Demographics of the Bahamas

Bahamas population pyramid in 2020

This is a demography of the population of the Bahamas including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Census population and average annual growth rate

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1845	26,491	—
1851	27,519	+0.64%
1861	35,487	+2.58%
1871	39,162	+0.99%
1881	43,521	+1.06%
1891	47,565	+0.89%
1901	53,735	+1.23%
1911	55,944	+0.40%
1921	53,031	−0.53%
1931	59,828	+1.21%
1943	68,846	+1.18%
1953	84,841	+2.11%
1963	130,220	+4.38%
1970	168,812	+3.78%
1980	209,505	+2.18%
1990	255,049	+1.99%
2000	303,611	+1.76%
2010	351,461	+1.47%
2022	399,314	+1.07%
Source:

Ninety percent of the Bahamian population identifies as being primarily of African ancestry. About two-thirds of the population lives on New Providence Island (the location of Nassau), and about half of the remaining one-third lives on Grand Bahama (the location of Freeport).

The islands were sparsely settled and a haven for pirates until the late 18th century, when thousands of British Loyalists were given compensatory land grants following the American Revolution. Many new settlers were from the Southern United States and brought slaves with them to cultivate plantations. At the turn of the 20th century, the total population was 53,000.

School attendance is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 16. There are 158 public schools and 52 private schools in the Bahamas catering to more than 66,000 students. The College of the Bahamas, established in Nassau in 1974, provides programmes leading to associate's degrees and bachelor's degrees; the college is now converting from a two-year to a four-year institution.

Demographics of Bahamas, data of FAO, year 2005; number of inhabitants in thousands

Structure of the population

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2013) (Because of rounding, totals are not in all cases the sum of the respective components.):

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	179 850	188 540	368 390	100
0-4	16 670	15 660	32 330	8.78
5-9	16 400	15 090	31 490	8.55
10-14	14 990	14 730	29 720	8.07
15-19	15 170	15 320	30 490	8.28
20-24	14 780	15 250	30 030	8.15
25-29	13 090	13 780	26 870	7.29
30-34	12 780	13 000	25 780	7.00
35-39	13 100	13 720	26 820	7.28
40-44	13 480	14 480	27 960	7.59
45-49	12 890	13 860	26 750	7.26
50-54	11 760	12 570	24 330	6.60
55-59	8 670	9 570	18 240	4.95
60-64	6 030	6 830	12 860	3.49
65-69	4 260	5 080	9 340	2.54
70-74	3 030	3 860	6 890	1.87
75-79	1 800	2 480	4 280	1.16
80-84	586	1 747	2 333	0.63
85-89	243	873	1 116	0.30
90+	121	640	761	0.21
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	48 060	45 480	93 540	25.39
15-64	121 750	128 380	250 130	67.90
65+	10 040	14 680	24 720	6.71

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2019) (Data based on the 2010 Population Census.):

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	186 480	198 860	385 340	100
0–4	14 910	14 150	29 060	7.54
5–9	14 290	14 070	28 360	7.36
10–14	15 800	16 100	31 900	8.28
15–19	15 860	16 230	32 090	8.33
20–24	15 760	15 890	31 650	8.21
25–29	15 040	14 980	30 020	7.79
30–34	12 960	13 530	26 490	6.87
35–39	12 980	14 410	27 390	7.11
40–44	13 490	14 670	28 160	7.31
45–49	13 630	15 020	28 650	7.43
50–54	11 970	13 170	25 140	6.52
55–59	10 670	12 000	22 670	5.88
60–64	7 370	8 900	16 270	4.22
65-69	4 870	5 950	10 820	2.81
70-74	3 200	4 090	7 290	1.89
75-79	2 020	2 890	4 910	1.27
80+	1 660	2 810	4 470	1.16
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	45 000	44 320	89 320	23.20
15–64	129 730	138 800	268 530	69.69
65+	11 750	15 740	27 490	7.13

