Compare Benin (2006) - Jamaica (2008)

Compare Benin (2006) z Jamaica (2008)

	Benin (2006)	Jamaica (2008)

Administrative divisions	12 departments; Alibori, Atakora, Atlantique, Borgou, Collines, Kouffo, Donga, Littoral, Mono, Oueme, Plateau, Zou	14 parishes; Clarendon, Hanover, Kingston, Manchester, Portland, Saint Andrew, Saint Ann, Saint Catherine, Saint Elizabeth, Saint James, Saint Mary, Saint Thomas, Trelawny, Westmoreland note: for local government purposes, Kingston and Saint Andrew were amalgamated in 1923 into the present single corporate body known as the Kingston and Saint Andrew Corporation
Age structure	0-14 years: 44.1% (male 1,751,709/female 1,719,138) 15-64 years: 53.5% (male 2,067,248/female 2,138,957) 65 years and over: 2.4% (male 75,694/female 110,198) (2006 est.)	0-14 years: 32.5% (male 459,968/female 444,963) 15-64 years: 60.1% (male 822,486/female 848,310) 65 years and over: 7.4% (male 91,856/female 112,549) (2007 est.)
Agriculture - products	cotton, corn, cassava (tapioca), yams, beans, palm oil, peanuts; livestock	sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus, yams, ackees, vegetables; poultry, goats, milk; crustaceans, mollusks
Airports	5 (2006)	34 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways	total: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2006)	total: 11 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 5 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways	total: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2006)	total: 23 914 to 1,523 m: 2 under 914 m: 21 (2007)
Area	total: 112,620 sq km land: 110,620 sq km water: 2,000 sq km	total: 10,991 sq km land: 10,831 sq km water: 160 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly smaller than Pennsylvania	slightly smaller than Connecticut
Background	Present day Benin was the site of Dahomey, a prominent West African kingdom that rose in the 15th century. The territory became a French Colony in 1872 and achieved independence on 1 August 1960, as the Republic of Benin. A succession of military governments ended in 1972 with the rise to power of Mathieu KEREKOU and the establishment of a government based on Marxist-Leninist principles. A move to representative government began in 1989. Two years later, free elections ushered in former Prime Minister Nicephore SOGLO as president, marking the first successful transfer of power in Africa from a dictatorship to a democracy. KEREKOU was returned to power by elections held in 1996 and 2001, though some irregularities were alleged.	The island - discovered by Christopher COLUMBUS in 1494 - was settled by the Spanish early in the 16th century. The native Taino Indians, who had inhabited Jamaica for centuries, were gradually exterminated and replaced by African slaves. England seized the island in 1655 and established a plantation economy based on sugar, cocoa, and coffee. The abolition of slavery in 1834 freed a quarter million slaves, many of whom became small farmers. Jamaica gradually obtained increasing independence from Britain, and in 1958 it joined other British Caribbean colonies in forming the Federation of the West Indies. Jamaica gained full independence when it withdrew from the Federation in 1962. Deteriorating economic conditions during the 1970s led to recurrent violence as rival gangs affiliated with the major political parties evolved into powerful organized crime networks involved in international drug smuggling and money laundering. Violent crime, drug trafficking, and poverty pose significant challenges to the government today. Nonetheless, many rural and resort areas remain relatively safe and contribute substantially to the economy.
Birth rate	38.85 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)	20.44 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Budget	revenues: $766.8 million expenditures: $1.017 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.)	revenues: $3.441 billion expenditures: $3.905 billion (2007 est.)
