Country Facts - Bahamas

The People

Ethnic Composition
Black African 85%
Caucasian 12%
Asian and Hispanic 3%
Religious Composition
Baptist 32%
Anglican 20%
Roman Catholic 19%
Evangelical Protestant 12%
Church of God 6%
Methodist 6%
No affiliation 3%
Other 2%

Nationality

Bahamian(s)

Ethnic Composition

Black	85%
White	12%
Asian and Hispanic	3%

Religious Composition

Baptist	32%
Anglican	20%
Roman Catholic	19%
Methodist	6%
Church of God	6%
Other Protestant	12%
None or unknown	3%
Other	2%

Languages Spoken

English (official), Creole

Education and Literacy

Education is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and Culture and is free in all government maintained schools. About 98 percent of the adult population is literate.

Labor Force

Total: 156,000 (1999)

By occupation:

Tourism	40%
Other Services	50%
Industry	5%
Agriculture	5%

Geography

Land Mass Total

5,382sq mi (13,940 sq km)

Land

3,888 sq mi (10,070 sq km)

Water

1,494sq mi (3,870 sq km)

Land Boundaries

0 mi/km

Coastline

2,200 mi (

3,542 km)

Maritime claim

Continental shelf: 656 ft (200 m) depth or to the depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate/Weather

Tropical marine; moderated by warm waters of Gulf Stream.

Terrain

Long, flat coral formations with some low rounded hills.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Atlantic Ocean 0 ft/m
Highest: Mount Alvernia, on Cat Island 206 ft (63 m)

Natural Resources

Salt, aragonite, timber.

Land use

Arable land	1%
Permanent crops	0%
Other	99%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Hurricanes and other tropical storms that cause extensive flood and wind damage.

Environment - current issues

Coral reef decay; solid waste disposal.

Geography Note

Strategic location adjacent to US and Cuba; extensive island chain of which 30 are inhabited

Demographics

Population

300,529 (July 2002)
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.

Age structure

0-14 years:	29%	Male: 43,964	Female: 43,250
15-64 years:	64.7%	Male: 95,508	Female: 98,859
65 years and over:	6.3%	Male: 7,948	Female: 11,000

(2002)))

Growth Rate

0.86% (2002)

Life Expectancy

69.87 years (2002)
female: 73.49 years
male: 66.32 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$5 billion (2001)

Infant Mortality

17.08 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.02 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.72 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.96 male(s)/female

Net migration rate

-2.63 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

The Bahamas is a stable, developing nation with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking. Tourism alone accounts for more than 70 percent of GDP and directly or indirectly employs almost half of the archipelago's labor force. Steady growth in tourism receipts and a boom in construction of new hotels, resorts, and residences have led to solid GDP growth in recent years. 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 U.S., the source of the majority of tourist visitors.
In recent years, the Bahamas has come under fire for its offshore banking sector, which many nations in Europe claim is siphoning off tax revenues through unfair, and perhaps illegal, competition. Along with the Caymans and Antigua, the Bahamas has tried to respond to these claims without completely killing off this valuable sector. In 2003, the U.S. began its own investigation of Bahamian "tax havens", which put further pressures on the economy reeling from the drop in tourism that began in late 2001.

Unemployment

6.9% (2001)

Inflation Rate

1.5% (2001)

Industries

Tourism, banking, cement, oil refining and transshipment, salt, rum, aragonite, pharmaceuticals, spiral-welded steel pipe.

Exports

US$535.8 million (2000)

Imports

US$1.88 billion (2000)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$5 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

US 28.2%, France 16.5%, Germany 14.1%, UK 12.4% (2000)

Top Import Partners

US 31.6%, South Korea 18.2%, Italy 17.4%, Japan 5.8% (2000)

Top Exports

Fish and crawfish; rum, salt, chemicals; fruit and vegetables (1999)

Top Imports

Machinery and transport equipment, manufactures, chemicals, mineral fuels; food and live animals (1999)

Debt - external

US$381.9 million (2000)

Economic aid

US$9.8 million (1995)

Fiscal Year:

1st of July through 30th June

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8:30 or 9a.m. to 5 or 5:30p.m.	Closed
Retail	Most retail stores are open between 9a.m. and 5p.m. six days a week. Some maintain a five-day work week.	Closed
Banks	Monday to Thursday 9:30a.m. to 3p.m., Friday 9:30a.m. to 5p.m.	Closed
Government	9a.m. to 5:30p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Good Friday	March 29	April 18	April 9
Easter¹	April 20	April 11	March 27
Easter Monday	April 1	April 21	April 12
Whit Monday²	June 9	May 31	May 16
Labor Day³	June 6	June 4	June 3
Independence Day	July 10	July 10	July 10
Emancipation Day (Kadoomant Day)*¹	August 4	August 2	August 1
Discovery Day (Columbus Day)	October 12	October 12	October 12
Christmas Day*²	December 25	December 25	December 25
Boxing Day	December 26	December 26	December 26

¹	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
²	The Christian feast of Pentecost, Whit Sunday or Whit Monday takes place 50 days after Easter, in observation of the day God came to the disciples through the Holy Ghost.
³	Labor Day is the first Friday in June.
*¹	Emancipation Day is the first Monday in August.
*²	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press