Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in The Gambia

Located in West Africa, and The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa. It stretches 400 kilometers along the Gambia River. Its sole neighbor is Senegal, with the remainder of the country bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The Gambia’s total...

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Main Authors: Mungai, Rose, Okiya, Stephen
Other Authors: Scherer, Lauri
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/589961594971124658/Measuring-Inequality-of-Opportunities-in-the-Gambia
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34340
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spelling okr-10986-343402021-05-25T09:58:02Z Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in The Gambia Mungai, Rose Okiya, Stephen Scherer, Lauri HUMAN OPPORTUNITY INDEX EDUCATION POVERTY INEQUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY ACCESS TO EDUCATION INTERNET ACCESS ACCESS TO SERVICES Located in West Africa, and The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa. It stretches 400 kilometers along the Gambia River. Its sole neighbor is Senegal, with the remainder of the country bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The Gambia’s total land area is 10,689 square kilometers, with a population density of 208 persons per square kilometer of land area, ranking it the eighth highest in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The average population density in SSA is 50 persons per square kilometer of land area. The country’s estimated population was 2.1 million in 2017, with 60.6 percent residing in urban areas; however, the population of the largest city accounts for 33.9 percent of the urban population. Annual population growth remains high at 3.0 percent in 2017, with a faster growth in urban areas compared to rural areas, 4.1 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. The Gambia has experienced decades of volatile growth. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita started to increase during the first decade of the twenty-first century, before beginning a downward trend. The average real GDP per capita growth between 2000 and 2009 was about 0.6 percent, with a drop in 2002 to a low, 6.2 percent. The GDP per capita growth increased from US$515.30 in 1990 to about US$562.50 in 2010, but it has declined since then. The economy is driven by agriculture and tourism sectors and has experienced some shocks in recent times. The agricultural sector was affected by inadequate rainfall and tourism was shaken by the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. The role of remittances is significant and has grown by approximately 150 percent since 2011; remittances accounted for 15.3 percent of GDP in 2017, the second-largest share in GDP in Africa and the seventh largest worldwide. 2020-08-12T15:24:20Z 2020-08-12T15:24:20Z 2019-02 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/589961594971124658/Measuring-Inequality-of-Opportunities-in-the-Gambia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34340 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Other Poverty Study Africa Gambia, The
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic HUMAN OPPORTUNITY INDEX
EDUCATION
POVERTY
INEQUALITY
INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY
ACCESS TO EDUCATION
INTERNET ACCESS
ACCESS TO SERVICES
spellingShingle HUMAN OPPORTUNITY INDEX
EDUCATION
POVERTY
INEQUALITY
INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY
ACCESS TO EDUCATION
INTERNET ACCESS
ACCESS TO SERVICES
Mungai, Rose
Okiya, Stephen
Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in The Gambia
geographic_facet Africa
Gambia, The
description Located in West Africa, and The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa. It stretches 400 kilometers along the Gambia River. Its sole neighbor is Senegal, with the remainder of the country bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The Gambia’s total land area is 10,689 square kilometers, with a population density of 208 persons per square kilometer of land area, ranking it the eighth highest in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The average population density in SSA is 50 persons per square kilometer of land area. The country’s estimated population was 2.1 million in 2017, with 60.6 percent residing in urban areas; however, the population of the largest city accounts for 33.9 percent of the urban population. Annual population growth remains high at 3.0 percent in 2017, with a faster growth in urban areas compared to rural areas, 4.1 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. The Gambia has experienced decades of volatile growth. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita started to increase during the first decade of the twenty-first century, before beginning a downward trend. The average real GDP per capita growth between 2000 and 2009 was about 0.6 percent, with a drop in 2002 to a low, 6.2 percent. The GDP per capita growth increased from US$515.30 in 1990 to about US$562.50 in 2010, but it has declined since then. The economy is driven by agriculture and tourism sectors and has experienced some shocks in recent times. The agricultural sector was affected by inadequate rainfall and tourism was shaken by the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. The role of remittances is significant and has grown by approximately 150 percent since 2011; remittances accounted for 15.3 percent of GDP in 2017, the second-largest share in GDP in Africa and the seventh largest worldwide.
author2 Scherer, Lauri
author_facet Scherer, Lauri
Mungai, Rose
Okiya, Stephen
format Report
author Mungai, Rose
Okiya, Stephen
author_sort Mungai, Rose
title Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in The Gambia
title_short Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in The Gambia
title_full Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in The Gambia
title_fullStr Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in The Gambia
title_full_unstemmed Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in The Gambia
title_sort measuring inequality of opportunities in the gambia
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2020
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/589961594971124658/Measuring-Inequality-of-Opportunities-in-the-Gambia
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34340
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