Capital	name: Porto-Novo (official capital) geographic coordinates: 6 29 N, 2 37 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) note: Cotonou (seat of government)	name: Kingston geographic coordinates: 18 00 N, 76 48 W time difference: UTC-5 (same time as Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Climate	tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north	tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior
Coastline	121 km	1,022 km
Constitution	December 1990	6 August 1962
Country name	conventional long form: Republic of Benin conventional short form: Benin local long form: Republique du Benin local short form: Benin former: Dahomey	conventional long form: none conventional short form: Jamaica
Death rate	12.22 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)	6.59 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Debt - external	$1.6 billion (2000)	$7.138 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Diplomatic representation from the US	chief of mission: Ambassador Wayne NEILL embassy: Rue Caporal Bernard Anani, Cotonou mailing address: 01 B. P. 2012, Cotonou telephone: [229] 30-06-50 FAX: [229] 30-06-70	chief of mission: Ambassador Brenda LaGrange JOHNSON embassy: 142 Old Hope Road, Kingston 6 mailing address: P.O. Box 541, Kingston 5 telephone: [1] (876) 702-6000 FAX: [1] (876) 702-6348
Diplomatic representation in the US	chief of mission: Ambassador Cyrille Segbe OGUIN chancery: 2124 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 232-6656 FAX: [1] (202) 265-1996	chief of mission: Ambassador Gordon SHIRLEY chancery: 1520 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036 telephone: [1] (202) 452-0660 FAX: [1] (202) 452-0081 consulate(s) general: Miami, New York
Disputes - international	Benin and Burkina Faso military clash in 2006 over sections of riverine boundary involving disputed villages and squatters; much of Benin-Niger boundary, including tripoint with Nigeria, remains undemarcated; in 2005, Nigeria ceded thirteen villages to Benin as a consequence of a 2004 joint task force to resolve maritime and land boundary disputes, but clashes among rival gangs along the border persist; a joint boundary commission continues to resurvey the boundary with Togo to verify Benin's claim that Togo moved boundary stones	none
Economic aid - recipient	$342.6 million (2000)	$35.74 million (2005)
Economy - overview	The economy of Benin remains underdeveloped and dependent on subsistence agriculture, cotton production, and regional trade. Growth in real output has averaged around 5% in the past six years, but rapid population growth has offset much of this increase. Inflation has subsided over the past several years. In order to raise growth still further, Benin plans to attract more foreign investment, place more emphasis on tourism, facilitate the development of new food processing systems and agricultural products, and encourage new information and communication technology. Many of these proposals are included in Benin's application to receive Millennium Challenge Account funding - for which it was a finalist in 2004-05. The 2001 privatization policy continues in telecommunications, water, electricity, and agriculture in spite of government reluctance. The Paris Club and bilateral creditors have eased the external debt situation, with Benin benefiting from a G8 debt reduction announced in July 2005, while pressing for more rapid structural reforms. Benin continues to be hurt by Nigerian trade protection that bans imports of a growing list of products from Benin and elsewhere, which has resulted in increased smuggling and criminality in the border region.	The Jamaican economy is heavily dependent on services, which now account for more than 60% of GDP. The country continues to derive most of its foreign exchange from tourism, remittances, and bauxite/alumina. Remittances account for nearly 20% of GDP and are equivalent to tourism revenues. Jamaica's economy, already saddled with a record of sluggish growth, will suffer an economic setback from damages caused by Hurricane Dean in August 2007. The economy faces serious long-term problems: high but declining interest rates, increased foreign competition, exchange rate instability, a sizable merchandise trade deficit, large-scale unemployment and underemployment, and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 135%. Jamaica's onerous debt burden - the fourth highest per capita - is the result of government bailouts to ailing sectors of the economy, most notably the financial sector in the mid-to-late 1990s. Inflation also has declined, standing at about 7% at the end of 2007. High unemployment exacerbates the serious crime problem, including gang violence that is fueled by the drug trade. The GOLDING administration faces the difficult prospect of having to achieve fiscal discipline in order to maintain debt payments while simultaneously attacking a serious and growing crime problem that is hampering economic growth.
Electricity - consumption	538.2 million kWh (2003)	6.131 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - exports	0 kWh (2003)	0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports	474 million kWh (2003)	0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - production	69 million kWh (2003)	6.985 billion kWh (2005)
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Mont Sokbaro 658 m	lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m highest point: Blue Mountain Peak 2,256 m
Environment - current issues	inadequate supplies of potable water; poaching threatens wildlife populations; deforestation; desertification	heavy rates of deforestation; coastal waters polluted by industrial waste, sewage, and oil spills; damage to coral reefs; air pollution in Kingston results from vehicle emissions
Environment - international agreements	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Ethnic groups	African 99% (42 ethnic groups, most important being Fon, Adja, Yoruba, Bariba), Europeans 5,500	black 91.2%, mixed 6.2%, other or unknown 2.6% (2001 census)
Exchange rates	Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001)	Jamaican dollars per US dollar - 69.034 (2007), 65.768 (2006), 62.51 (2005), 61.197 (2004), 57.741 (2003)
Executive branch	chief of state: President YAYI Boni (since 6 April 2006); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President YAYI Boni (since 6 April 2006) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president elections: president reelected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); runoff election held 19 March 2006 (next to be held March 2011) election results: YAYI Boni elected president; percent of vote - YAYI Boni 74.5%, Adrien HOUNGBEDJI 25.5%	chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); represented by Governor General Kenneth O. HALL (since 15 February 2006) head of government: Prime Minister Bruce GOLDING (since 11 September 2007) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition in the House of Representatives is appointed prime minister by the governor general; the deputy prime minister is recommended by the prime minister
Exports	NA bbl/day	1,531 bbl/day (2004)
Exports - commodities	cotton, crude oil, palm products, cocoa	alumina, bauxite, sugar, bananas, rum, coffee, yams, beverages, chemicals, wearing apparel, mineral fuels
Exports - partners	China 31.3%, Indonesia 8.1%, India 7.4%, Niger 6%, Togo 4.8%, Thailand 4.8%, Nigeria 4.6% (2005)	US 30.2%, Canada 15.6%, China 15.2%, UK 10.3%, Netherlands 7%, Norway 4.6% (2006)
Fiscal year	calendar year	1 April - 31 March
Flag description	two equal horizontal bands of yellow (top) and red (bottom) with a vertical green band on the hoist side	diagonal yellow cross divides the flag into four triangles - green (top and bottom) and black (hoist side and outer side)
GDP - composition by sector	agriculture: 31.6% industry: 13.8% services: 54.6% (2004 est.)	agriculture: 5% industry: 34% services: 61% (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate	3.5% (2005 est.)	1.5% (2007 est.)