Vital statistics

	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rate	Infant mortality rate
1935	64 000	2.000	1.121	879	31.3	17.5	13.7
1936	66 000	1.902	1.056	846	28.8	16.0	12.8
1937	67 000	2.084	914	1.170	31.1	13.6	17.5
1938	67 000	2.020	1.096	924	30.1	16.4	13.8
1939	68 000	2.040	1.066	974	30.0	15.7	14.3
1940	70 000	2.185	1.052	1.133	31.2	15.0	16.2
1941	71 000	2.312	920	1.392	32.6	13.0	19.6
1942	72 000	2.409	1.011	1.398	33.5	14.0	19.4
1943	70 000	2.502	1.043	1.459	35.7	14.9	20.8
1944	69 000	2.485	1.103	1.382	36.0	16.0	20.0
1945	71 000	2.174	1.326	848	30.6	18.7	11.9
1946	73 000	2.208	1.002	1.206	30.2	13.7	16.5
1947	74 000	2.415	987	1.428	32.6	13.3	19.3
1948	76 000	2.539	1.029	1.510	33.4	13.5	19.9
1949	77 000	2.646	1.052	1.594	34.4	13.7	20.7
1950	79 000	2.532	1.143	1.389	32.1	14.5	17.6
1951	80 000	2.739	963	1.776	34.2	12.0	22.2
1952	81 000	2.714	959	1.755	33.5	11.8	21.7
1953	83 000	3.056	903	2.153	36.8	10.9	25.9
1954	86 000	3.410	844	2.566	39.7	9.8	29.8
1955	89 000	2.844	857	1.987	32.0	9.6	22.3
1956	92 000	3.290	849	2.441	35.8	9.2	26.5
1957	96 000	3.126	764	2.362	32.6	8.0	24.6
1958	100 000	3.029	1.095	1.934	30.3	11.0	19.3
1959	104 000	3.154	1.000	2.154	30.3	9.6	20.7
1960	110 000	3.359	805	2.554	30.5	7.3	23.2
1961	115 000	3.734	1.024	2.710	32.5	8.9	23.6
1962	121 000	3.468	821	2.647	28.7	6.8	21.9
1963	127 000	4.584	1.030	3.554	35.8	8.0	27.8
1964	134 000	4.805	987	3.818	35.9	7.4	28.5
1965	140 000	4.439	1.098	3.341	31.7	7.8	23.9
1966	146 000	4.573	1.067	3.506	31.1	7.3	23.9
1967	153 000	4.275	1.212	3.063	27.9	7.9	20.0
1968	159 000	4.220	1.023	3.197	26.5	6.4	20.1
1969	164 000	4.306	1.097	3.209	26.1	6.6	19.4
1970	169 000	4.262	1.054	3.208	25.1	6.2	18.9
1971	174 000	5.334	948	4.386	30.7	5.4	25.2
1972	178 000	4.745	1.115	3.630	26.7	6.3	20.4
1973	181 000	4.419	1.109	3.310	24.3	6.1	18.2
1974	185 000	4.382	1.032	3.350	23.7	5.6	18.1
1975	189 000	4.033	1.106	2.927	21.3	5.9	15.5
1976	193 000	5.295	976	4.319	27.4	5.1	22.4
1977	197 000	4.871	1.067	3.804	24.7	5.4	19.3
1978	202 000	4.362	1.077	3.285	21.7	5.4	16.3
1979	206 000	4.809	1.211	3.598	23.3	5.9	17.5
1980	211 000	5.035	1.338	3.697	24.0	6.4	17.6
1981	215 000	5.251	1.127	4.124	24.4	5.2	19.2
1982	220 000	5.293	1.185	4.108	24.2	5.4	18.8
1983	225 000	5.280	1.104	4.176	23.6	4.9	18.6
1984	230 000	5.177	1.150	4.027	22.6	5.0	17.6
1985	235 000	5.584	1.341	4.243	24.0	5.8	18.2
1986	239 000	4.770	1.407	3.363	20.0	5.9	14.1
1987	243 000	4.331	1.376	2.955	17.9	5.7	12.2
1988	248 000	4.943	1.319	3.624	20.1	5.4	14.7
1989	252 000	4.971	1.459	3.512	19.9	5.8	14.0
