By Makutu Manneh
About two million of The Gambia’s 2.4 million people are under the age of 36, giving the country a potentially powerful demographic advantage. But low levels of human development, widespread informal employment, and limited access to decent jobs are preventing the country from fully benefiting from its youthful population, according to a United Nations Development Programme economist.
Binta Barry, an economist with UNDP in The Gambia, said the country’s youthful population presents significant opportunities for economic growth and development, but warned that demographics alone would not produce a demographic dividend without sustained investments in education, skills, and employment.
Speaking at the launch of The Gambia National Human Development Report, titled “Expanding Opportunities for the Dynamic Youth of The Gambia,” Ms. Barry pointed to the country’s Human Development Index, employment figures, and education outcomes as evidence of the challenges young Gambians continue to face.
“Our HDI is 0.495, ranking Gambia 174th out of 193 countries. That is the context,” she said. “Youth unemployment is 8.3 percent, while 80 percent of employed Gambians work informally. So the challenge is not simply creating jobs, but creating decent, productive, and sustainable livelihoods.”
The figures underscore a broader problem in The Gambia’s labor market: Even among those who are employed, the overwhelming majority work outside the formal economy, often without the stability, protections, and opportunities for advancement associated with formal employment.
Ms. Barry said policymakers must therefore look beyond headline unemployment figures and focus on the quality and sustainability of work available to young people.
Education presents another challenge. Secondary school enrollment stands at about 50 percent, she said, compared with a national transition target of 70 percent. At the same time, the National Employment Policy aims to create 150,000 jobs by 2027.
Ms. Barry said The Gambia had made substantial progress in expanding access to basic education during the six decades since independence, with enrollment now approaching universal levels. But she said the more difficult challenge is ensuring that young people successfully transition from school into further education, skills training, and productive employment.
Secondary school completion and access to job-relevant skills remain limited, she said, while much of the country’s training system is oriented toward formal-sector employment despite an economy in which four out of every five workers operate informally.
The opportunities that do exist are also unevenly distributed.
Ms. Barry said education, skills training, financing, and decent employment opportunities remain heavily concentrated in the Greater Banjul Area, putting young people in rural communities, particularly young women, at a disadvantage.
Those disparities are compounded by a narrow economic base and reliance on short-term, project-based employment, leaving many young Gambians uncertain about their economic prospects.
“For some, irregular migration has become the alternative,” she said.
The challenge, Ms. Barry said, is not a shortage of ambition or potential among young Gambians, but the absence of accessible pathways that allow them to translate their education and abilities into sustainable livelihoods.
Addressing those shortcomings, she said, does not necessarily require another development agenda. Instead, she called for sustained financing, stronger implementation and the expansion of programs and policies that have already demonstrated results.
“We all celebrated Gambia at 60,” Ms. Barry said. “Six decades of development planning tells us one important successful story: Progress is possible, but it takes persistence.”
The report’s findings place young people at the center of The Gambia’s development challenge. With roughly five out of every six Gambians under 36, the country’s ability to expand education, skills and productive employment opportunities could determine whether its youthful population becomes an engine of economic growth or remains constrained by limited opportunities.
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