Compare Lesotho (2007) - Jamaica (2007)

Compare Lesotho (2007) z Jamaica (2007)

	Lesotho (2007)	Jamaica (2007)

Administrative divisions	10 districts; Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohale's Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha's Nek, Quthing, Thaba-Tseka	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: 35.7% (male 382,308/female 377,303) 15-64 years: 59.3% (male 613,979/female 645,818) 65 years and over: 5% (male 42,621/female 63,233) (2007 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	corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock	sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus, yams, ackees, vegetables; poultry, goats, milk; crustaceans, mollusks
Airports	28 (2007)	34 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways	total: 3 over 3,047 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2007)	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: 25 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 21 (2007)	total: 23 914 to 1,523 m: 2 under 914 m: 21 (2007)
Area	total: 30,355 sq km land: 30,355 sq km water: 0 sq km	total: 10,991 sq km land: 10,831 sq km water: 160 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly smaller than Maryland	slightly smaller than Connecticut
Background	Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966. The Basuto National Party ruled for the first two decades. King MOSHOESHOE was exiled in 1990, but returned to Lesotho in 1992 and reinstated in 1995. Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after 7 years of military rule. In 1998, violent protests and a military mutiny following a contentious election prompted a brief but bloody intervention by South African and Botswanan military forces under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community. Constitutional reforms have since restored political stability; peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002.	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, replaced by African slaves. England seized the island in 1655 and a plantation economy - based on sugar, cocoa, and coffee - was established. 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. The cycle of violence, drugs, and poverty has served to impoverish large sectors of the populace. Nonetheless, many rural and resort areas remain relatively safe and contribute substantially to the economy.
Birth rate	24.72 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)	20.44 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Budget	revenues: $995.8 million expenditures: $763.2 million (2006 est.)	revenues: $3.214 billion expenditures: $3.772 billion (2006 est.)
Capital	name: Maseru geographic coordinates: 29 19 S, 27 29 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)	name: Kingston geographic coordinates: 18 00 N, 76 48 W time difference: UTC-5 (same time as Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Climate	temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers	tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior
Coastline	0 km (landlocked)	1,022 km
Constitution	2 April 1993	6 August 1962
Country name	conventional long form: Kingdom of Lesotho conventional short form: Lesotho local long form: Kingdom of Lesotho local short form: Lesotho former: Basutoland	conventional long form: none conventional short form: Jamaica
Death rate	22.49 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)	6.59 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Debt - external	$652 million (2006 est.)	$6.926 billion (2006 est.)
Diplomatic representation from the US	chief of mission: Ambassador June Carter PERRY embassy: 254 Kingsway, Maseru West (Consular Section) mailing address: P. O. Box 333, Maseru 100, Lesotho telephone: [266] 22 312666 FAX: [266] 22 310116	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 Molelekeng E. RAPOLAKI chancery: 2511 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 797-5533 through 5536 FAX: [1] (202) 234-6815	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	none	none
Economic aid - recipient	$68.82 million (2005)	$35.74 million (2005)
Economy - overview	Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho relies on remittances from miners employed in South Africa and customs duties from the Southern Africa Customs Union for the majority of government revenue. However, the government has recently strengthened its tax system to reduce dependency on customs duties. Completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 now permits the sale of water to South Africa and also generates royalties for Lesotho. Lesotho produces about 90% of its own electrical power needs. As the number of mineworkers has declined steadily over the past several years, a small manufacturing base has developed based on farm products that support the milling, canning, leather, and jute industries, as well as a rapidly expanding apparel-assembly sector. The latter has grown significantly mainly due to Lesotho qualifying for the trade benefits contained in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The economy is still primarily based on subsistence agriculture, especially livestock, although drought has decreased agricultural activity. The extreme inequality in the distribution of income remains a major drawback. Lesotho has signed an Interim Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF.	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. Jamaica's economy, already saddled with a record of sluggish growth, was hit hard by Hurricane Ivan in late 2004, but has made a gradual recovery. 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 high debt burden - the result of government bailouts to ailing sectors of the economy, most notably the financial sector in the mid-to-late 1990s. Following a strategy begun in 2004, Jamaica has reduced its public debt to 133.3% of GDP. Inflation also had declined to 5.8% at the end of 2006. High unemployment exacerbates the serious crime problem, including gang violence fueled by the drug trade. The government 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	338.5 million kWh (2005)	6.131 billion kWh (2005)
