Bahrain

Area: 665 sq km

Population: 698,585 (including over 230,000 expatriates)

Capital City: Manama (Al Manamah)

People: Arab, Muslim majority, of whom some 33% are Sunni and 66% are Shia

Languages: Arabic is the official language; English is widely spoken and is the main commercial language

Religion(s): Islam is the state religion; places of worship for other faiths exist

Currency: Bahraini Dinar (BD); 1 Bahraini Dinar = 1,000 fils (tied to the US dollar)

Major political parties: Political Parties are officially banned but Political Associations have been allowed to expand. These include Islamic groupings (Sunni and Shi’a), as well as secular and liberal associations.

Government: Monarchy with appointed upper and elected lower chambers of Parliament

Head of State: His Majesty Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa

Crown Prince: His Highness Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa

Prime Minister: His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa

Deputy Prime Ministers: His Excellency Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa, His Excellency Jawad Al-Arrayed, His Excellency Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa

Foreign Minister: His Excellency Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa

VISAS

 You can obtain the latest information about visas for Bahrain here.

 INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS 

Nadeen School	http://www.bsme.org.uk/schools/more.asp?id=4&sch=
St. Christopher’s School	http://www.st-chris.net
The British School of Bahrain	http://www.thebsbh.com/

 ECONOMY

 Bahrain has a small, reasonably prosperous economy with less dependence on oil than most other Gulf states. Having been the first to discover oil in 1932, the economy is now well diversified and one of the acknowledged banking, financial services, and human resources development and training centres of the Gulf. The economic environment is liberal, but well regulated; the authorities have managed recent oil price fluctuations sensibly and successfully trained Bahraini nationals for private sector employment. “Bahrainisation”, a policy employed by industry and government in the last twenty years, is in effect in abeyance and may be replaced shortly by a new, less stringent system of incentives to employ Bahrainis, created by the Economic Development Board.

 

In Bahrain, petroleum production and processing account for about 60% of export receipts, 60% of government revenues, and 30% of GDP. With its highly developed communication and transport facilities, Bahrain is home to numerous multinational