National / Regional Profiles
Included Nations/Regions: Gambia, The [x], The World [x]
Religion and State (RAS) Indexes1
Religion Indexes (Gambia, The)
|
State Funding of Religion Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 96/253 |
Societal Discrimination of Minority Religions Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 110/253 |
State Regulation of Majority or All Religions Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 85/253 |
State Discrimination of Minority Religions Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 145/253 |
Gambia, The: Major World Religions (1900 - 2050) (World Religion Database, 2020)2
The following groups with less than 1% of the population were hidden from this graph: Baha'is, Hindus, Nonreligious.
Gambia, The: Largest Religious Groups (1900 - 2050) (World Religion Database, 2020)2
The following groups with less than 1% of the population were hidden from this graph: Agnostics, Atheists, Independents, Islamic schismatics, Orthodox, Protestants, Saktists, Shaivites, Shias, unaffiliated Christians, Vaishnavites.
Religious Adherents (World Religion Database 2020)2
| Religion | Gambia, The [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|
| Baha'is | 0.82% | 0.11% |
| Buddhists | --- | 6.83% |
| --Mahayanists | --- | 4.89% |
| --Theravadins | --- | 1.72% |
| --Lamaists | --- | 0.23% |
| Chinese folk-religionists | --- | 5.98% |
| Christians | 4.58% | 32.16% |
| --unaffiliated Christians | 0.15% | 1.46% |
| --Orthodox | 0.07% | 3.75% |
| --Catholics | 2.90% | 15.90% |
| --Protestants | 0.74% | 7.51% |
| --Independents | 0.72% | 5.00% |
| Daoists | --- | 0.11% |
| Confucianists | --- | 0.11% |
| Ethnic religionists | 5.42% | 3.65% |
| Hindus | 0.02% | 13.58% |
| --Vaishnavites | 0.00% | 5.15% |
| --Shaivites | 0.01% | 4.86% |
| --Saktists | 0.01% | 3.57% |
| Jains | --- | 0.08% |
| Jews | --- | 0.19% |
| Muslims | 88.59% | 24.20% |
| --Sunnis | 88.20% | 21.56% |
| --Shias | 0.05% | 2.44% |
| --Islamic schismatics | 0.34% | 0.21% |
| New religionists | --- | 0.85% |
| Shintoists | --- | 0.04% |
| Sikhs | --- | 0.34% |
| Spiritists | --- | 0.19% |
| Zoroastrians | --- | 0.00% |
| Non-Religious | 0.57% | 11.57% |
| --Agnostics | 0.57% | 9.65% |
| --Atheists | 0.00% | 1.92% |
Religious demographics (Gambia, The)3
The country has an area of 4,361 square miles and a population of 1.7 million. Sunni Muslims constitute more than 90 percent of the population. The vast majority are Malikite Sufis, of which the main orders represented are Tijaniyah, Qadiriyah, and Muridiyah. Sufi orders pray together at common mosques. Members of the Ahmadiyya order are also represented, while a small percentage of Muslims, predominantly immigrants from South Asia, do not ascribe to any traditional Islamic school of thought.
An estimated 9 percent of the population is Christian, and less than 1 percent practice indigenous animist religious beliefs. The Christian community, situated mostly in the west and south, is predominantly Roman Catholic; there are also Protestant groups including Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and various small evangelical denominations. There is a small group of Baha'is, and a small community of Hindus among South Asian immigrants.
Intermarriage between Muslims and Christians is common. In some areas, Islam and Christianity are syncretized with animism.
