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 Jamaica (2008)World (2008)
 JamaicaWorld
Administrative divisions 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
266 nations, dependent areas, and other entities
Age structure 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.)
0-14 years: 27.4% (male 931,551,498/female 875,646,416)


15-64 years: 65.1% (male 2,174,605,518/female 2,124,494,703)


65 years and over: 7.5% (male 217,451,123/female 278,474,917) (2007 est.)
Agriculture - products sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus, yams, ackees, vegetables; poultry, goats, milk; crustaceans, mollusks -
Airports 34 (2007) total airports - 49,024


top ten by passengers: Atlanta - 84,846,639; Chicago - 77,028,134; London - 67,530,197; Tokyo - 65,810,672; Los Angeles - 61,041,066; Dallas/Fort Worth - 60,226,138; Paris - 56,849,567; Frankfurt - 52,810,683; Beijing - 48,654,770; Denver - 47,325,016


top ten by cargo (metric tons): Memphis - 3,692,081; Hong Kong - 3,609,780; Anchorage - 2,691,395; Seoul - 2,336,572; Tokyo - 2,280,830; Shanghai - 2,168,122; Paris - 2,130,724; Frankfurt - 2,127,646; Louisville (US) - 1,983,032; Singapore - 1,931,881 (2006)
Airports - with paved runways total: 11


2,438 to 3,047 m: 2


914 to 1,523 m: 4


under 914 m: 5 (2007)
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Airports - with unpaved runways total: 23


914 to 1,523 m: 2


under 914 m: 21 (2007)
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Area total: 10,991 sq km


land: 10,831 sq km


water: 160 sq km
total: 510.072 million sq km


land: 148.94 million sq km


water: 361.132 million sq km


note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land
Area - comparative slightly smaller than Connecticut land area about 16 times the size of the US
Background 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. Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war).
Birth rate 20.44 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) 20.09 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Budget revenues: $3.441 billion


expenditures: $3.905 billion (2007 est.)
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Capital name: Kingston


geographic coordinates: 18 00 N, 76 48 W


time difference: UTC-5 (same time as Washington, DC during Standard Time)
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Climate tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior a wide equatorial band of hot and humid tropical climates - bordered north and south by subtropical temperate zones - that separate two large areas of cold and dry polar climates
Coastline 1,022 km 356,000 km


note: 94 nations and other entities are islands that border no other countries, they include: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Baker Island, Barbados, Bermuda, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jan Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Federated States of Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru, Navassa Island, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spratly Islands, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and Futuna, Taiwan
Constitution 6 August 1962 -
Country name conventional long form: none


conventional short form: Jamaica
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Death rate 6.59 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) 8.37 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Debt - external $7.138 billion (31 December 2007 est.) $54.31 trillion


note: this figure is the sum total of all countries' external debt, both public and private (2004 est.)
Diplomatic representation from the US 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
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Diplomatic representation in the US 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
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Disputes - international none stretching over 250,000 km, the world's 322 international land boundaries separate 194 independent states and 70 dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities; ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided states into separate political entities as much as history, physical terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in sometimes arbitrary and imposed boundaries; most maritime states have claimed limits that include territorial seas and exclusive economic zones; overlapping limits due to adjacent or opposite coasts create the potential for 430 bilateral maritime boundaries of which 209 have agreements that include contiguous and non-contiguous segments; boundary, borderland/resource, and territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to violent or militarized; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and unmanaged boundaries tend to encourage illegal cross-border activities, uncontrolled migration, and confrontation; territorial disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural claims, or they may be brought on by resource competition; ethnic and cultural clashes continue to be responsible for much of the territorial fragmentation and internal displacement of the estimated 6.6 million people and cross-border displacements of 8.6 million refugees around the world as of early 2006; just over one million refugees were repatriated in the same period; other sources of contention include access to water and mineral (especially hydrocarbon) resources, fisheries, and arable land; armed conflict prevails not so much between the uniformed armed forces of independent states as between stateless armed entities that detract from the sustenance and welfare of local populations, leaving the community of nations to cope with resultant refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, and environmental degradation
Economic aid - recipient $35.74 million (2005) ODA, $106.4 billion (2005)
Economy - overview 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. Global output rose by 5.2% in 2007, led by China (11.4%), India (8.5%), and Russia (7.4%). The 14 other successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as strong performers, in the 8%-10% range of growth. From 2006 to 2007 growth rates slowed in all the major industrial countries except for the United Kingdom (3.0%). Analysts attribute the slowdown to uncertainties in the financial markets and lowered consumer confidence. Worldwide, nations varied widely in their growth results. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is losing decisionmaking powers to international bodies, notably the EU. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from an economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuated a growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic prospects. After the initial coalition victory, the complex political difficulties and the high economic cost of establishing domestic order in Iraq became major global problems that continued through 2007.
Electricity - consumption 6.131 billion kWh (2005) 16.78 trillion kWh (2005 est.)
Electricity - exports 0 kWh (2005) 635.6 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports 0 kWh (2005) 625.7 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - production 6.985 billion kWh (2005) 18.55 trillion kWh (2005 est.)
Elevation extremes lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m


