Eighty-five percent of the Bahamian population is of African heritage. About two-thirds of the population reside on New Providence Island (the location of Nassau). Many ancestors arrived in the Bahama Islands when they served as a staging area for the slave trade in the early 1800s. Others accompanied thousands of British Loyalists who fled the American colonies during the Revolutionary War.
School attendance is compulsory between the ages of five and 16. The government fully operates 158 of the 210 primary and secondary schools in The Bahamas. The other 52 schools are privately operated. Enrollment for state and private primary and secondary schools amounts to more than 66,000 students. The College of The Bahamas, established in Nassau in 1974, provides programs leading to bachelors and associates degrees. The college is now converting from a 2-year to a 4-year institution. Several non-Bahamian colleges also offer higher education programs in The Bahamas.
Population:
294,982
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 2000 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years:
30% (male 44,339; female 43,667)
15-64 years:
64% (male 93,072; female 96,457)
65 years and over:
6% (male 7,298; female 10,149) (2000 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.01% (2000 est.)
Birth rate: 19.54 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)
Death rate: 6.81 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)
Net migration rate: -2.67 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth:
1.02 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years:
0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over:
0.72 male(s)/female
total population:
0.96 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 16.99 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
71.07 years
male:
68.25 years
female:
73.94 years (2000 est.)
Total fertility rate: 2.33 children born/woman (2000 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:
98.2%
male:
98.5%
female:
98% (1995 est.)
Reference
Much of the material in this article comes from the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the 2003 U.S. Department of State website.