Geographic coordinates	9 30 N, 2 15 E	18 15 N, 77 30 W
Geography - note	sandbanks create difficult access to a coast with no natural harbors, river mouths, or islands	strategic location between Cayman Trench and Jamaica Channel, the main sea lanes for the Panama Canal
Household income or consumption by percentage share	lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%	lowest 10%: 2.1% highest 10%: 35.8% (2004)
Illicit drugs	transshipment point for narcotics associated with Nigerian trafficking organizations and most commonly destined for Western Europe and the US; vulnerable to money laundering due to a poorly regulated financial infrastructure	transshipment point for cocaine from South America to North America and Europe; illicit cultivation and consumption of cannabis; government has an active manual cannabis eradication program; corruption is a major concern; substantial money-laundering activity; Colombian narcotics traffickers favor Jamaica for illicit financial transactions
Imports	NA bbl/day	71,420 bbl/day (2004)
Imports - commodities	foodstuffs, capital goods, petroleum products	food and other consumer goods, industrial supplies, fuel, parts and accessories of capital goods, machinery and transport equipment, construction materials
Imports - partners	France 21.8%, Ghana 7.1%, Cote d'Ivoire 7%, China 6.7%, UK 5.2%, Belgium 4.9%, Togo 4.5%, Thailand 4.2%, Nigeria 4% (2005)	US 39.3%, Trinidad and Tobago 13.6%, Venezuela 9.5% (2006)
Independence	1 August 1960 (from France)	6 August 1962 (from UK)
Industrial production growth rate	8.3% (2001 est.)	2% (2007 est.)
Industries	textiles, food processing, construction materials, cement	tourism, bauxite/alumina, agro processing, light manufactures, rum, cement, metal, paper, chemical products, telecommunications
Infant mortality rate	total: 79.56 deaths/1,000 live births male: 84.09 deaths/1,000 live births female: 74.88 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)	total: 15.73 deaths/1,000 live births male: 16.4 deaths/1,000 live births female: 15.01 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	3.5% (2005 est.)	7.1% (2007 est.)
International organization participation	ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, ECOWAS, Entente, FAO, FZ, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITU, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OIC, OIF, ONUB, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO	ACP, C, Caricom, CDB, FAO, G-15, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAES, MIGA, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Irrigated land	120 sq km (2003)	250 sq km (2002)
Judicial branch	Constitutional Court or Cour Constitutionnelle; Supreme Court or Cour Supreme; High Court of Justice	Supreme Court (judges appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister); Court of Appeal
Labor force	3.211 million	1.255 million (2007 est.)
Labor force - by occupation	-	agriculture: 17% industry: 19% services: 64% (2006)
Land boundaries	total: 1,989 km border countries: Burkina Faso 306 km, Niger 266 km, Nigeria 773 km, Togo 644 km	0 km
Land use	arable land: 23.53% permanent crops: 2.37% other: 74.1% (2005)	arable land: 15.83% permanent crops: 10.01% other: 74.16% (2005)
Languages	French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), tribal languages (at least six major ones in north)	English, English patois
Legal system	based on French civil law and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction	based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Legislative branch	unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (83 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 30 March 2003 (next to be held March 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - Presidential Movement (UBF, MADEP, FC, Alliance MDC-PC-CPP, IPD, AFP, MDS, RDP) 52, opposition (PRB, PRD, E'toile, and 5 other small parties) 31	bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (a 21-member body appointed by the governor general on the recommendations of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition; ruling party is allocated 13 seats, and the opposition is allocated 8 seats) and the House of Representatives (60 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) elections: last held 3 September 2007 (next to be held no later than October 2012) election results: percent of vote by party - JLP 50.1%, PNP 49.8%; seats by party - JLP 33, PNP 27
Life expectancy at birth	total population: 53.04 years male: 51.9 years female: 54.22 years (2006 est.)	total population: 73.12 years male: 71.43 years female: 74.9 years (2007 est.)
Literacy	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 33.6% male: 46.4% female: 22.6% (2002 est.)	definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school total population: 87.9% male: 84.1% female: 91.6% (2003 est.)
