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.):[2]
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.): [3]
African descent 90.6%, White 4.7%, mixed 2.1%, other 1.9%, unspecified 0.7% (2010 est.) note: data represents population by racial group
Languages
English is the official language of the Bahamas and is the primary language of government, education and public life.[10] In everyday speech, however, many Bahamians use a range of local varieties often referred to locally as “Bahamian dialect”, which linguists describe as involving both Bahamian English and an English-lexifier creole, Bahamian Creole (BahC), existing along a continuum rather than as fully separate “either/or” codes.[11] One overview estimate places the number of speakers of Bahamian Creole at around 250,000.[12]
In historical perspective, Bahamian English have been shaped both by long-standing ties to British English through colonization and by unusually close links with the United States. American influence (via mass media, tourism, education, and mobility) has been repeatedly noted in educated usage, while Bahamian Creole shows particularly strong North American connections (including links to creole varieties of the coastal American South and migration-era transmission).[11]
Language diversity in the modern Bahamas is also affected by immigration. Haitian migration since the 1960s has brought Haitian Creole and French into wider use, and Haitian Creole is widely spoken within Haitian communities in the Bahamas.[11] A 2005 migration study prepared for the International Organization for Migration by The College of The Bahamas documented extensive use of "Creole" in fieldwork with Haitian migrants (including Creole-language interview instruments and high reported Creole speaking ability among respondents).[13]
In the 2010 census, the three principal religious denominations were Baptist, Anglican and Roman Catholic.[14] In the 2022 census, the Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) reported a shift: the three largest groups were Baptist, Anglican and non-denominational (tabulated in the census tables within Other Christian Denomination (including non-denominational groups)), with Roman Catholic ranking fourth among the major denominations.[15]
Religious affiliation in the Bahamas, 2010 and 2022 censuses[14][15]
↑"About The Commonwealth of The Bahamas". The Embassy of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas to the Kingdom of Belgium. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (The Bahamas). Retrieved 15 February 2026.
↑Haitian Migrants in The Bahamas 2005(PDF) (Report). International Organisation for Migration; Prepared by The College of The Bahamas. September 2005. pp.51, 81. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
↑The 2022 census tables also list some affiliations separately (e.g., African Methodist Episcopal Church and atheist) that were not shown as separate categories in the 2010 religion table, and some labels (e.g., Church of God (including Church of God of Prophecy)) may not be strictly comparable across censuses.
↑Percentages in the table are calculated from total population counts in each census year (351,461 in 2010; 398,165 in 2022).
External links
Official website – Commonwealth of The Bahamas Department of Statistics
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