There were 20,104 permanent residents on the island as of January 1, 2019, up about 1,200 from 2015. There are 288 square kilometers (111 square miles) of land on the island; From north to south, it is 38.6 kilometers (24.0 miles) long, and from east to west, it is between 4.8 and 8 kilometers (3.0 and 5.0 miles) wide. The uninhabited islet Klein Bonaire, which has a total land area of 6 km2 (2.3 sq mi) and is located across the sea to the west of Bonaire, is only 800 meters (0.50 miles) long. Cactus are among the low-growing plants on Klein Bonaire (Papiamento: kadushi), which is surrounded by white sand beaches and a fringing reef and has few palm trees near the water. The Stichting Nationale Parken Bonaire (STINAPA) is in charge of managing the reefs, beaches, and on-island reserves on both Bonaire and Klein Bonaire, which are protected by the Bonaire National Marine Park.

Bonaire became a special municipality (officially a "Caribbean public body") within the Netherlands in 2010, following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010. It is one of three Caribbean special municipalities; Saba and Sint Eustatius are the other islands. Nearly 60% of Bonaire's residents were born in the former Netherlands Antilles or Aruba, and 80% of the island's population is Dutch.