Summary Information |
Gambia, The [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|
| Region | Western Africa | -- |
| Total Population4 | 1,978,230 | 7,335,774,068 |
| Area in square miles | 4,361 | 196,939,900 |
| Life Expectancy from birth, in years5 | 61.0 | 71.9 |
| Gross National Income per capita, in current international dollars5 | 1,640.0 | 16,101.0 |
| Description of Polity Score6 | (weakly autocratic) | -- |
| Judicial Independence Composite Score, as average of scores for higher and lower courts7 | -1.5 | 0.8 |
| Official Religion(s)8 | Islam | -- |
Gambia, The - Google Map
Religion and the State
Religion and State Collection (2014) |
Gambia, The [x] |
|---|---|
| Is proselytizing Legal?1 | Yes |
| Is religious registration someties denied?1 | There is no registration requirement |
| What are the consequences of registration?1 | There is no registration requirement |
| Official Support: The formal relationship between religion and state.1 | Preferred Religion |
| The extent to which religious education is mandatory in public schools.1 | Mandatory for all; the course must be in religion. |
| The extent to which funding is exclusive to one or a few religions.1 | Government funding of religion goes primarily to one religion but at least some other religions receive some funds. |
| The extent to which there are religious requirements and oaths for holding office.1 | There are no religious requirements or oaths necessary in order to hold office. |
Constitutional Features [ View Excerpts]
Features of Constitution |
Gambia, The [x] |
|---|---|
| Is there a constitution?9 | Yes |
| Does the constitution state an official religion?10 | no [ Section 1(1) ] |
| Does the constitution provide for freedom of religion?10 | yes [ Section 25(1)(b,c) ] |
| Does the constitution protect religious equality/non-discrimination?10 | yes [ Sections 17(2), 33 ] |
Constitution |
Gambia, The [x] |
|---|---|
| Constitution Year10 | 1996 |
| Last Amended10 | 2004 |
| Source10 | Constitute Project |
| Translation10 | Original was written in English. |
| Current as of10 | August 2, 2018 |
Socio-Economic Measures
Education |
Gambia, The [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|
| Adult Literacy Rate, in percentage of adult population12 | 55.5 | 86.2 |
| Net Primary School Enrollment Rate, in percentage of population of official school age5 | 74.8 | 89.6 |
| Net Secondary School Enrollment Rate, in percentage of population of official school age5 | -- | 65.1 |
Economic Measures |
Gambia, The [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Domestic Product, in billions of current U.S. Dollars5 | 1.0 | 75,845.1 |
| Imports, in million current-year U.S. dollars13 | 442.2 | 20,150,355.0 |
| Exports, in million current-year U.S. dollars13 | 237.5 | 20,790,015.7 |
| Economic Freedom Index, scaled from 0 min to 100 max14 | 53.4 | 62.9 |
| Human Development Index15 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| 2013 Gender Inequality Index (GII)16 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Gross National Income per capita, in current international dollars5 | 1,640.0 | 16,101.0 |
Military Measures |
Gambia, The [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|
| Composite Index of National Capability, in fraction of 117 | 0.0001077 | 0.005162584 |
| 2012 Military expenditure (% of GDP)5 | -- | -- |
Demographic and Health Measures |
Gambia, The [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|
| Total Population4 | 1,978,230 | 7,335,774,068 |
| Life Expectancy from birth, in years5 | 61.0 | 71.9 |
| 2012 Net Migration Rate (migrants per 1,000 population)5 | -13.5 | -- |
| Urban Percentage of Total Population13 | 60.2 | 54.3 |
| Urban Population Growth, by percentage13 | 4.0 | 2.0 |
| Fertility Rate, in total births per woman13 | 5.5 | 2.5 |
| Infant Mortality Rate, in deaths per 1000 live births13 | 42.2 | 30.5 |
| HIV Prevalence, in percentage of population ages 15-49 with HIV13 | 1.7 | 0.8 |
Other Measures on Religion, State, and Society
Constitution Clauses Related to Religion
Constitution Excerpts (clauses that reference religion) (Gambia, The)10
Preamble
In the name of God, the Almighty.
... The fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in this Constitution will ensure for all time respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to ... religion. ...
... we ... pray that the Great God of Nations will keep us all ever true to The Gambia.
Section 1. The Republic.
(1) The Gambia is a ... Secular Republic.
Section 7. The laws of The Gambia.
In addition to this Constitution, the laws of The Gambia consist of---
...
(f) The sharia as regards matters of marriage, divorce and inheritance among members of the communities to which it applies.
Section 17. Fundamental rights and freedoms.
...
(2) Every person in the Gambia, whatever his or her ... religion ... shall be entitled to the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual contained in this chapter, but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest.
Section 25. Freedom of speech, conscience, assembly, association and movement.
(1) Every person shall have the right to---
...
(b) freedom of thought, conscience and belief ...
(c) freedom to practise any religion and to manifest such practice;
...
...
Section 32. Culture.
Every person shall be entitled to enjoy, practice, profess, maintain and promote any ... religion subject to the terms of this Constitution and to the condition that the right protected by this section do not impinge on the rights and freedoms of others or the national interest, especially unity.
Section 33. Protection from discrimination.
(1) All persons shall be equal before the law.
...
(4) In this section, the expression "discrimination" means affording different treatment to different persons attributable wholly or mainly to their respective descriptions by ... religion ... whereby persons of one such description are subjected to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of another such description are not made subject, or are accorded privilege or advantages which are not accorded to persons of another such description.
...
Section 60. Political parties.
...
