Bahamas: People and society

With a history of serving as a base to the slave traders, today about 85% of the population is of African descent. About 15% of the population is of European descent. A religious society, majority of the population is Baptist though strains of Anglican, Roman Catholic, Methodist and others communities also exist.   

The 19th century witnessed tensions between the under represented African community and the elite white minority which continued up to the mid 20th century until the Progressive Liberal Party took power in the 1960’s brought an end to the white dominance.

Out of the 700 Islands, about 15 have been developed. Approximately two-thirds of the population lives in New Providence and about 16% in the Grand Bahamas. About 98.2% of the population above the age of 15 years can read and write.

Religion

Though traditionally much of the Bahamian culture was based on the system of beliefs introduced into the Island by the African slaves, today most of the islanders follow mainstream Christianity. However, everyday life does have a sprinkling of the popular folk religion ‘obeah’, which can be compared to the Haitian voodoo. On the whole, Bahamians are religious people – the country boasts of having the maximum number of churches per capita in the world.