Distillers Country guides / Gambia
Gambia
A one-page guide to the Gambia for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Banjul
- Official languages
- English
- Currency
- Gambian dalasi (GMD)
- Time zone
- UTC+0 (GMT)
- Area
- 11,295 km²
People
- Population
- 2.8 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 2.2% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 65.0%
- Aged under 15
- 39.7%
- Aged 65 and over
- 3.2%
- Life expectancy
- 66.1 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$2.6 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$919 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 5.89% (2025)
- Inflation
- 11.56% (2024)
Climate
Tropical savannah. A short rainy season runs June to September; October to May is drier and cooler. Banjul mean daily highs are about 30-34 C and lows about 16-24 C; annual rainfall about 977 mm, wettest in August.
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 18 for on- and off-premise sales of all beverages (WHO 2018 country profile, status 2016: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/country-profiles/substances-abuse/GMB.pdf)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 0.43 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
- What people drink
- Beer 9%, wine 2%, other 89% (2016)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia - The Gambia; WHO country profile GMB. Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.