Bahamas: Facts & Figures

Islands of the Bahamas, courtesy of Maps.com

There are 700 islands in the Bahamas, only 30 inhabited. There also are 2,400 cays, or small sandy islands atop coral reefs. Seventy percent of the population lives on one of the smallest islands, New Providence. Nassau, the capital city, is home to 222,000 of the 319,000 Bahamian citizens.

Clifton National Heritage Park on New Providence Island

Eighty-five percent of Bahamians can trace their heritage to West Africa. Many others have Anglo-Saxon roots. Settlers came to the islands either as slaves of the British, or as Englishmen escaping religious persecution or British Loyalists fleeing the United States during the American Revolution.The Anglo-Saxon heritage is evident in the last names of many current Bahamians.

Bahamian Dollar

Four million tourists visit the Bahamas each year, providing the islands with $3 billion in revenue. There are more than 400 banking institutions representing 36 countries. Aside from tourism and banking, industries include e-commerce, oil refining and shipment, and cement. The Bahamas derive agricultural money from growing citrus and vegetables and raising poultry. The main exports include crawfish, fish, salt, rum, chemicals, vegetables and fruit.

Creole Languages of the Northern Caribbean

Both English and Bahamas Creole English are spoken in the Bahamas. Some still speak the extinct language Taino. The literacy rate is 95 percent.

Roman Catholicism in the Bahamas

Religions practiced in the Bahamas include Anglican (20 percent), Roman Catholic (19 percent), Baptist (32 percent), Methodist (6 percent), the Church of God (6 percent) and Seventh-Day Adventists, Presbyterians, Salvation Army, Greek Orthodox, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Baha'is and Rastafarians. Some areas practice voodoo or obeah.

Bahamas Flag

As a descendent of the British Empire, Bahamian political culture closely resembles that of the United Kingdom. It is a Constitutional Multi-Party Parliamentary Democracy, headed by a Prime Minister. The Senate and House of Assembly serve underneath, as does the Governor General. There also is a Changing of the Guard ceremony biweekly. Although there is no direct taxation on personal income, sales, capital gains, corporate earnings, interest or dividends in the Bahamas, there are import duties of 7 percent on all goods imported for business use. This is the main source of the government's revenue.