Human Development & Quality of Life in the Gambia
Human Development
Gambia's 2023 HDI is 0.524, placing it 170 in UNDP's table and in the low human development category. What makes the country profile more informative than the rank alone is that the income component uses GNI per capita of $2,812 in 2021 PPP dollars. Separately, Education combines 9.0 expected years of schooling with 4.7 mean years already attained.
What sits inside Gambia's HDI
For this profile, the UNDP inputs behind Gambia's HDI are 65.9 for life expectancy, 9.0 for expected years of schooling, 4.7 for mean years of schooling and $2,812 GNI per capita in 2021 PPP dollars. These figures show what sits behind the composite score.
Inequality changes the headline
Gambia's IHDI adjusts the headline index for inequality in health, education and income outcomes. It describes distribution, so it is not used here as a quality-of-life rating.
Gender and planetary-pressure adjustments
Beyond HDI, Gambia's UNDP profile also reports GDI 0.959, GII 0.578, PHDI 0.514. These measures remain distinct because they measure different aspects of development.
Quality-of-life coverage is conditional
The OECD comparison used here does not provide a life-satisfaction observation that this Gambia page can reproduce. No proxy is inserted for a value the source does not report.
What Gambia's numbers say together
Gambia's non-headline measures include IHDI 0.329 with a 37.2% loss; PHDI 0.514 after a 1.9% adjustment; GDI 0.959. Their scopes differ, which is why the page presents them side by side rather than blending them. When the indicator is reused, read the value with its stated unit before drawing conclusions from small differences.
HDI for the Gambia stands at 0.524 in 2023, with UNDP rank 170. It is a development benchmark based on three dimensions, not an all-purpose national score.
The IHDI is 0.329, and UNDP reports an overall loss of 37.2% relative to the headline index.
The GDI value is 0.959 in group 2; it should be read alongside, not merged into, HDI.
The PHDI is 0.514, with a 1.9% adjustment from the HDI value in UNDP's 2023 table.
Frequently asked questions
What is Gambia's HDI?
The UNDP table records Gambia at 0.524 on HDI in 2023, with global rank 170.
How does inequality affect Gambia's HDI?
After the inequality adjustment, Gambia's index falls to 0.329; UNDP quantifies the overall loss at 37.2%.
Why is there no life satisfaction score on this page?
Gambia's page adds a quality-of-life measure only when a comparable dated observation can be sourced. The absence of a published observation is preserved explicitly. For the profile as a whole, avoid blending different source vintages because the surrounding measures answer different questions.
Is HDI the same as quality of life?
No. HDI has three core dimensions: health, knowledge and standard of living. Subjective well-being is kept outside the HDI calculation.
Sources & methodology
Sources for the development indicators and definitions shown above.
View sources used for this page
Primary source for 2023 HDI and its components, plus IHDI, GDI, GII and PHDI where reported.
Report edition underlying the 2023 human-development indices and ranking.
Data note: Reference years are shown with each indicator; unavailable observations remain unfilled.