highest point: Blue Mountain Peak 2,256 m
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m


note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean


highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m
Environment - current issues 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 large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion; global warming becoming a greater concern
Environment - international 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
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Ethnic groups black 91.2%, mixed 6.2%, other or unknown 2.6% (2001 census) -
Exchange rates 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: 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
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Exports 1,531 bbl/day (2004) 63.76 million bbl/day (2004)
Exports - commodities alumina, bauxite, sugar, bananas, rum, coffee, yams, beverages, chemicals, wearing apparel, mineral fuels the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services


top ten - share of world trade: electrical machinery, including computers 14.8%; mineral fuels, including oil, coal, gas, and refined products 14.4%; nuclear reactors, boilers, and parts 14.2%; cars, trucks, and buses 8.9%; scientific and precision instruments 3.5%; plastics 3.4%; iron and steel 2.7%; organic chemicals 2.6%; pharmaceutical products 2.6%; diamonds, pearls, and precious stones 1.9% (2006 est.)
Exports - partners US 30.2%, Canada 15.6%, China 15.2%, UK 10.3%, Netherlands 7%, Norway 4.6% (2006) US 15.1%, Germany 7.4%, China 5.9%, France 4.6%, UK 4.5%, Japan 4.4% (2006)
Fiscal year 1 April - 31 March -
Flag description 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: 5%


industry: 34%


services: 61% (2007 est.)
agriculture: 4%


industry: 32%


services: 64% (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate 1.5% (2007 est.) 5.2% (2007 est.)
Geographic coordinates 18 15 N, 77 30 W -
Geography - note strategic location between Cayman Trench and Jamaica Channel, the main sea lanes for the Panama Canal the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13.7-billion-year age estimated for the universe
Heliports - 1,359 (2007)
Household income or consumption by percentage share lowest 10%: 2.1%


highest 10%: 35.8% (2004)
lowest 10%: 2.5%


highest 10%: 29.8% (2002 est.)
Illicit drugs 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 cocaine: worldwide coca leaf cultivation in 2005 amounted to 208,500 hectares; Colombia produced slightly more than two-thirds of the worldwide crop, followed by Peru and Bolivia; potential pure cocaine production rose to 900 from 645 metric tons in 2005 - partially due to improved methodologies used to calculate levels of production; Colombia conducts aggressive coca eradication campaign, but both Peruvian and Bolivian Governments are hesitant to eradicate coca in key growing areas; 551 metric tons of export-quality cocaine (85% pure) is documented to have been seized or destroyed in 2005; US consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have been in excess of 380 metric tons



opiates: worldwide illicit opium poppy cultivation reached 208,500 hectares in 2005; potential opium production of 4,990 metric tons was only a 9% decrease over 2004's highest total recorded since estimates began in mid-1980s; Afghanistan is world's primary opium producer, accounting for 90% of the global supply; Southeast Asia - responsible for 9% of global opium - saw marginal increases in production; Latin America produced 1% of global opium, but most was refined into heroin destined for the US market; if all potential opium was processed into pure heroin, the potential global production would be 577 metric tons of heroin in 2005
Imports 71,420 bbl/day (2004) 63.18 million bbl/day (2004)
Imports - commodities food and other consumer goods, industrial supplies, fuel, parts and accessories of capital goods, machinery and transport equipment, construction materials the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services


top ten - share of world trade: see listing for exports
Imports - partners US 39.3%, Trinidad and Tobago 13.6%, Venezuela 9.5% (2006) China 9.8%, Germany 8.8%, US 8.6%, Japan 5.6% (2006)
Independence 6 August 1962 (from UK) -
Industrial production growth rate 2% (2007 est.) 5% (2007 est.)
Industries tourism, bauxite/alumina, agro processing, light manufactures, rum, cement, metal, paper, chemical products, telecommunications dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems
Infant mortality rate 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.)
total: 43.52 deaths/1,000 live births


