Population, Settlement and Migration
Measuring population
A census counts everyone and is normally taken every ten years. Population change has three parts: births, deaths and migration. Natural increase is births minus deaths; net migration is immigrants minus emigrants; total growth is natural increase plus net migration. A population pyramid with a narrow base shows falling birth rates and an ageing society.
Distribution and settlement
Just under 400,000 people live in The Bahamas, but the distribution is very uneven. About 70 per cent live on New Providence, where Nassau, the capital, is located, and a further large share live on Grand Bahama. The Family Islands are sparsely settled and many small cays are uninhabited. This pattern reflects jobs, ports, airports, health care and schools, which pull people towards urban centres.
Migration
Push factors include unemployment, low wages, hurricane damage and limited services; pull factors include work, education and family links. Bahamians have long emigrated to the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, sending back remittances but causing brain drain. Immigration comes mainly from Haiti and other Caribbean states, and irregular migration is a live policy issue. Urbanisation, suburban sprawl and dependency ratios are all examinable. Dependency ratio = (under 15 + over 65) divided by working-age population, multiplied by 100.
Worked example
If births are 6,000, deaths 2,000, immigrants 3,000 and emigrants 4,000: natural increase is 4,000; net migration is minus 1,000; total growth is 3,000. Never add immigrants and births together by mistake.
Traps
Emigration is leaving; immigration is arriving. Density is people per square kilometre; distribution is where they live.