NASSAU, The Bahamas — The Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) released the country’s 2022 Census of Population and Housing after a hiatus of five years due to various factors including the passage of Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The results of the census were released on Tuesday, October 22, 2024 at the Harry C. Moore Library of the University of The Bahamas.
Among the highlights noted in the census is an overall decrease in the population of 13.3% since the 2010 census was taken. Currently, the population stands at 398,165 persons, with males representing 48.1% of the population at 191,667 and females representing 51.9% at 206,498. Persons under the age of 15 represented 22.5%; persons 15-64 years old, represented 70.5%; and persons 65 years and over represented 7% of the population. The average median age currently stands at 35. At the last census, the median age stood at 27.
The number of households recorded was 119,138 with an average household size of 3.3 persons.
The results also concluded that the three main religions in the nation were Baptist (135,874. representing an increase of 13,374 from 2010), followed by Anglican (47,454 representing a decrease of 552 from 2010), and Non-Denominational (41,214 representing an increase of 5,918 from 2010). The census revealed a shift in tradition with Roman Catholic following Non-Denominational and standing at 42,287 representing a decrease of 7,539.
As it relates to marital status, the census revealed that the ‘married’ category decreased by 2.5%. All other marital status categories (including ‘Never Married, Widowed and Divorced) experienced increases. There was also a notable increase in the ‘Legally Separated’ group, representing a significant increase of 75.6%.
