By Sanna Camara

While experts contend the challenges of turning Gambia’s economic growth into inclusive job creation, particularly for youth and women, studies conducted by the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS), University of Osnabrück (Germany), reveals that migration from The Gambia to Europe has not stopped despite changing circumstances such as political and socio-economic situation of the country since 2017.

The author of the study, Dr Judith Altrogge confirmed that The Gambia has witnessed a new surge in migration figures to Europe, recording some 21, 000 fresh arrivals from 2018 to 2025.

Over 64, 000 Gambians have reportedly crossed into the European Union between 2010 and 2025.

Of this number, 21,189 entries were recorded between 2018 and 2025 – representing a period under a new leadership in The Gambia.

The report cited several migration data institutions in Europe, including the European Border Control Agency (Frontex), the official statistical office of the European Union (EUROSTAT), among other official sources.

Choosing Europe for Better Lives

To a lot of Gambian youths, Europe is a land of promise for better life and economic freedom. To some others, it represents an escape from hard social lives they were born into in their home country of The Gambia, where national poverty figures stand at 53.4 per cent, based on Gambia Bureau of Statistics and the World Bank data.

Sordid realities of everyday life of poverty and high unemployment – 1.4 million of the 2.5 – from 15 years upwards – are employable. Yet, the labour force represents only 54 percent of the population (781,868), when overall poverty remains widespread, especially in rural areas (64 percent).

Changing Routes and Waves

According to this latest study, some 43,157 irregular Gambian entries into Europe were recorded. The most frequently used route among those arriving at the EU border over the years, according to the research, is the Central Mediterranean Route (Libya-Italy) – in which European border control agency, Frontex, detected 46,349 border crossings between 2013 and 2017.

Although the data confirmed that the migration occurred in waves, they do not directly translate to the outmigration from The Gambia per year.

“One wave was between 2014 and 2017, peaking in 2016 (12,927 entries),” the lead researcher, Dr Altrogge said in an exchange with us.

“The second one was between 2022 and 2025, peaking in 2023 (9,247). While the first wave (2014) was stronger, 2023 marks the year with the second-highest number of entries in the whole period,” it added.

“Firstly, they do not express whether individuals had left The Gambia in the same year of their detection at the EU border, or whether they had left earlier. Also, they do not show the amount of people that left The Gambia but never reached the EU border,” the researcher explained.

So, the departure figures could even be higher when available, as no formal detection and records data mechanism is available in the country. Neither do any other accurate data of lives lost on the journey via the desert or the sea.

The researcher also clarified that reaching the border might have become “more difficult” over the years, with more mobility restrictions introduced in Northern Africa.

The Changing Numbers and Pull Factors

However, since the political situation has changed in the Gambia in 2017, many fleeing the country to Europe blaming political reasons had subsided, as democratic change helped to stabilize situations on the ground. Rather, the poverty situations – affecting some 53.4 per cent of the population – has become a more obvious reason for the outflow to seek jobs and economic opportunities.

Since the year 2017, The Gambia has registered over 950 migrant returnees from Libya, Niger, and Mali under the EU–IOM voluntary return programme. The majority came from Libya (670), followed by Niger (250), with a smaller number from Mali (50), as part of the EU–IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration, launched in late 2017.

By early 2019, the cumulative number of Gambian returnees had reached 3,668, with Libya, Niger, and Mali remaining the main countries of return.