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Bahamas,
The |
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Home Reference
Maps Appendixes
| Background: |
Arawak Indians inhabited the islands when Christopher Columbus first
set foot in the New World on San Salvador in 1492. British settlement
of the islands began in 1647; the islands became a colony in 1783. Since
attaining independence from the UK in 1973, The Bahamas have prospered
through tourism and international banking and investment management.
Because of its geography, the country is a major transshipment point
for illegal drugs, particularly shipments to the US, and its territory
is used for smuggling illegal migrants into the US. |
| Location: |
Caribbean, chain of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast of
Florida, northeast of Cuba |
| Geographic
coordinates: |
24 15 N, 76 00 W |
| Map
references: |
Central
America and the Caribbean |
| Area: |
total: 13,940 sq km
water: 3,870 sq km
land: 10,070 sq km |
| Area
- comparative: |
slightly smaller than Connecticut |
| Land
boundaries: |
0 km |
| Coastline: |
3,542 km |
| Maritime
claims: |
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
territorial sea:
12 NM |
| Climate: |
tropical marine; moderated by warm waters of Gulf Stream |
| Terrain: |
long, flat coral formations with some low rounded hills |
| Elevation
extremes: |
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point:
Mount Alvernia, on Cat Island 63 m |
| Natural
resources: |
salt, aragonite, timber, arable land |
| Land
use: |
arable land: 0.6%
permanent crops: 0.4%
other: 99% (1998 est.) |
| Irrigated
land: |
NA sq km |
| Natural
hazards: |
hurricanes and other tropical storms cause extensive flood and wind
damage |
| Environment
- current issues: |
coral reef decay; solid waste disposal |
| Environment
- international agreements: |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law
of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected
agreements |
| Geography
- note: |
strategic location adjacent to US and Cuba; extensive island chain of
which 30 are inhabited
|
| Population: |
297,477
note: estimates for this country explicitly take
into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result
in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower
population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population
by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2003 est.) |
| Age
structure: |
0-14 years: 28.8% (male 42,799; female 42,730)
15-64
years: 65.4% (male 95,718; female 98,875)
65 years and over:
5.8% (male 7,092; female 10,263) (2003 est.) |
| Median
age: |
total: 27 years
male: 26.2 years
female:
27.7 years (2002) |
| Population
growth rate: |
0.77% (2003 est.) |
| Birth
rate: |
18.57 births/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Death
rate: |
8.68 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Net
migration rate: |
-2.21 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Sex
ratio: |
at birth: 1.02 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65
years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female
total population:
0.96 male(s)/female (2003 est.) |
| Infant
mortality rate: |
total: 26.21 deaths/1,000 live births
female:
19.83 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)
male: 32.45 deaths/1,000
live births |
| Life
expectancy at birth: |
total population: 65.71 years
male: 62.3 years
female: 69.18 years (2003 est.) |
| Total
fertility rate: |
2.25 children born/woman (2003 est.) |
| Nationality: |
noun: Bahamian(s)
adjective: Bahamian |
| Ethnic
groups: |
black 85%, white 12%, Asian and Hispanic 3% |
| Religions: |
Baptist 32%, Anglican 20%, Roman Catholic 19%, Methodist 6%, Church
of God 6%, other Protestant 12%, none or unknown 3%, other 2% |
| Languages: |
English, Creole (among Haitian immigrants) |
| Literacy: |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total
population: 95.6%
male: 94.7%
female: 96.5%
(2003 est.)
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| Economy
- overview: |
The Bahamas is a stable, developing nation with an economy heavily dependent
on tourism and offshore banking. Tourism alone accounts for more than
60% of GDP and directly or indirectly employs half of the archipelago's
labor force. Steady growth in tourism receipts and a boom in construction
of new hotels, resorts, and residences had led to solid GDP growth in
recent years, but the slowdown in the US economy and the attacks of
11 September 2001 held back growth in these sectors in 2002. Manufacturing
and agriculture together contribute approximately a tenth of GDP and
show little growth, despite government incentives aimed at those sectors.
Overall growth prospects in the short run rest heavily on the fortunes
of the tourism sector, which depends on growth in the US, the source
of most of the visitors. |
| GDP: |
purchasing power parity - $5.2 billion (2002 est.) |
| GDP
- real growth rate: |
0.1% (2002 est.) |
| GDP
- per capita: |
purchasing power parity - $17,000 (2002 est.) |
| GDP
- composition by sector: |
agriculture: 3%
industry: 7%
services:
90% (1999 est.) |
| Population
below poverty line: |
NA% |
| Household
income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
| Inflation
rate (consumer prices): |
1.8% (2001 est.) |
| Labor
force: |
156,000 (1999) |
| Labor
force - by occupation: |
tourism 50%, other services 40%, industry 5%, agriculture 5% (1999 est.)
|
| Unemployment
rate: |
6.9% (2001 est.) |
| Budget: |
revenues: $918.5 million
expenditures: $956.5
million, including capital expenditures of $106.7 million (FY99/00)
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| Industries: |
tourism, banking, e-commerce, cement, oil refining and transshipment,
salt, rum, aragonite, pharmaceuticals, spiral-welded steel pipe |
| Industrial
production growth rate: |
NA% |
| Electricity
- production: |
1.56 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity
- production by source: |
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
other:
0% (2001)
nuclear: 0% |
| Electricity
- consumption: |
1.451 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity
- exports: |
0 kWh (2001) |
| Electricity
- imports: |
0 kWh (2001) |
| Oil
- production: |
0 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil
- consumption: |
23,000 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil
- exports: |
NA (2001) |
| Oil
- imports: |
NA (2001) |
| Agriculture
- products: |
citrus, vegetables; poultry |
| Exports: |
$560.7 million (2002 est.) |
| Exports
- commodities: |
fish and crawfish; rum, salt, chemicals; fruit and vegetables |
| Exports
- partners: |
US 28.2%, France 16.5%, Germany 14.1%, UK 12.9% (2000) |
| Imports: |
$1.86 billion (2002 est.) |
| Imports
- commodities: |
machinery and transport equipment, manufactures, chemicals, mineral
fuels; food and live animals |
| Imports
- partners: |
US 31.6%, South Korea 18.2%, Italy 17.4%, Japan 5.8% (2000) |
| Debt
- external: |
$371.6 million (2001) |
| Economic
aid - recipient: |
$9.8 million (1995) |
| Currency: |
Bahamian dollar (BSD) |
| Currency
code: |
BSD |
| Exchange
rates: |
Bahamian dollars per US dollar - 1 (2002), 1 (2001), 1 (2000), 1 (1999),
1 (1998) |
| Fiscal
year: |
1 July - 30 June
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