The Bahamas: Population, Settlement and Migration
What you must know
Bahamian population is unevenly distributed: New Providence (Nassau) holds most of the people, followed by Grand Bahama (Freeport). The Out Islands are sparsely settled. Settlement began with Loyalists after 1783 and with freed Africans, and many early settlements were on coasts for fishing, shipping and trade. Today urbanisation concentrates people where tourism and finance jobs are.
Concepts to master
Population density (people per square kilometre), distribution, birth and death rates, natural increase, net migration, push and pull factors, rural-to-urban migration, emigration, and the idea of a population pyramid. Know that The Bahamas experiences emigration (to the USA) and immigration (from Haiti and Jamaica), and that internal migration flows from Family Islands to Nassau and Freeport.
Traps in questions
Do not say population is evenly spread. Do not confuse density with total population: an island can have many people but low density if it is large. When asked about migration, state the direction and the type (internal or international) explicitly. Remember push factors operate at the origin and pull factors at the destination.
Worked example
If an island has 30,000 people on 600 km², density = 30,000 ÷ 600 = 50 people per km². If 2,000 people leave and none arrive, natural increase aside, the new density is 28,000 ÷ 600 ≈ 47 people per km². Always show the division and the units.