Airline ticket Andros Airline ticket Arthur's Town, Cat Island Airline ticket Bimini Airline ticket Cape Eleuthera Airline ticket Cat Cay Airline ticket Cat Island Airline ticket Cherokee Sound Airline ticket Chub Cay, Berry Airline ticket Congo Town Airline ticket Crooked Island Airline ticket Deadman's Cay Airline ticket Duncan Town Airline ticket Freeport - Grand Baham Airline ticket George Town Airline ticket Governor's Harbour Airline ticket Grand Bahama Island Airline ticket Great Harbour Cay, Berry Airline ticket Green Turtle Cay Airline ticket Harbour Island Airline ticket Inagua (Matthew Town), Great Inagua Airline ticket Mangrove Cay Airline ticket Marsh Harbour Airline ticket Mastic Point Airline ticket Mayaguana Airline ticket Moss Town (Exuma Airline ticket Nassau Airline ticket Norman's Cay Airline ticket North Eleuthera Airline ticket Paradise Island Airline ticket Pitts Town Airline ticket Powell Point Airline ticket Rock Sound Airline ticket Rum Cay Airline ticket San Andros (Nichols Town) Airline ticket San Salvador Airline ticket South Andros (Congo Town) Airline ticket Spanish Wells Airline ticket Spring Point Airline ticket Staniel Cay Airline ticket Stella Maris, Long Airline ticket The Bight Airline ticket Treasure Cay Airline ticket Walker's Cay, Abaco Airline ticket West End

Airline ticket Bahamas

Government and politics

The party system is dominated by the centre-left Progressive Liberal Party and the centre-right Free National Movement. A handful of splinter parties have been unable to win election to parliament. These parties have included the Bahamas Democratic Movement, the Coalition for Democratic Reform and the Bahamian Nationalist Party.

Constitutional safeguards include freedom of speech, press, worship, movement, and association. Although The Bahamas is not geographically located in the Caribbean, it is a member of the Caribbean Community. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Jurisprudence is based on English common law.

Demographics

Blacks 85%, Whites 12%, Asian and Hispanic 3% according to the last census completed about the races on the island, which was recorded in 1953.

Population: 300,529 (July 2002 est.) Age structure: 0-14 years: 29% (male 43,964; female 43,250) 15-64 years: 64.7% (male 95,508; female 98,859) 65 years and over: 6.3% (male 7,948; female 11,000) (2002 est.) Population growth rate: 0.86% (2002 est.) Birth rate: 18.69 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) Death rate: 7.49 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) Net migration rate: -2.63 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) Sex ratio: at birth: 1.02 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2002 est.) Infant mortality rate: 17.08 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) Life expectancy at birth: total population: 69.87 years female: 73.49 years (2002 est.) male: 66.32 years Total fertility rate: 2.28 children born/woman (2002 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 (age 15+): total population: 98.2% male: 98.5% female: 98% (1995 est.)

In the less developed outer islands, handicrafts include basketry made from palm fronds. This material, commonly called "straw", is plaited into hats and bags that are popular tourist items.

Regattas are important social events in many family island settlements. They usually feature one or more days of sailing by old-fashioned work boats, as well as an onshore festival.

Some settlements have festivals associated with the traditional crop or food of that area, such as the "Pineapple Fest" in Gregory Town, Eleuthera or the "Crab Fest" on Andros. Other significant traditions include story telling.

A strongly religious country, there are more places of worship per person in the Bahamas than many other nations in the world. The islands are overwhelmingly Christian. Baptists, Anglicans and Roman Catholics are the largest denominations.