1990	256 000	6.117	1.343	4.774	23.9	5.2	18.6
1991	261 000	6.192	1.335	4.857	23.7	5.1	18.6
1992	266 000	6.759	1.462	5.297	25.4	5.5	19.9
1993	271 000	6.674	1.493	5.181	24.6	5.5	19.1
1994	276 000	6.104	1.538	4.566	22.1	5.6	16.6
1995	280 000	6.253	1.638	4.615	22.3	5.8	16.5		19.0
1996	284 000	5.913	1.537	4.376	20.8	5.4	15.4		18.4
1997	287 000	6.022	1.670	4.352	21.0	5.8	15.2		16.4
1998	290 000	5.880	1.800	4.080	20.3	6.2	14.1		14.0
1999	293 000	5.367	1.644	3.723	18.3	5.6	12.7		15.8
2000	298 000	5.287	1.825	3.462	17.8	6.1	11.6		14.8
2001	303 000	5.353	1.609	3.744	17.7	5.3	12.4		12.7
2002	309 000	5.216	1.827	3.389	16.9	5.9	11.0		16.7
2003	316 000	5.054	1.730	3.324	16.0	5.5	10.5		17.2
2004	322 000	5.154	1.655	3.499	16.1	5.1	11.0		17.3
2005	328.320	5.548	1.824	3.724	17.1	5.6	11.5	2.05	19.6
2006	333.060	5.296	1.730	3.566	16.0	5.2	10.8	1.93	18.1
2007	337.920	5.854	1.798	4.056	17.5	5.4	12.1	2.14	17.6
2008	342.830	5.480	1.863	3.617	16.2	5.5	10.7	2.00	17.9
2009	347.780	5.348	1.981	3.367	15.6	5.7	9.9	2.03	21.1
2010	351.461	5.049	2.023	3.026	14.4	5.8	8.6	1.94	19.8
2011	357.750	5.000	2.127	2.873	14.0	5.9	8.1	1.69	16.2
2012	362.590	4.345	1.937	2.408	12.0	5.3	6.7	1.76	19.1
2013	367.430	3.935	2.062	1.873	10.7	5.6	5.1	1.73	22.7
2014	372.380	4.155	2.132	2.023	11.3	5.8	5.5	1.69	19.4
2015	373.630	4.253	2.243	2.010	11.5	6.1	5.4	1.57	20.6
2016	378.040	4.093	2.288	1.805	11.0	6.1	4.9	1.50	16.0
2017	382.460	4.017	2.372	1.645	10.7	6.3	4.4	1.42
2018	386.870		2.491			6.4
2019	391.260		2.639			6.7
2020	395.640		3.016			7.6
2021	400.000		3.649			9.1

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 76.13 years. Country comparison to the world: 107th

male: 73.2 years female: 79.14 years (2022 est.)

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	60.0	1985–1990	70.2
1955–1960	62.0	1990–1995	71.1
1960–1965	63.7	1995–2000	71.7
1965–1970	65.2	2000–2005	73.2
1970–1975	66.6	2005–2010	74.3
1975–1980	67.9	2010–2015	75.1
1980–1985	69.1

Source: UN World Population Prospects

Ethnic groups

African descent 90.6%, White 4.7%, mixed 2.1%, other 1.9%, unspecified 0.7% (2010 est.) note: data represent population by racial group

Languages

English (official), Bahamian Creole, Haitian Creole (among Haitian immigrants)

Religion

Protestant 69.9% (includes Baptist 34.9%, Anglican 13.7%, Pentecostal 8.9% Seventh Day Adventist 4.4%, Methodist 3.6%, Church of God 1.9%, Brethren 1.6%), Roman Catholic 12%, other Christian 13% (includes Jehovah's Witness 1.1%), other 0.6%, none 1.9%, unspecified 2.6% (2010 est.)