Country Profile The Bahamas


  • Capital:Nassau
  • Population:309,156
  • Currency:  Bahamian dollars (BSD)        
  • Language: English (official), Creole
  • Time zone: UTC-4
  • Government: constitutional parliamentary democracy Commonwealth realm
  • Chief of State:  Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952)
  • Represented by: Governor General Arthur D.HANNA (since 1 February 2006)
  • GDP real growth rate :
    • 1.5% (2008 est.)
    • 2.8% (2007 est.)
    • 4.6% (2006 est.)
    Exports:  $674 million (2006)

  • Export Partners:

    • US 20.4%
    • Singapore 15.5%
    • Spain 14.5%
    • Poland 14.3%
    • Germany 6.6%
    • Guatemala 5.7% 
    • Switzerland 5.2%

  • Imports: $2.401 billion (2006)

  • Import Partners:

    • US 26.7%
    • South Korea 14.1%
    • Japan 13.5%
    • Italy 7.5%
    • Singapore 5.2%
    • Venezuela 4.5%
    • Spain 4.3% (2007)
  • Dialing Country code: +1242
  • National Airline: Bahamas Air
  • Voltage: 120V


Detailed country profile

ECONOMY

 GDP real growth rate:

  • 1.5% (2008 est.)
  • 2.8% (2007 est.)
  • 4.6% (2006 est.)

 GDP-Composition by sector(2001)

  • Agriculture: 3%
  • Industry: 7%
  • Services: 90%

Labor force by occupation(2005):

  • Agriculture 5%
  • Industry 5%
  • Tourism 50%
  • Other services 40%

Agriculture products:

  • Citrus
  • Vegetables
  • Poultry

Industries:

  • Tourism
  • Banking
  • Cement
  • Oil transshipment
  • Salt
  • Rum
  • Aragonite
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Spiral-welded steel pipe

Exports: $674 million (2006)

Export Commodities

  • Mineral products and salt
  • Animal products
  • Rum
  • Chemicals
  • Fruit and vegetables

Main Export Partners(2007):

  • US 20.4%
  • Singapore 15.5%
  • Spain 14.5%
  • Poland 14.3%
  • Germany 6.6%
  • Guatemala 5.7%
  • Switzerland 5.2%

Imports:$2.401 billion (2006)

Import commodities:

  • Machinery and transport equipment
  • Manufactures
  • Chemicals
  • Mineral fuels
  • Food and live animals

Import partners(2007):

  • US 26.7%
  • South Korea 14.1%
  • Japan 13.5%
  • Italy 7.5%
  • Singapore 5.2%
  • Venezuela 4.5%
  • Spain 4.3%

Ports and Terminal:

  • Freeport
  • Nassau
  • South Riding Point

Unemployment rate: 7.6% (2006 est.)

GOVERNMENT

Government Type:  Constitutional parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm

Executive Branch:

Chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952)
Represented by Governor General Arthur D. HANNA (since 1 February 2006)
Head of government: Prime Minister Hubert A. INGRAHAM (since 4 May 2007)
Cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the governor general on the prime minister's recommendation
Elections: the monarch is hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the governor general; the prime minister recommends the deputy prime minister

Legal system: based on English common law

GEOGRAPHY

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

Environment and international agreement:

Party to:

  • Biodiversity
  • Climate Change
  • Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
  • Desertification
  • Endangered Species
  • Hazardous Wastes
  • Law of the Sea
  • Ozone Layer Protection
  • Ship Pollution
  • Wetlands


Signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Environment and current issues:

  • Coral reef decay
  • Solid waste disposal

PEOPLE

Ethnic groups:

  • Black 85%
  • White 12%
  • Asian and Hispanic 3%

Languages:

  • English (official)
  • Creole (among Haitian immigrants)

Religion(2000):

  • 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%

HISTORY

Lucayan 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 Europe, and its territory is used for smuggling illegal migrants into the US.

 Source: The world factbook www.cia.gov

See also:

The Bahamas Trade Agreements

Embassies and Consulates in The Bahamas