Economy:

Economy - overview: In Bahrain, petroleum production and processing account for about 60% of export receipts, 60% of government revenues, and 30% of GDP. Economic conditions have fluctuated with the changing fortunes of oil since 1985, for example, during and following the Gulf crisis of 1990-91. With its highly developed communication and transport facilities, Bahrain is home to numerous multinational firms with business in the Gulf. A large share of exports consists of petroleum products made from imported crude. Construction proceeds on several major industrial projects. Unemployment, especially among the young, and the depletion of both oil and underground water resources are major long-term economic problems.

• GDP: purchasing power parity - $8.6 billion (1999 est.)
• GDP - real growth rate: 4% (1999 est.)
• GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $13,700 (1999 est.)
• GDP - composition by sector:
      Agriculture: 1%
      Industry: 46%
      Services: 53% (1996 est.)
• Population below poverty line: NA%
• Household income or consumption by 
  percentage share:
    lowest 10%: NA%
    highest 10%: NA%
    Inflation rate (consumer prices): 0.5% (1998 est.)
    Labor force: 295,000 (1998 est.)
           note: 44% of the population in the 15-64 age group is non-national (July 1998 est.)
• Labor force - by occupation: industry, commerce, and service 79%, government 20%, agriculture 1% (1997 est.)
• Unemployment rate: 23% (1998 est.)
• Budget:
     revenues: $1.5 billion
     expenditures: $1.9 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998)
• Industries: petroleum processing and refining, aluminum smelting, offshore banking, ship repairing; tourism
• Industrial production growth rate: 3.4% (1995)
• Electricity - production: 4.77 billion kWh (1998)
• Electricity - production by source:
  fossil fuel: 100% 
  hydro: 0% 
  nuclear: 0% 
  other: 0% (1998) 
• Electricity - consumption: 1.09 billion kWh (1999)
• Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)
• Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)
• Agriculture - products: fruit, vegetables; poultry, dairy products; shrimp, fish
• Exports: $3.3 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
• Exports - commodities: petroleum and petroleum products 61%, aluminum 7%
• Exports - partners: India 18%, Japan 11%, Saudi Arabia 8%, South Korea 7%, UAE 5% (1997)
• Imports: $3.5 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
• Imports - commodities: nonoil 59%, crude oil 41%
• Imports - partners: Saudi Arabia 45%, US 10%, UK 6%, Japan 5%, Germany 4% (1997)
• Debt - external: $2 billion (1997)
• Economic aid - recipient: $48.4 million (1995)
• Currency: 1 Bahraini dinar (BD) = 1,000 fils
• Exchange rates: Bahraini dinars (BD) per US$1 - 0.3760 (fixed rate)
• Fiscal year: calendar year

Geography:

• Location: Middle East, archipelago in the Persian
                   Gulf, east of Saudi Arabia
• Geographic coordinates: 26 00 N, 50 33 E
• Map references: Middle East
• Area:
    Total: 620 sq km
    land: 620 sq km
    water: 0 sq km
• Area - comparative: 3.5 times the size of 
•                                   Washington, DC
• Land boundaries: 0 km
• Coastline: 161 km
• Maritime claims:
    contiguous zone: 24 nm
    continental shelf: extending to boundaries to be determined
    territorial sea: 12 nm
• Climate: arid; mild, pleasant winters; very hot, humid summers
• Terrain: mostly low desert plain rising gently to low central escarpment
• Elevation extremes:
    lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m
    highest point: Jabal ad Dukhan 122 m
• Natural resources: oil, associated and nonassociated natural gas, fish
• Land use:                                                                                     
    arable land: 1%
    permanent crops: 1%
    permanent pastures: 6%
    other: 92% (1993 est.)
• Irrigated land: 10 sq km (1993 est.)
• Natural hazards: periodic droughts; dust storms
• Environment - current issues: 
      Desertification resulting from the degradation of limited arable land, periods of drought, and dust storms; coastal degradation (damage to coastlines, coral reefs, and sea vegetation) resulting from oil spills and other discharges from large tankers, oil   refineries, and distribution stations; no natural fresh water resources so that groundwater  and sea water are the only sources for all water needs
• Environment - international agreements party to: 
     Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements Geography - note: close to primary Middle Eastern petroleum sources; strategic location in Persian Gulf which much of Western world's petroleum must transit to reach open ocean.
• Geography - note:
      Close to primary Middle Eastern petroleum sources; strategic location in Persian Gulf which much of Western world's petroleum must transit to reach open ocean 

Communications:

• Telephones - main lines in use: 141,000 (1995)
• Telephones - mobile cellular: 130,000 (1999 est.)
• Telephone system: 
      Modern system; good domestic services and excellent international connections.
• Domestic: 
      Modern fiber-optic integrated services; digital network with rapidly growing
      use of mobile cellular telephones
• International: 
      Tropospheric scatter to Qatar and UAE; microwave radio relay to Saudi
      Arabia; submarine cable to Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia; satellite earth
      stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat
• Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 3, shortwave 0 (1998)
• Radios: 338,000 (1997)
• Television broadcast stations: 4 (1997)
• Televisions: 275,000 (1997)
• Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 3 (1999)

Transportation:

• Railways: 0 km

1. Highways:

• total: 3,164 km
• paved: 2,433 km
• unpaved: 731 km (1998 est.)
• note: there is a paved causeway connecting Bahrain to Saudi Arabia
• Pipelines: crude oil 56 km; petroleum products 16 km; natural gas 32 km
• Ports and harbors: Manama, Mina' Salman, Sitrah

• total: 8 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 228,273 GRT/304,654 DWT
• ships by type: bulk 2, cargo 3, container 2, petroleum tanker 1 (1999 est.)
• Airports: 3 (1999 est.)
• Airports - with paved runways:
  Total: 2
  over 3,047 m: 2 (1999 est.)
• Airports - with unpaved runways:
  Total: 1
  1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (1999 est.)
• Heliports: 1 (1999 est.)

People:

• Population: 634,137
     note: includes 228,424 non-nationals (July 2000 est.)
• Age structure:
     0-14 years: 30% (male 96,240; female 93,846)
     15-64 years: 67% (male 252,767; female 173,072)
     65 years and over: 3% (male 9,270; female 8,942) (2000 est.)
• Population growth rate: 1.78% (2000 est.)
• Birth rate: 20.61 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)
• Death rate: 3.89 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)
• Net migration rate: 1.12 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
• Sex ratio:
    At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
    Under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
    15-64 years: 1.46 male(s)/female
    65 years and over: 1.04 male(s)/female
    Total population: 1.3 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
• Infant mortality rate: 20.48 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
• Life expectancy at birth:
    Total population: 72.98 years 
    Male: 70.58 years.
    Female: 75.45 years (2000 est.)
• Total fertility rate: 2.82 children born/woman (2000 est.)
• Nationality:
    Noun: Bahraini(s),Bahrani.
    Adjective: Bahraini
• Ethnic groups: Bahraini 63%, Asian 19%, other Arab 10%, Iranian 8%
• Religions: Shi'a Muslim 75%, Sunni Muslim 25%
• Languages: Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu
• Literacy:
   Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
    Total population: 85.2%
   male: 89.1%
   female: 79.4% (1995 est.)