Population figures show faster growth

According to GBoS, this provisional count shows a 5.6 per cent increase over the projected 2013 population of 1,783,424.

This variance can be attributed to a number of factors one of which is a possible improvement in the census coverage of 2013 compared to 2003.

The provisional population count indicates an absolute increase of 521,769 persons (or 38.3 per cent) compared to the number of persons enumerated in last census (2003 census).

The current figure of the total population count indicates that the population of The Gambia has grown at the rate 3.3 per cent between 2003 and 2013 compared to 2.7 per cent during the 1993-2003 inter-censal period.

“Figures in this preliminary report should be seen as provisional until the publication of the final figures which may be slightly different after the completion of the census data processing and analysis”, the national statistics bureau declared.

.The Gambia Bureau of Statistics conducted the 2013 population and housing census enumeration from 8 to 28 April 2013 with funding from the Gambia government and UNFPA, the United Nations population fund.

The census was held under the legal framework of the Statistical Act 2005, which empowers the bureau to conduct a population census in 2013 and every ten years thereafter.

The 2013 census is the sixth complete population and housing census and the fifth taken since independence.

The preliminary census findings, a report of which can be accessible on the GBoS website, www.gbos.gov.gm, is the first in series of the reports to be released from the 2013 population and housing census.