Land area: 19 sq mi (49 sq km); total
area: 21 sq mi (53.3 sq km)
Population (2007 est.): 66,163 (growth
rate: 0.6%); birth rate: 11.3/1000; infant mortality rate: 8.1/1000;
life expectancy: 78.1; density per sq mi: 3,497
Capital (2003 est.): Hamilton, 970
Monetary unit: Bermuda dollar
Ethnicity/race: black African 58%, white
and other 42%
Literacy rate: 98% (1970 est.)
Economic summary:GDP/PPP (2004
est.): $4.5 billion; per capita $36,000. Real growth rate:
4.6%. Inflation: 2.8% (Nov. 2005). Unemployment: 2.1%
(2004 est.). Arable land: 20%. Agriculture: bananas,
vegetables, citrus, flowers; dairy products, honey. Labor
force: 38,360 (2004); agriculture and fishing 3%, laborers 17%,
clerical 19%, professional and technical 21%, administrative and
managerial 15%, sales 7%, services 19% (2004 est.). Industries:
international business, tourism, light manufacturing. Natural
resources: limestone, pleasant climate fostering tourism.
Exports: $1.469 billion (2004 est.): reexports of
pharmaceuticals. Imports: $982 million (2004 est.): clothing,
fuels, machinery and transport equipment, construction materials,
chemicals, food and live animals. Major trading partners:
France, UK, Spain, Kazakhstan, Japan, South Korea, U.S.
(2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 52,000 (1997); mobile cellular: 7,980 (1996). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 5, FM 3, shortwave 0 (1998).
Radios: 82,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations:
3 (1997). Televisions: 66,000 (1997). Internet Service
Providers (ISPs): 20 (2000). Internet users: 25,000
(2000).
Transportation: Railways: 0 km.
Highways: total: 450 km; paved: 450 km; unpaved: 0 km (2002) note:
241 km are privately owned. Ports and harbors: Hamilton,
Saint George's, Dockyard. Airports: 1 (2002).
Bermuda is an archipelago of about 360 small islands, 580 mi (934 km)
east of North Carolina. The largest is (Great) Bermuda, or Main Island.
Explored by Juan de Bermúdez, a Spaniard, the islands were settled in 1612
by an offshoot of the Virginia Company. Bermuda became a Crown colony in
1684.
In 1968, Bermuda was granted a new constitution, its first prime
minister, and autonomy, except for foreign relations, defense, and
internal security. The predominantly white United Bermuda Party has
retained power in four elections against the opposition—the black-led
Progressive Labour Party—although Bermuda's population is 58% black. U.S.
air and navy bases, which had been leased in 1941 for 99-year terms,
closed in 1995, along with Canadian, British army, and Royal Navy bases.
In a referendum held in Aug. 1995, nearly three-fourths of those voting
opposed independence.
