Distillers Bahamas
A one-page guide to the Bahamas for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Nassau
- Official languages
- English
- Currency
- Bahamian dollar (BSD), pegged 1:1 to USD
- Time zone
- UTC-5 (UTC-4 summer)
- Area
- 13,878 km²
People
- Population
- 403,033 (2025)
- Population growth
- 0.4% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 81.3%
- Aged under 15
- 17.5%
- Aged 65 and over
- 12.1%
- Life expectancy
- 74.7 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$15.8 billion (2024)
- GDP per person
- US$39,455 (2024)
- Economic growth
- 3.38% (2024)
- Inflation
- 1.11% (2025)
Climate
Mostly tropical savanna with a hot wet season (May-October) and warm dry season; only about 7 C between warmest and coolest months; frost has never been recorded. Hurricanes affect the islands (Dorian, 2019, was Category 5).
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 18 shown in the table's de jure column; adults barred from supplying alcohol to under-18s
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 8.09 litres of pure alcohol (2024)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); World Bank API (population, area, GDP, growth, inflation); WHO GHO OData (SA_0000001688); UN Comtrade public preview API (HS 2208); Wikipedia: Bahamas; Wikipedia: Legal drinking age; PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries: The Bahamas - other taxes; Bahamas Customs: general travellers' questions; West Indies Rum & Spirits Producers' Association (WIRSPA, regional). Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.