The Bahamas

World Factbook as of November 2014: " The Bahamas is one of the wealthiest Caribbean countries with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking. Financial services constitute the second-most important sector of the Bahamian economy... Manufacturing and agriculture combined contribute less than a 10th of GDP and show little growth, despite government incentives aimed at those sectors... New resort and marina developments are likely to provide sustained employment opportunities."

People

Population
July 2014: 321,834
July 2011: 313,312

Population growth rate
2014: 0.87%

Infant mortality (deaths before the age of one year per 1,000 live births)
2014: 12.5 deaths (ranks 124th, with low being better)
2011: 13.49 deaths
2009: 14.84 (ranks 128th)

Average life expectancy at birth
2014: 71.93 years
2011: 71.18 years
2 009: 69.92 years
2008: 65.72 years
2005: 65.54

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
2012 3.3% ranks 18th in the world (bad)
(Swaziland was the worst in 2012 with 26.5%).

Obesity - adult prevalence rate
2008: 34.7%, 13th in the world.
(American Samoa the worst, at 74.6%)

birth rate
2011: 16.1 births per 1,000 population per year

Living in an urban area
2010: 84%

Density estimated for 2005: 30 per square kilometer.

Net migration rate
2011: net migration per 1,000 population is zero.

Ethnicity
Wikipedia: "Bahamians are Bahamian nationals whose primary ancestry lies in West Africa. The first Africans to arrive to The Bahamas came from Bermuda with the Eleutheran Adventurers as freed slaves looking for a new life. Currently, Afro-Bahamians are the largest ethnic group in the Bahamas, accounting for some 85% of the country's population.[5] The Haitian community numbers about 80,000...   According to the 2010 Census of Bahamas, there were a total of 16,598 Whites living there. European Bahamians, or Bahamians of European descent, numbering about 38,000, are mainly the descendants of the English Puritans and American Loyalists who arrived in 1649 and 1783 respectively."

Religions
2000 census: Baptist 35.4%, Anglican 15.1%, Roman Catholic 13.5%, Pentecostal 8.1%, Church of God 4.8%, Methodist 4.2%, other Christian 15.2%, none or unspecified 2.9%, other 0.8%

Geography

Islands southeast of Florida, northeast of Cuba.

Government

Chief of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a Governor General. Bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate and the House of Assembly. The Senate: 16 seats, members appointed by the governor general upon the advice of the prime minister and the opposition leader, to serve five-year terms; the House: 41 seats, members elected by direct popular vote for five-year terms.

Capital: Nassau

History

IWorld Factbook as of November 2014 "Lucayan Indians inhabited the islands when Christopher Columbus first set foot in the New World on San Salvador in 1492. British settlement of the islands began in 1647; the islands became a colony in 1783."

Independence from Britain on July 10, 1973. Became a member of the Commonwealth, its full title Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

SOURCES:
The World Factbook