(2) No association shall be registered or remain registered as a political party if-
(a) it is formed or organised on [a] ... religious ... basis;
...
Section 100. The legislative power.
...
(2) The National Assembly shall not pass a Bill---
...
(b) to establish any religion as a state religion; or ...
...
Section 120. The courts and the judicial power.
(1) The Courts of The Gambia are:
...
(b) ... the Cadi Court ...
...
Section 132. Jurisdiction of high court.
...
(2) The High Court shall have such jurisdiction in appeals from courts subordinate to it (other than the cadi court) as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.
Section 137. The Cadi court.
(1) A Cadi Court shall be established in such places in The Gambia as the Chief Justice shall determine.
(2) The Cadi Court shall be composed-
(a) for hearings at first instance, by a panel consisting of the Cadi and two other scholars of the Sharia qualified to be a Cadi or Ulama;
[paragraph (b) deleted in a 2001 Amendment]
...
(4) The Cadi Court shall only have jurisdiction to apply the Sharia in matters of marriage, divorce and inheritance where the parties or other persons interested are Muslims.
...
(6) A person shall be required to be of high moral standing and professionally qualified in the Sharia in order to be appointed a Cadi or Ulama.
(7) A party to proceedings in the Cadi Court shall be entitled to be represented, at his or her own expense, by a person qualified in the Sharia.
Section 137A. Cadi appeals panel.
...
(4) The Chairperson and other members of the Panel shall be appointed by a Cadi Appeals Selection Committee which shall consist of-
...
(c) a member of the Supreme Islamic Council nominated by that Council.
(5) A person shall not be qualified for appointment to the Panel-
(a) as a Chairperson, unless the person-
...
(ii) is professionally qualified in the Sharia;
(b) as a member, unless the person is professionally qualified in the Sharia.
(6) The Panel shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine appeals from judgment of the Cadi Court and from the District Tribunals where Sharia law is involved.
...
Section 212. National integration and unity.
...
(3) All the people of The Gambia shall be entitled to their ... religious ... values which do not disturb the unity or cohesion of the State.
Variable Details
Sources
1 The Religion and State (RAS) Project is a university-based project located at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel and is directed by Jonathan Fox. Round 3 of the RAS includes all countries with populations of 250,000 or more as well as a sampling of smaller states and offers annual measures from 1990 to 2014. The methods used for conducting the RAS3 collection and the complete codebook can be reviewed online. Or, the codebook and data file can be downloaded free of charge here. For details on how the RAS indexes reported on the ARDA’s National Profiles were coded, constructed, and placed into categories, click here.2 Todd M. Johnson and Brian J. Grim, eds. World Religion Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2022).
3 The U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report is submitted to Congress annually by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. This report supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom. It includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. These State Department reports are open source.
4 The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Demographics reports the estimates of religious demographics, both country by country and region by region. The RCS was created to fulfill the unmet need for a dataset on the religious dimensions of countries of the world, with the state-year as the unit of observation. It estimates populations and percentages of adherents of 100 religious denominations including second level subdivision within Christianity and Islam. The RCS Data Project would like to acknowledge, recognize, and express our deepest gratitude for the significant contributions of Todd M. Johnson the co-principal investigator of the World Religion Database.
5 Relying on agencies from each country, as well as a synthesis of data from United Nations divisions, Eurostate Demographic statistics, the U.S. Census international database, and its own data collection, the World Bank's Open Data site offers free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.
6 The Center for Systemic Peace (CSP) is engaged in innovative research on the problem of political violence within the structural context of the dynamic global system. The Center supports scientific research and quantitative analysis in many issue areas related to the fundamental problems of violence in both human relations and societal-systemic development processes. The Center continually monitors political behavior in each of the world's major states and reports on emerging issues and persisting conditions related to the problems of political violence and "state failure." A dataset with these and other international measures can be downloaded from here. Used with permission. *Note: Polity Scores range from -10 to 10 and include the following categories: -10 to -9: strongly autocratic, -8 to -7 autocratic, -6 to -4 weakly autocratic, -3 to +3 anocratic, +4 to +6 weakly democratic, +7 to +8 democratic, +9 to +10 strongly democratic.
7 Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is a new approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy. V-Dem provides a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset that reflects the complexity of the concept of democracy as a system of rule that goes beyond simple presence of elections. The V-Dem project distinguishes between seven high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, egalitarian, majoritarian, and consensual, and collects data to measure these principles. A dataset with these and other international measures can be downloaded from here. Used with permission.
