Country · Americas
Bahamas
Commonwealth of the Bahamas
The Bahamas is a country in the Caribbean. About 386 000 people live there, in an area of 13 943 square kilometres. Its capital city is Nassau.
Picture credit: Trish Hartmann (CC BY 2.0) · Güldem Üstün (CC BY 2.0) · Güldem Üstün (CC BY 2.0) · Der-wuppertaler (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Rüdiger Stehn (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Bahamas?
The Bahamas lies in the Caribbean, on the continent of Americas.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 2 700 km from the equator.
It has no land neighbours — every border it has is with the sea.
How big is the Bahamas?
The Bahamas covers 13 943 square kilometres.
That is about 5.4 times the size of Luxembourg.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 155th largest.
Spread everybody out evenly and you get about 27.7 people on every square kilometre.
That is emptier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in the Bahamas?
About 386 000 people live in the Bahamas.
That is the 169th biggest population in the world.
People here speak English.
They pay with the Bahamian dollar and United States dollar.
On average, people born here can expect to live about 71 years.
The land of the Bahamas
It lies between the tropics and the poles, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes the Bahamas different?
A dish the country is known for: Crack conch with peas and rice.
Websites from here often end in .bs.
The Bahamas and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about one lives in the Bahamas.
It takes up about 0.01 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Americas the country ranks 26th of 35 by size, and 27th by population.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 6 live wild in the Bahamas: Manatee, Great hammerhead shark, Lined seahorse, Blue marlin, Great barracuda and Tiger shark. The highest mountain in the country is Mount Alvernia (Como Hill), at 63 metres. The longest river in the country is the Goose River. The largest lake in the country is Lake Rosa.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
How big is the Bahamas compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 672 times as big as the Bahamas: 9 372 610 km² against 13 943 km².
- The United Kingdom is about 17 times as big as the Bahamas: 242 900 km² against 13 943 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of the Bahamas?
The capital of the Bahamas is Nassau. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in the Bahamas?
About 386 000 people live in the Bahamas, which makes it the 169th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
How big is the Bahamas?
The Bahamas covers 13 943 square kilometres, making it the 155th largest country in the world. That is about 5.4 times the size of Luxembourg.
What is the highest mountain in the Bahamas?
The highest mountain in the Bahamas is Mount Alvernia (Como Hill), 63 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the longest river in the Bahamas?
The longest river in the Bahamas is the Goose River, about 24 kilometres long.
What is the largest lake in the Bahamas?
The largest lake in the Bahamas is Lake Rosa. It covers about 180 km².
Which continent is the Bahamas in?
The Bahamas is in Americas, in the part called the Caribbean.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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