The Bahamas
Name
| Official name | Commonwealth of The Bahamas |
|---|---|
| Short name | The Bahamas — the "The" is part of the name, and the country writes it with a capital T |
| Former name | The Bahama Islands, until independence in 1973 |
| Demonym | Bahamian |
| Meaning of the name | Usually from the Spanish baja mar, "shallow sea," for the waters of the Bahama Banks; possibly from Guanahani, the Lucayan name of Columbus's landfall |
Quick facts
| Capital | Nassau, on New Providence — also the largest city; about seven in ten Bahamians live on the island; named for William III of Orange-Nassau |
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| Official language | English; Bahamian Creole (Bahamianese) in everyday speech; Haitian Creole among immigrants |
| Currency | Bahamian dollar — ISO code BSD, symbol B$; at par with the U.S. dollar since 1966; issued by the Central Bank of The Bahamas |
| Time zone | Eastern Time — UTC−5, daylight saving to UTC−4 from March to November |
| Calling code | +1 242 |
| Internet domain | .bs |
| ISO 3166 codes | BS · BHS · 044 |
| Vehicle registration code | BS |
| Driving side | Left — with mostly American, left-hand-drive cars |
| Electricity | 120 V, 60 Hz; plug types A and B |
| Independence | 10 July 1973, from the United Kingdom |
| National days | 10 July, Independence Day; 10 January, Majority Rule Day (1967); the first Monday of August, Emancipation Day; the second Monday of October, National Heroes Day |
| Head of state | King Charles III, represented by a Governor-General — a Commonwealth realm |
| Population | About 415,000 (CIA World Factbook, 2025 est.); the national statistical institute counts about 400,000 |
| Area | 13,880 km² (5,359 sq mi) — land 10,010 km², water 3,870 km²; about 700 islands and cays, some 30 of them inhabited; a little smaller than Connecticut |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Three horizontal bands of aquamarine, gold and aquamarine with a black triangle at the hoist — the sea, the sun and sand, and the strength of a united people; first raised at midnight on 10 July 1973, standardized in 2006.Flag of The Bahamas |
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| Coat of arms | A shield with the Santa María of Columbus under a rising sun, supported by a blue marlin and a flamingo, with a conch shell on the crest — designed by Hervis Bain, granted 7 December 1971 |
| National anthem | "March On, Bahamaland" — words and music by Timothy Gibson; adopted at independence, 1973 |
| National motto | "Forward, Upward, Onward Together" — on the coat of arms |
| National colors | Aquamarine, gold and black |
| National bird | The flamingo — the West Indian flamingo of Inagua — designated |
| National flower | The yellow elder (Tecoma stans) — designated |
| National tree | The lignum vitae (Guaiacum sanctum), the "wood of life" — designated |
| National fish | The blue marlin — designated |
| National dish | Conch — cracked, in salad or in fritters — with peas and rice and guava duff; widely cited, not designated |
| National festival | Junkanoo — the street parade of Boxing Day and New Year's Day |
| Symbol status | The flag, arms, anthem and motto date from independence; the bird, flower, tree and fish are designated by the government; the dish is widely cited |
Geography
| Location | An archipelago in the North Atlantic southeast of Florida and north of Cuba — counted as Caribbean by custom, though it does not touch the Caribbean Sea |
|---|---|
| Coastline | 3,542 km (2,201 mi) |
| Land borders | None — an island state; Cuba, Haiti, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the United States are the neighbors across the sea |
| The islands | About 700 islands and cays and more than 2,000 rocks; about 30 inhabited |
| Largest island | Andros, about 5,960 km² (2,300 sq mi) — larger than all the other islands together |
| Highest point | Mount Alvernia (Como Hill) on Cat Island, 63 m (207 ft) — crowned by the Hermitage, a stone monastery built by hand in the 1930s |
| Lowest point | The Atlantic Ocean, 0 m |
| Rivers | None — the islands are porous limestone; fresh water comes from wells, rain and desalination |
| Lakes | Lake Windsor (Lake Rosa) on Inagua — the salt lake the flamingos feed in; Lake Killarney on New Providence |
| Blue holes | Dean's Blue Hole on Long Island, about 202 m (663 ft) deep — the deepest known in the Atlantic and the second deepest in the world; Andros holds the greatest concentration of blue holes on Earth |
| The reef | The Andros Barrier Reef, about 225 km (140 mi) — the third longest barrier reef in the world, falling into the Tongue of the Ocean |
