Languages: English (official), Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, other indigenous vernaculars
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 47.5% male: 58.4% female: 37.1% (2001 est.)
Government Gambia, The
Country name: Republic of The Gambia conventional short form: Government type: republic under multiparty democratic rule
Capital: Banjul
Administrative divisions: 5 divisions and 1 city*; Banjul*, Central
River, Lower River, North Bank, Upper River, Western
Independence: 18 February 1965 (from UK)
National holiday: Independence Day, 18 February (1965)
Constitution: 24 April 1970; suspended July 1994; rewritten and approved by national referendum 8 August 1996; reestablished in January 1997
Legal system: based on a composite of English common law, Koranic law, and customary law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations