Population: 301,790
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 2005 est.)
Capital: Nassau
Languages: English (official), Creole (among Haitian immigrants)
Religions: Baptist 35.4%, Anglican 15.1%, Roman Catholic 13.5%, Pentecostal 8.1%, Church of God 4.8%, Methodist 4.2%, other
Christian 15.2%, none or unspecified 2.9%, other 0.8% (2000 census)
Government: constitutional
parliamentary democracy
Climate: tropical marine; moderated by warm waters of Gulf Stream
Terrain: long, flat coral formations with some low rounded
hills
Geography: strategic location adjacent to US and Cuba; extensive island chain of which 30 are inhabited
Ethnic groups: black 85%,
white 12%, Asian and Hispanic 3%
Economy: 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 2001-03. Financial services constitute the
second-most important sector of the Bahamian economy, accounting for about 15% of GDP. However, since December 2000, when the
government enacted new regulations on the financial sector, many international businesses have left The Bahamas. 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 more than 80% of the visitors. In addition to tourism and banking, the government supports
the development of a "third pillar," e-commerce.
GDP per capita: purchasing power parity - $18,800 (2005 est.)
GDP real growth: 3% (2005 est.)
Unemployment rate: 10.2% (2004 est.)
Internet country code: .bs
Dial code: +242
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.