| Terrain | Long, flat coral and limestone formations with low hills; the Bahama Banks beneath shallow seas |
| Climate | Tropical marine, tempered by the Gulf Stream — warm winters, hot humid summers |
| Natural hazards | Hurricanes — Dorian in September 2019 struck Abaco and Grand Bahama at Category 5, the strongest on record in the islands |
| Natural resources | Salt, aragonite, timber, arable land; the sea |
| Land use | Arable land about 1%; forest about 51% |
| National parks | More than 30, under the Bahamas National Trust — the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park (1958, the first of its kind), Inagua, Lucayan, Andros West Side, Abaco |
| UNESCO World Heritage | None — the Bahamas has no inscribed site |
| Administrative divisions | New Providence, and 31 districts for the other islands |
People
| Population | About 415,000 (Factbook, 2025 est.); about 400,000 (national statistical institute) |
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| Population density | About 40 per km² (105 per sq mi) over the land — but most of it on New Providence |
| Population growth | Under 1% a year |
| Median age | About 33 years |
| Life expectancy | About 74 years |
| Fertility rate | About 1.4 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 84% |
| Adult literacy | About 95% |
| Ethnic groups | African descent about 91%, European descent about 5%, mixed about 2% (2010 census) |
| Languages | English official; Bahamian Creole; Haitian Creole among the large Haitian community |
| Religion | Christian about 95% — Protestant about 70% (Baptist the largest), Roman Catholic about 12% (2010 census) |
| Largest towns | Nassau; Freeport on Grand Bahama; West End; Marsh Harbour on Abaco; George Town on Exuma |
| Human Development Index | 0.820 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; 66th of 193 |
| Diaspora | Communities in Florida and the wider United States, Canada and the United Kingdom |
Government
| Form of government | Parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy — a Commonwealth realm, under the Constitution of 1973 |
|---|---|
| Monarch | King Charles III, since 8 September 2022 |
| Governor-General | Dame Cynthia "Mother" Pratt, since 1 September 2023 — a former deputy prime minister |
| Prime Minister | Philip "Brave" Davis (PLP), since 17 September 2021 — sworn in for a second term on 14 May 2026 |
| The 2026 election | Held early on 12 May 2026, ahead of the hurricane season: the PLP 33 of 41 seats with 51.2%, the FNM 8 with 35.3%; Davis the first prime minister re-elected since 1997 |
| Deputy Prime Minister | Chester Cooper; Michael Halkitis became minister of finance on 16 May 2026 |
| Parliament | Bicameral — the House of Assembly (41 members since the 2026 boundary review) and the Senate (16 appointed) |
| Opposition | The Free National Movement under Michael Pintard |
| Legal system | Common law, on the English model; a Court of Appeal and Supreme Court; final appeal to the Privy Council |
| Defence | The Royal Bahamas Defence Force, established 1980 — a maritime force |
| United Nations | Member since 18 September 1973 |
| Regional memberships | CARICOM (1983), the OAS, the Commonwealth, the Association of Caribbean States; a WTO observer |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$15 billion (2025, IMF); the Factbook puts it near US$16 billion |
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| GDP per capita | About US$37,000 (2025) — the highest in the Caribbean and among the highest in the Americas |
| GDP growth | About 2% a year (2024–25) |
| Economy by sector | Services about 90% — tourism about half of GDP and half of jobs, financial services the second pillar |
| Currency | Bahamian dollar (BSD), at par with the U.S. dollar |
| Tourism | Millions of visitors a year, most of them on cruise ships — Nassau among the busiest cruise ports in the world |
| Financial services | An offshore banking and trust center since the 1930s; the Central Bank's Sand Dollar (2020) was the world's first national central-bank digital currency |
| Ship registry | The Bahamas Maritime Authority runs one of the largest open registries in the world — thousands of ships fly the flag |
| Exports | Small — rock lobster (crawfish), aragonite, salt from Inagua, pharmaceuticals and polystyrene from Freeport, rum |
| Imports | Almost everything else — about 60% from the United States |
| Freeport | The free-trade zone on Grand Bahama under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement of 1955 — a container port, oil storage and ship repair |
