Gambia, The: Adolescents out of school, female (% of female lower secondary school age)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Gambia, The's adolescents out of school, female (% of female lower secondary school age) fell 0.44 percentage points on 2024 (from 4.66% to 4.22%).

Across the 16 yearly changes before that (2007 to 2024), the average change was −2.59 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.06 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 5.69 percentage points in 2011 and the biggest yearly fall was 7.84 percentage points in 2013. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2016 to 2025 the straight-line trend is downward, about 2.91 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 97% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about -6.74% for 2028. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2023 to 2025 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 1.62%, against 6.9% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to Gambia, The in the 2025 ranking

• Lao PDR — 2nd of 8: 35.94%
• Burundi — 3rd of 8: 34.96%
• Kazakhstan — 4th of 8: 4.47%
• Uzbekistan — 6th of 8: 2.56%
• Kyrgyz Republic — 7th of 8: 1.87%
• Thailand — 8th of 8: 0.1%

What this measures

Adolescents out of school are the percentage of lower secondary school age adolescents who are not enrolled in school.

Limitations: The administrative data used in the calculation of the rate of out-of-school children are based on enrolment at a specific date which can bias the results by either counting enrolled children who never attend school or by omitting those who enroll after the reference date for reporting enrolment data. Furthermore, children who drop out of school after the reference date are not counted as out of school. Discrepancies between enrolment and population data from different sources can also result in over- or underestimates of the rate.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 19 values

Adolescents out of school, female (% of female lower secondary school age) in nearby economies

• Botswana — 8.8% (2022)
• Burkina Faso — 55.47% (2024)
• Burundi — 34.96% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 48.16% (2022)
• Cameroon — 48.96% (2023)
• Chad — 63.55% (2024)
• Côte d'Ivoire — 29.44% (2024)
• Eritrea — 42.22% (2022)

More education data for Gambia, The

• Primary school starting age (years) — 7 (2025)
• Primary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
• Lower secondary school starting age (years) — 13 (2025)
• Secondary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
• Primary education, pupils — 442,901 (2025)
• School enrollment, primary (% gross) — 100.43% (2025)
• School enrollment, primary, female (% gross) — 108.23% (2025)
• School enrollment, primary, male (% gross) — 92.77% (2025)
• Primary education, teachers — 13,495 (2025)
• School enrollment, primary (gross), gender parity index (GPI)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Gambia, The's adolescents out of school, female (% of female lower secondary school age)?

4.22% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2006?

It is down 43.97 percentage points from 48.19% in 2006. The highest value was 48.19% in 2006 and the lowest 4.22% in 2025.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SE.SEC.UNER.LO.FE.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources, note: The data are obtained through the UIS API. Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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