Freeport, Nassau
_#_Merchant marine: 636 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 14,266,066 GRT/23,585,465 DWT; includes 42 passenger, 16 short-sea passenger, 190 cargo, 41 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 23 container, 5 car carrier, 1 railroad carrier, 141 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 8 liquefied gas, 15 combination ore/oil, 33 chemical tanker, 1 specialized tanker, 112 bulk, 8 combination bulk; note—a flag of convenience registry
_#_Civil air: 9 major transport aircraft
_#_Airports: 59 total, 57 usable; 31 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 3 with runways 2,440–3,659 m; 25 with runways 1,220–2,439 m
_#_Telecommunications: highly developed; 99,000 telephones in totally automatic system; tropospheric scatter and submarine cable links to Florida; stations—3 AM, 2 FM, 1 TV; 3 coaxial submarine cables; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth station
_*Defense Forces #_Branches: Royal Bahamas Defense Force (a coast guard element only), Royal Bahamas Police Force
_#_Manpower availability: males 15–49, 68,020; NA fit for military service
_#Defense expenditures: $65 million, 2.7% of GDP (1990) % @Bahrain *Geography #_Total area: 620 km2; land area: 620 km2
_#_Comparative area: slightly less than 3.5 times the size of Washington, DC
_#_Land boundaries: none
_#_Coastline: 161 km
_#_Maritime claims:
Continental shelf: not specific;
Territorial sea: 3 nm
_#_Disputes: territorial dispute with Qatar over the Hawar Islands
_#_Climate: arid; mild, pleasant winters; very hot, humid summers
_#_Terrain: mostly low desert plain rising gently to low central escarpment
_#_Natural resources: oil, associated and nonassociated natural gas, fish
_#_Land use: arable land 2%; permanent crops 2%; meadows and pastures 6%; forest and woodland 0%; other 90%, includes irrigated NEGL%
_#_Environment: subsurface water sources being rapidly depleted (requires development of desalination facilities); dust storms; desertification
_#_Note: close to primary Middle Eastern crude oil sources; strategic location in Persian Gulf through which much of Western world's crude oil must transit to reach open ocean
_*People #_Population: 536,974 (July 1991), growth rate 3.2% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 27 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 3 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: 7 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 17 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
_#_Life expectancy at birth: 71 years male, 76 years female (1991)
_#_Total fertility rate: 4.0 children born/woman (1991)
_#_Nationality: noun—Bahraini(s); adjective—Bahraini
_#_Ethnic divisions: Bahraini 63%, Asian 13%, other Arab 10%, Iranian 8%, other 6%
_#_Religion: Muslim (Shia 70%, Sunni 30%)
_#_Language: Arabic (official); English also widely spoken; Farsi, Urdu
_#_Literacy: 77% (male 82%, female 69%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
_#_Labor force: 140,000; 42% of labor force is Bahraini; industry and commerce 85%, agriculture 5%, services 5%, government 3% (1982)
_#_Organized labor: General Committee for Bahrain Workers exists in only eight major designated companies
_*Government #_Long-form name: State of Bahrain
_#_Type: traditional monarchy
_#_Capital: Manama
_#_Administrative divisions: 12 municipalities (baladiyat, singular—baladiyah); Al Hadd, Al Manamah, Al Mintaqah al Gharbiyah, Al Mintaqah al Wusta, Al Mintaqah ash Shamaliyah, Al Muharraq, Ar Rifa wa al Mintaqah al Janubiyah, Jidd Hafs, Madinat Hamad, Madinat Isa, Mintaqat Juzur Hawar, Sitrah
_#_Independence: 15 August 1971 (from UK)
_#_Constitution: 26 May 1973, effective 6 December 1973
_#_Legal system: based on Islamic law and English common law
_#_National holiday: National Day, 16 December
_#_Executive branch: amir, crown prince and heir apparent, prime minister, Cabinet
_#_Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly was dissolved 26 August 1975 and legislative powers were assumed by the Cabinet
_#_Judicial branch: High Civil Appeals Court
_#_Leaders:
Chief of State—Amir Isa bin Salman Al KHALIFA (since 2 November 1961); Heir Apparent Hamad bin Isa Al KHALIFA (son of Amir; born 28 January 1950);
Head of Government—Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al KHALIFA, (since 19 January 1970)
_#_Political parties and pressure groups: political parties prohibited; several small, clandestine leftist and Shia fundamentalist groups are active
_#_Suffrage: none
_#_Elections: none
_#_Communists: negligible
_#_Member of: ABEDA, AFESD, AL, AMF, ESCWA, FAO, G-77, GCC, IBRD,
ICAO, IDB, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO (correspondent),
ITU, LORCS, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO,
WMO
_#_Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Ghazi Muhammad AL-QUSAYBI; Chancery at 3502 International Drive NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 342–0741 or 342–0742; there is a Bahraini Consulate General in New York;
US—Ambassador Dr. Charles W. HOSTLER; Embassy at Building
No. 979, Road No. 3119, Block/Area 331, Manama ZINJ (mailing address is
P. O. 26431, Manama, or FPO New York 09526–6210); telephone [973]
273–300 or 275–126
_#_Flag: red with a white serrated band (eight white points) on the hoist side
_*Economy #_Overview: Petroleum production and processing account for about 85% of export receipts, 60% of government revenues, and 20% of GDP. Economic conditions have fluctuated with the changing fortunes of oil since 1985, including the Gulf crisis of 1990–91. The liberation of Kuwait in early 1991 has improved short- to medium-term prospects and has raised investors' confidence. Bahrain with its highly developed communication and transport facilities is home to numerous multinational firms with business in the Gulf.
_#_GDP: $3.9 billion, per capita $7,500; real growth rate 2.5% (1990 est.)
_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.5% (1989)
_#_Unemployment: 8–10% (1989)
_#_Budget: revenues $1.2 billion; expenditures $1.32 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1989)
_#_Exports: $2.7 billion (f.o.b., 1989 est.);
commodities—petroleum 80%, aluminum 7%, other 13%;
partners—UAE, Japan, US, India
_#_Imports: $3.0 billion (f.o.b., 1989);
commodities—nonoil 59%, crude oil 41%;
partners—Saudi Arabia, Japan, US, UK
_#_External debt: $1.1 billion (December 1989 est.)
_#_Industrial production: growth rate 3.8% (1988); accounts for 44% of GDP