| Income classification | High income (World Bank) |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airport | Lynden Pindling International Airport, Nassau; Grand Bahama International at Freeport; some 20 island airports |
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| Airline | Bahamasair, the national carrier, founded 1973 |
| Main ports | Nassau, the cruise port; Freeport Container Port, one of the largest transshipment hubs in the region |
| Between the islands | Mailboats from Potter's Cay in Nassau — the traditional link to the Family Islands — and fast ferries |
| Roads | About 2,700 km (1,700 mi), driving on the left |
| Railways | None |
History in dates
| c. 900 | The Lucayans, a Taíno people, settle the islands |
|---|---|
| 1492 | Columbus makes his first landfall in the Americas at Guanahani — San Salvador — on 12 October |
| 1648 | English Puritans, the Eleutheran Adventurers, found the first permanent settlement |
| 1670 | Charles II grants the islands to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina; Nassau founded as Charles Town, renamed 1695 |
| 1706–1718 | The pirate republic of Nassau — ended by Governor Woodes Rogers |
| 1783 | American Loyalists arrive with their enslaved workers, tripling the population |
| 1834 | Slavery abolished, 1 August |
| 1861–65 | Nassau booms running the Union blockade for the Confederacy |
| 1967 | Majority Rule, 10 January — the first Black-led government, under Lynden Pindling |
| 1973 | Independence, 10 July |
| 2019 | Hurricane Dorian devastates Abaco and Grand Bahama, 1–3 September |
| 2026 | The PLP re-elected, 12 May; Davis sworn in for a second term, 14 May |
Records & firsts
| Columbus's first landfall | San Salvador, 12 October 1492 — the first European footfall in the Americas |
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| The deepest blue hole in the Atlantic | Dean's Blue Hole, about 202 m |
| The third longest barrier reef | The Andros Barrier Reef, about 225 km |
| The largest flamingo colony | Inagua — tens of thousands of West Indian flamingos, the national bird |
| The first land-and-sea park | The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, 1958 |
| The first central-bank digital currency | The Sand Dollar, launched October 2020 |
| A low summit | Mount Alvernia at 63 m — few countries have a lower highest point |
| Olympic gold | The 4×400 m men of 2012, Shaunae Miller-Uibo (2016, 2020) and Steven Gardiner (2020) — among the most medals per head of any nation |
| Sidney Poitier | Raised on Cat Island; the first Black winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor, 1964 |
| The swimming pigs | Big Major Cay in the Exumas — the beach where the pigs swim out to boats |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of the Bahamas?
The Commonwealth of The Bahamas — with the capital T, which the country itself uses. The name is usually traced to the Spanish baja mar, "shallow sea," for the waters of the Bahama Banks; the colony was the Bahama Islands until independence in 1973.
What is the capital of the Bahamas?
Nassau, on the island of New Providence — named for William III of the House of Orange-Nassau. About seven in ten Bahamians live on New Providence, and Nassau is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world.
How many islands are there in the Bahamas?
About 700 islands and cays, of which some 30 are inhabited, scattered over 13,880 km² (5,359 sq mi) of land and water — a little smaller than Connecticut — with 3,542 km (2,201 mi) of coastline. Andros is the largest island; Grand Bahama, Abaco, Eleuthera, Exuma and Cat Island are among the others.
What are the highest and lowest points of the Bahamas?
Mount Alvernia, also called Como Hill, on Cat Island — 63 m (207 ft) — is the highest point; the Atlantic shore is the lowest. Only a few countries have a lower summit. The islands are flat limestone and coral, with no rivers at all.
What currency does the Bahamas use?
The Bahamian dollar (ISO code BSD, symbol B$), fixed at par with the U.S. dollar since its introduction in 1966; U.S. dollars circulate freely. Clocks keep Eastern Time — UTC−5, with daylight saving to UTC−4 — the same as New York and Washington.
Who governs the Bahamas after the May 2026 election?
Philip "Brave" Davis and the Progressive Liberal Party, returned with 33 of the 41 seats on 12 May 2026 against Michael Pintard’s Free National Movement with 8; Davis was sworn in for a second consecutive term on 14 May — the first prime minister to win back-to-back elections since 1997. King Charles III is head of state, represented by Governor-General Dame Cynthia Pratt since 2023.
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