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Gambia

OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of the Gambia

DATE OF FORMATION: 1965

POPULATION: 1.5 million

DENSITY: 389 people per square mile

LANGUAGES: Mandinka, Fulani, Wolof, Jola, Soninke, English

RELIGIONS: Sunni Muslim 90%, Christian 9%, Traditional beliefs 1%

ETHNIC MIX: Mandinka 42%, Fulani 18%, Wolof 16%, Jola 10%, Serahuli 9%, Other 5%

GOVERNMENT: Multiparty elections

CURRENCY: Dalasi

 

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A narrow country on the western coast of Africa, Gambia was renowned as a stable democracy until an army coup in 1994. Agriculture accounts for 65% of GDP, yet many Gambians are leaving rural areas for the towns, where average incomes are four times higher. Its position as an enclave within Senegal seems likely to endure, following the failure of an experiment in federation in the 1980s.

 

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