Electricity - exports	0 kWh (2005)	0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports	13 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2005)	0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - production	350 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2005)	6.985 billion kWh (2005)
Elevation extremes	lowest point: junction of the Orange and Makhaleng Rivers 1,400 m highest point: Thabana Ntlenyana 3,482 m	lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m highest point: Blue Mountain Peak 2,256 m
Environment - current issues	population pressure forcing settlement in marginal areas results in overgrazing, severe soil erosion, and soil exhaustion; desertification; Highlands Water Project controls, stores, and redirects water to South Africa	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, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea	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	Sotho 99.7%, Europeans, Asians, and other 0.3%,	black 91.2%, mixed 6.2%, other or unknown 2.6% (2001 census)
Exchange rates	maloti per US dollar - 6.85 (2006), 6.3593 (2005), 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003), 10.541 (2002)	Jamaican dollars per US dollar - 65.768 (2006), 62.51 (2005), 61.197 (2004), 57.741 (2003), 48.416 (2002)
Executive branch	chief of state: King LETSIE III (since 7 February 1996); note - King LETSIE III formerly occupied the throne from November 1990 to February 1995 while his father was in exile head of government: Prime Minister Pakalitha MOSISILI (since 23 May 1998) cabinet: Cabinet elections: none - according to the constitution, the leader of the majority party in the Assembly automatically becomes prime minister; the monarch is hereditary, but, under the terms of the constitution, that came into effect after the March 1993 election, the monarch is a "living symbol of national unity" with no executive or legislative powers; under traditional law the college of chiefs has the power to depose the monarch, determine who is next in the line of succession, or who shall serve as regent in the event that the successor is not of mature age	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	NA bbl/day
Exports - commodities	manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals (2000)	alumina, bauxite, sugar, bananas, rum, coffee, yams, beverages, chemicals, wearing apparel, mineral fuels
Exports - partners	US 81.9%, Belgium 15%, Canada 1.9% (2006)	US 30.2%, Canada 15.6%, China 15.2%, UK 10.3%, Netherlands 7%, Norway 4.6% (2006)
Fiscal year	1 April - 31 March	1 April - 31 March
Flag description	three horizontal stripes of blue (top), white, and green in the proportions of 3:4:3; the colors represent rain, peace, and prosperity respectively; centered in the white stripe is a black Basotho hat representing the indigenous people; the flag was unfurled in October 2006 to celebrate 40 years of independence	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: 18.2% industry: 40.8% services: 41% (2006 est.)	agriculture: 5.4% industry: 33.8% services: 60.8% (2006 est.)
GDP - real growth rate	6.2% (2006 est.)	2.5% (2006 est.)
Geographic coordinates	29 30 S, 28 30 E	18 15 N, 77 30 W
Geography - note	landlocked, completely surrounded by South Africa; mountainous, more than 80% of the country is 1,800 meters above sea level	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%: 0.9% highest 10%: 43.4% (2002 est.)	lowest 10%: 2.1% highest 10%: 35.8% (2004)
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
Imports	NA bbl/day	NA bbl/day
Imports - commodities	food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products	food and other consumer goods, industrial supplies, fuel, parts and accessories of capital goods, machinery and transport equipment, construction materials
Imports - partners	Hong Kong 33.4%, China 31.2%, Germany 7.7%, India 7.3% (2006)	US 39.3%, Trinidad and Tobago 13.6%, Venezuela 9.5% (2006)
Independence	4 October 1966 (from UK)	6 August 1962 (from UK)
Industrial production growth rate	15.5% (1999)	-2% (2000 est.)
Industries	food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts, construction, tourism	tourism, bauxite/alumina, agro processing, light manufactures, rum, cement, metal, paper, chemical products, telecommunications
Infant mortality rate	total: 79.85 deaths/1,000 live births male: 84.4 deaths/1,000 live births female: 75.17 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 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)	6.1% (2006 est.)	8.6% (2006 est.)
International organization participation	ACP, AfDB, AU, C, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, ISO (subscriber), ITU, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, SACU, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO	ACP, C, Caricom, CDB, FAO, G-15, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, 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	30 sq km (2003)	250 sq km (2002)
Judicial branch	High Court (chief justice appointed by the monarch acting on the advice of the Prime Minister); Court of Appeal; Magistrate Courts; customary or traditional court	Supreme Court (judges appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister); Court of Appeal
Labor force	838,000 (2000)	1.249 million (2006 est.)
