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Islands southeast of Florida, northeast of Cuba.
Independence and Government
Acquired from Britain on July 10, 1973. A member of the Commonwealth, its full title Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Britain's Queen Elizabeth is its formal chief of state.
Figures unless otherwise stated are from the CIA Factbook.
Factbook: "The Bahamas is one of the wealthiest Caribbean countries with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking."
Estimated per capita GDP:
2008 $28,600
2007 $28,300
2005 $27,700
GDP annual growth rate estimated:
2008: 1.5%
2007: 2.8%
2006: 4.6%
Unemployment estimated for 2006: 7.6%
For 2008: deaths 9.22, births: 17.06.
Estimate for July 2008: 307,451, up from 301,790 in 2005. Growth rate estimated for 2008: 0.57 percent per year. Density estimated for 2005: 30 per square kilometer.
More people leaving than arriving estimated for 2008, a net loss of; 2.14 per 1,000 population
Infant mortality estimated for 2008: 23.67, down from 25.21 in 2005 (deaths before the age of one year, per 1,000 live births)
Average life expectancy at birth estimated for 2008: 65.72 years, up from 65.54 in 2005
Living with HIV/AIDS, ages 15 to 49: 3 percent (2003). Five times that of the United States.
Blacks 85 percent, Asian and Hispanic 3 percent. Others 12 percent.
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
Copyright © 2008 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.