

Age structure

Birth rate

Death rate

Total fertility rate

Median age

Population growth rate

Mother's mean age at first birth

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Net migration rate

Dependency ratios

Urbanization

Life expectancy at birth

Education expenditures

Literacy

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

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

Major infectious diseases

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