Labor force - by occupation	agriculture: 86% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa industry and services: 14% (2002 est.)	agriculture: 18.1% industry: 17.3% services: 64.6% (2004)
Land boundaries	total: 909 km border countries: South Africa 909 km	0 km
Land use	arable land: 10.87% permanent crops: 0.13% other: 89% (2005)	arable land: 15.83% permanent crops: 10.01% other: 74.16% (2005)
Languages	Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa	English, English patois
Legal system	based on English common law and Roman-Dutch law; judicial review of legislative acts in High Court and Court of Appeal; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations	based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Legislative branch	bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (33 members - 22 principal chiefs and 11 other members appointed by the ruling party) and the Assembly (120 seats, 80 by popular vote and 40 by proportional vote; members elected by popular vote for five-year terms) elections: last held 17 February 2007 (next to be held in 2012) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - LCD 61, NIP 21, ABC 17, LWP 10, ACP 4, BNP 3, other 4	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: 39.97 years male: 40.73 years female: 39.18 years (2007 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: 84.8% male: 74.5% female: 94.5% (2003 est.)	definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school total population: 87.9% male: 84.1% female: 91.6% (2003 est.)
Location	Southern Africa, an enclave of South Africa	Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba
Map references	Africa	Central America and the Caribbean
Maritime claims	none (landlocked)	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 - note	the Lesotho Government in 1999 began an open debate on the future structure, size, and role of the armed forces, especially considering the Lesotho Defense Force's (LDF) history of intervening in political affairs	-
Military branches	Lesotho Defense Force (LDF): Army and Air Wing	Jamaica Defense Force: Ground Forces, Coast Guard, Air Wing (2007)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	2.6% (2006)	0.6% (2006 est.)
National holiday	Independence Day, 4 October (1966)	Independence Day, 6 August (1962)
Nationality	noun: Mosotho (singular), Basotho (plural) adjective: Basotho	noun: Jamaican(s) adjective: Jamaican
Natural hazards	periodic droughts	hurricanes (especially July to November)
Natural resources	water, agricultural and grazing land, diamonds, sand, clay, building stone	bauxite, gypsum, limestone
Net migration rate	-0.78 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)	-6.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Political parties and leaders	Alliance of Congress Parties or ACP; All Basotho Convention or ABC [Thomas THABANE]; Basotholand African Congress or BAC [Khauhelo RALITAPOLE]; Basotho Congress Party or BCP [Ntsukunyane MPHANYA]; Basotho National Party or BNP [Maj. Gen. Justin Metsing LEKHANYA]; Kopanang Basotho Party or KPB [Pheelo MOSALA]; Lesotho Congress for Democracy or LCD (the governing party) [Pakalitha MOSISILI]; Lesotho Education Party or LEP [Thabo PITSO]; Lesotho Workers Party or LWP [Macaefa BILLY]; Marematlou Freedom Party or MFP [Vincent MALEBO]; National Independent Party or NIP [Anthony MANYELI]; New Lesotho Freedom Party or NLFP [Manapo MAJARA]; Popular Front for Democracy or PFD [Lekhetho RAKUOANE]; Sefate Democratic Union or SDU [Bofihla NKUEBE]; Social Democratic Party of SDP [Masitise SELESO]	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	2,125,262 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 2007 est.)	2,780,132 (July 2007 est.)
Population below poverty line	49% (1999)	14.8% (2003 est.)
Population growth rate	0.144% (2007 est.)	0.777% (2007 est.)
Radio broadcast stations	AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 1 (1998)	AM 10, FM 13, shortwave 0 (1998)
Religions	Christian 80%, indigenous beliefs 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: 1.013 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.951 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.674 male(s)/female total population: 0.956 male(s)/female (2007 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: rudimentary system consisting of a modest but growing number of landlines, a small microwave radio relay system, and a small radiotelephone communication system; mobile-cellular telephone system is expanding domestic: privatized in 2001, Telecom Lesotho tasked with providing an additional 50,000 fixed-line connections within five years, a target not met; mobile-cellular service is expanding with a subscribership approaching 15 per 100 persons; rural services are scant international: country code - 266; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)	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	48,000 (2005)	319,000 (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular	249,800 (2005)	2.804 million (2005)
Television broadcast stations	1 (2000)	7 (1997)
Terrain	mostly highland with plateaus, hills, and mountains	mostly mountains, with narrow, discontinuous coastal plain
Total fertility rate	3.21 children born/woman (2007 est.)	2.36 children born/woman (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate	45% (2002)	11.3% (2006 est.)

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