Location	Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Benin, between Nigeria and Togo	Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba
Map references	Africa	Central America and the Caribbean
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 200 nm	measured from claimed archipelagic straight baselines territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to edge of the continental margin
Merchant marine	-	total: 13 ships (1000 GRT or over) 161,700 GRT/241,663 DWT by type: bulk carrier 6, cargo 2, carrier 1, petroleum tanker 1, roll on/roll off 3 foreign-owned: 12 (Denmark 1, Germany 1, Greece 8, Latvia 2) registered in other countries: 1 (Panama 1) (2007)
Military branches	Army, Navy, Air Force	Jamaica Defense Force: Ground Forces, Coast Guard, Air Wing (2007)
Military expenditures - dollar figure	$100.9 million (2005 est.)	-
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	2.3% (2005 est.)	0.6% (2006 est.)
National holiday	National Day, 1 August (1960)	Independence Day, 6 August (1962)
Nationality	noun: Beninese (singular and plural) adjective: Beninese	noun: Jamaican(s) adjective: Jamaican
Natural hazards	hot, dry, dusty harmattan wind may affect north from December to March	hurricanes (especially July to November)
Natural resources	small offshore oil deposits, limestone, marble, timber	bauxite, gypsum, limestone
Net migration rate	0.67 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)	-6.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Political parties and leaders	Alliance of Progress Forces or AFP; African Movement for Democracy and Progress or MADEP [Sefou FAGBOHOUN]; Democratic Renewal Party or PRD [Adrien HOUNGBEDJI]; Impulse for Progress and Democracy or IPD; Key Force or FC; Movement for Development and Solidarity or MDS; Movement for Development by the Culture-Salute Party-Congress of People for Progress Alliance or Alliance MDC-PS-CPP; New Alliance or NA; Rally for Democracy and Progress or RDP; Renaissance Party du Benin or RB [Nicephore SOGLO]; The Star Alliance (Alliance E'toile) [Sacca LAFIA]; Union of Tomorrow's Benin or UBF [Bruno AMOUSSOU] note: approximately 20 additional minor parties	Jamaica Labor Party or JLP [Bruce GOLDING]; People's National Party or PNP [Portia SIMPSON-MILLER]; National Democratic Movement or NDM [Michael WILLIAMS]
Political pressure groups and leaders	NA	New Beginnings Movement or NBM; Rastafarians (black religious/racial cultists, pan-Africanists)
Population	7,862,944 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.)	2,780,132 (July 2007 est.)
Population below poverty line	33% (2001 est.)	14.8% (2003 est.)
Population growth rate	2.73% (2006 est.)	0.777% (2007 est.)
Radio broadcast stations	AM 2, FM 9, shortwave 4 (2000)	AM 10, FM 13, shortwave 0 (1998)
Railways	total: 578 km narrow gauge: 578 km 1.000-m gauge (2005)	-
Religions	indigenous beliefs 50%, Christian 30%, Muslim 20%	Protestant 62.5% (Seventh-Day Adventist 10.8%, Pentecostal 9.5%, Other Church of God 8.3%, Baptist 7.2%, New Testament Church of God 6.3%, Church of God in Jamaica 4.8%, Church of God of Prophecy 4.3%, Anglican 3.6%, other Christian 7.7%), Roman Catholic 2.6%, other or unspecified 14.2%, none 20.9%, (2001 census)
Sex ratio	at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2006 est.)	at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.034 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.816 male(s)/female total population: 0.978 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Suffrage	18 years of age; universal	18 years of age; universal
Telephone system	general assessment: NA domestic: fair system of open-wire, microwave radio relay, and cellular connections international: country code - 229; satellite earth station - 7 (Intelsat-Atlantic Ocean); fiber optic submarine cable (SAT-3/WASC) provides connectivity to Europe and Asia	general assessment: fully automatic domestic telephone network domestic: the 1999 agreement to open the market for telecommunications services resulted in rapid growth in mobile-cellular telephone usage; mobile-cellular teledensity now exceeds 100 per 100 persons; the number of fixed-lines in use has been declining international: country code - 1-876; the Fibralink submarine cable network provides enhanced delivery of business and broadband traffic and is linked to the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1) submarine cable in the Dominican Republic; the link to ARCOS-1 provides seamless connectivity to US, parts of the Caribbean, Central America, and South America; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)
Telephones - main lines in use	76,300 (2005)	319,000 (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular	386,700 (2005)	2.804 million (2005)
Television broadcast stations	1 (2001)	7 (1997)
Terrain	mostly flat to undulating plain; some hills and low mountains	mostly mountains, with narrow, discontinuous coastal plain
Total fertility rate	5.2 children born/woman (2006 est.)	2.36 children born/woman (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate	NA%	10.2% (2007 est.)
Waterways	150 km (on River Niger along northern border) (2005)	-

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