8 The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Government Religious Preference (GRP) measures government-level favoritism toward, and disfavor against, 30 religious denominations. A series of ordered categorical variables index the state's institutional favoritism in 28 different ways. The variables are combined to form five composite indices for five broad components of state-religion: official status, religious education, financial support, regulatory burdens, and freedom of practice. The five components' composites in turn are further combined into a single composite score, the GRP score. The RCS Data Project would like to acknowledge, recognize, and express our deepest gratitude for the significant contributions of Todd M. Johnson, the principal investigator of the World Christian Database, the co-principal investigator of the World Religion Database, and co-author of the World Christian Encyclopedia series.
9 Data under the "Features of Constitution" heading are drawn from coding of the U.S. State Department's 2008 International Religious Freedom Reports conducted by researchers at the Association of Religion Data Archives. The article by Brian Grim and Roger Finke describes the coding of the International Religious Freedom reports. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
10 Text from country constitutions was copied from primary documents obtained online using a variety of sources, including the Constitute Project, World Constitutions Illustrated, and government sources. When the text was in a language other than English, it was translated to English by ARDA staff or with web-based translation utilities such as Google Translate. Emphases were added to the text by ARDA staff to differentiate religious content from non-religious content. Text is current to the date listed in the "Current as of" field shown above. Please contact us at
11 Freedom House is an independent non-governmental organization that offers measures of the extent to which governments are accountable to their own people; the rule of law prevails; and freedoms of expression, association, belief and respect for the rights of minorities and women are guaranteed. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
12 The CIA's World Factbook was created as an annual summary and update to the now defunct National Intelligence Survey (NIS) studies. The first classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first unclassified version was published in June 1971. The NIS program was terminated in 1973 except for the Factbook, map, and gazetteer components. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO). The year 2010 marks the 67th year of the World Factbook and its predecessor programs. The maps and flags are also from the World Factbook, which is an open source.
13 Relying on agencies from each country, as well as a synthesis of data from United Nations divisions, Eurostate Demographic statistics, the U.S. Census international database, and its own data collection, the World Bank's Open Data site offers free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.
14 The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom is a systematic, empirical measurement of economic freedom in countries throughout the world. A set of objective economic criteria are used to study and grade various countries for the annual publication of the Index of Economic Freedom. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
15 The United Nations Human Development Reports provide data and statistical analysis in various areas of human development. The Human Development Report (HDR) presents two types of statistics: the human development indicator tables, which provide a global assessment of country achievements in different areas of human development, and thematic statistical analysis. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
16 The 2013 Gender Inequality Index is a composite measure reflecting inequality in achievements between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labor market. It varies between zero (when women and men fare equally) and one (when men or women fare poorly compared to the other in all dimensions). The health dimension is measured by two indicators: maternal mortality ratio and the adolescent fertility rate. The empowerment dimension is also measured by two indicators: the share of parliamentary seats held by each sex and by secondary and higher education attainment levels. The labor dimension is measured by women’s participation in the work force. Source: The United Nations Human Development Reports provide data and statistical analysis in various areas of human development. The Human Development Report (HDR) presents two types of statistics: the human development indicator tables, which provide a global assessment of country achievements in different areas of human development, and thematic statistical analysis. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
17 Military data is drawn from the National Material Capabilities (v4.0) dataset, which is a component of and hosted by the Correlates of War Project. The Correlates of War Project seeks to facilitate the collection, dissemination, and use of accurate and reliable quantitative data in international relations. Correlates of War data may be accessed through the above link. Used with permission.
18 The article by Brian Grim and Roger Finke describes the coding of the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom reports. The 2003, 2005, and 2008 reports were coded by researchers at the Association of Religion Data Archives. The GRI, GFI and SRI values reported on the National Profiles are averages from the 2003, 2005, and 2008 International Religious Freedom reports, while the Religious Persecution measure is an average from the 2005 and 2008 reports. All other measures derived from the International Religious Freedom reports were coded from the reports 2008. A data file with all of the 2008 coding, as well as data files with other cross national collections are available for preview and download from the data archive on this site. Used with permission.
19 The Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Dataset contains standards-based quantitative information on government respect for 15 internationally recognized human rights for 202 countries, annually from 1981-2011. It is designed for use by scholars and students who seek to test theories about the causes and consequences of human rights violations, as well as policy makers and analysts who seek to estimate the human rights effects of a wide variety of institutional changes and public policies including democratization, economic aid, military aid, structural adjustment, and humanitarian intervention. The full CIRI Human Rights Dataset can be accessed through the above link. Used with permission.