male: 46.32 deaths/1,000 live births


female: 40.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices) 7.1% (2007 est.) developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 20% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in one Third World countries (Zimbabwe); inflation rates have declined for most countries for the last several years, held in check by increasing international competition from several low wage countries (2005 est.)
International organization participation 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 250 sq km (2002) 2,770,980 sq km (2003)
Judicial branch Supreme Court (judges appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister); Court of Appeal -
Labor force 1.255 million (2007 est.) 3.001 billion (2007 est.)
Labor force - by occupation agriculture: 17%


industry: 19%


services: 64% (2006)
agriculture: 40%


industry: 20.5%


services: 39.4% (2007 est.)
Land boundaries 0 km the land boundaries in the world total 251,060 km (not counting shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border 14 other countries


note: 45 nations and other areas are landlocked, these include: Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked
Land use arable land: 15.83%


permanent crops: 10.01%


other: 74.16% (2005)
arable land: 13.31%


permanent crops: 4.71%


other: 81.98% (2005)
Languages English, English patois Mandarin Chinese 13.22%, Spanish 4.88%, English 4.68%, Arabic 3.12%, Hindi 2.74%, Portuguese 2.69%, Bengali 2.59%, Russian 2.2%, Japanese 1.85%, Standard German 1.44%, Wu Chinese 1.17% (2005 est.)


note: percents are for "first language" speakers only
Legal system based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction all members of the UN are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court
Legislative branch 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
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Life expectancy at birth total population: 73.12 years


male: 71.43 years


female: 74.9 years (2007 est.)
total population: 65.82 years


male: 63.89 years


female: 67.84 years (2007 est.)
Literacy definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school


total population: 87.9%


male: 84.1%


female: 91.6% (2003 est.)
definition: age 15 and over can read and write


total population: 82%


male: 87%


female: 77%


note: over two-thirds of the world's 785 million illiterate adults are found in only eight countries (India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Egypt); of all the illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low literacy rates are concentrated in three regions, South and West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab states, where around one-third of the men and half of all women are illiterate (2005 est.)
Location Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba -
Map references Central America and the Caribbean Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World
Maritime claims 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
a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: territorial sea - 12 nm, contiguous zone - 24 nm, and exclusive economic zone - 200 nm; additional zones provide for exploitation of continental shelf resources and an exclusive fishing zone; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm
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)
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Military branches Jamaica Defense Force: Ground Forces, Coast Guard, Air Wing (2007) -
Military expenditures - percent of GDP 0.6% (2006 est.) roughly 2% of gross world product (2005 est.)
National holiday Independence Day, 6 August (1962) -
Nationality noun: Jamaican(s)


adjective: Jamaican
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Natural hazards hurricanes (especially July to November) large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions)
Natural resources bauxite, gypsum, limestone the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address
Net migration rate -6.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) -
Political parties and leaders 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 New Beginnings Movement or NBM; Rastafarians (black religious/racial cultists, pan-Africanists) -
Population 2,780,132 (July 2007 est.) 6,602,224,175 (July 2007 est.)
Population below poverty line 14.8% (2003 est.) -
Population growth rate 0.777% (2007 est.) 1.167% (2007 est.)
Radio broadcast stations AM 10, FM 13, shortwave 0 (1998) AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA
Railways - total: 1,370,782 km (2006)
Religions 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) Christians 33.32% (of which Roman Catholics 16.99%, Protestants 5.78%, Orthodox 3.53%, Anglicans 1.25%), Muslims 21.01%, Hindus 13.26%, Buddhists 5.84%, Sikhs 0.35%, Jews 0.23%, Baha'is 0.12%, other religions 11.78%, non-religious 11.77%, atheists 2.32% (2007 est.)
Sex ratio 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.)
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female


under 15 years: 1.064 male(s)/female


15-64 years: 1.024 male(s)/female


65 years and over: 0.781 male(s)/female


total population: 1.014 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Suffrage 18 years of age; universal -
Telephone system 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)
general assessment: NA


domestic: NA


international: NA
Telephones - main lines in use 319,000 (2005) 1,263,367,600 (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular 2.804 million (2005) 2,168,433,600 (2005)
Television broadcast stations 7 (1997) NA
Terrain mostly mountains, with narrow, discontinuous coastal plain the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean
Total fertility rate 2.36 children born/woman (2007 est.) 2.59 children born/woman (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate 10.2% (2007 est.) 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2007 est.)
Waterways - 671,886 km (2004)
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