ilitary manpower: males 15-49, 266,110; 133,158 fit for military
service; 9,282 reach military age (20) annually

Defense expenditures: 3.2% of GDP, or $102 million (1990 est.)
----------------------------------------------------
Country: The Gambia
- Geography
Total area: 11,300 km2; land area: 10,000 km2

Comparative area: slightly more than twice the size of Delaware

Land boundary: 740 km with Senegal

Coastline: 80 km

Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 18 nm;

Continental shelf: not specific;

Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: short section of boundary with Senegal is indefinite

Climate: tropical; hot, rainy season (June to November); cooler,
dry season (November to May)

Terrain: flood plain of the Gambia River flanked by some low hills

Natural resources: fish

Land use: 16% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 9% meadows and pastures;
20% forest and woodland; 55% other; includes 3% irrigated

Environment: deforestation

Note: almost an enclave of Senegal; smallest country on the continent
of Africa

- People
Population: 848,147 (July 1990), growth rate 3.1% (1990)

Birth rate: 48 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 18 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 140 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 46 years male, 50 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 6.5 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Gambian(s); adjective--Gambian

Ethnic divisions: 99% African (42% Mandinka, 18% Fula, 16% Wolof, 10%
Jola, 9% Serahuli, 4% other); 1% non-Gambian

Religion: 90% Muslim, 9% Christian, 1% indigenous beliefs

Language: English (official); Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, other indigenous
vernaculars

Literacy: 25.1%

Labor force: 400,000 (1986 est.); 75.0% agriculture, 18.9% industry,
commerce, and services, 6.1% government; 55% population of working age (1983)

Organized labor: 25-30% of wage labor force

- Government
Long-form name: Republic of The Gambia

Type: republic

Capital: Banjul

Administrative divisions: 5 divisions and 1 city*; Banjul*, Lower River,
MacCarthy Island, North Bank, Upper River, Western

Independence: 18 February 1965 (from UK); The Gambia and Senegal signed
an agreement on 12 December 1981 (effective 1 February 1982) that called
for the creation of a loose confederation to be known as Senegambia, but the
agreement