Demographics of the Gambia

The demographic characteristics of the population of The Gambia are known through national censuses, which happen every ten years and are studied by The Gambian Bureau of Statistics (GBOS) since 1963. The last census was in 2013, and it showed that The Gambia had a population of 1.8 million people. With a population density of 176.1 people per square kilometer, the country is not very crowded. People in The Gambia can expect to live about 64.1 years on average, according to the life expectancy.

Since the first census in 1963, the number of people in The Gambia has grown by about 43.2 percent every ten years. Since the 1950s, there have always been more births than deaths, so the population keeps increasing. The Gambia is in the second stage of demographic transition, meaning the country is changing in how its population grows.

Young people make up a large part of The Gambia’s population. Almost 58% of people are between 15 and 24 years old. The average age of everyone living there is just under 20 years, and for every female, there are about 0.98 males.

Population

The Gambia had a population of 1.88 million in 2013, making it the 149th most populated country in the world. People living there are packed closely together, with about 176 people for every square kilometer. The average person in The Gambia can expect to live about 64 years. Families in The Gambia tend to have many children, with an average of almost four children per family. Since 1950, there have always been more births than deaths each year in The Gambia. The number of people in The Gambia has grown with each count, from 315 thousand in 1963 to 1.8 million in 2013. Experts think this growth happened because the later count included more people.

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

Vital statistics

Keeping track of births, deaths, and other important life events in The Gambia is still being improved. The United Nations helps by making guesses about these numbers.

There are many details about how many babies are born, how many people live in different age groups, and how long people live. These details come from special studies and surveys.

	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

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)

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

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

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

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

Elderly Gambian woman, January 2008, The Gambia.

**Population of Gambia according to ethnic group 1973-2023**
Ethnic group	census 1973		census 1983		census 1993		census 2003		census 2013		census 2023
Ethnic group	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.

Population	2,639,916 (2021 est.)
Official language	English
Area	11,300 sq km

Population

Vital statistics

Ethnic groups

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