LOCATION:

Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba

AREA:

total: 10,991 sq km
land: 10,831 sq km
water: 160 sq km
Area - comparative:
  
slightly smaller than Connecticut

POPULATION:

2,731,832

(July 2005 est.)

AGE STRUCTURE:

0-14 years: 27.5%
(male 385,099/female 367,398)
 
15-64 years: 65.6%
(male 897,953/female 893,509)

65 years and over: 6.9%
(male 83,632/female 104,241)

(2005 est.)

MEDIAN AGE:

total: 27.25 years
male: 26.55 years
female: 27.97 years

(2005 est.)

POPULATION GROWTH:

0.71%

(2005 est.)

INFANT MORTALITY RATE:

total: 12.36 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 13.35 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 11.32 deaths/1,000 live births

(2005 est.)

HIV/AIDS-ADULT PREVALENCE RATE:

0.7 %

World Fact Book estimates: 1.2 %

HIV/AIDS- PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS :

21,000

low estimate:
11,000

high estimate:
40,000

HIV/AIDS-DEATH

900

low estimate:
500

high estimate:
1600

ETHNIC GROUPS:

black 90.9%,
East Indian 1.3%,
white 0.2%,
Chinese 0.2%,
mixed 7.3%,
other 0.1%

RELIGIONS:

Protestant 61.3%
(Church of God 21.2%,
 Baptist 8.8%,
Anglican 5.5%,
 Seventh-Day Adventist 9%,
Pentecostal 7.6%,
Methodist 2.7%,
United Church 2.7%,
 Brethren 1.1%,
Jehovah's Witness 1.6%,
 Moravian 1.1%),
Roman Catholic 4%,
 other including some spiritual cults 34.7%

LANGUAGES:

English, patois English

LITERACY:

definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school
total population: 87.9%
male: 84.1%
female: 91.6%

(2003 est.)

GOVERNMENT TYPE:

constitutional parliamentary democracy

CAPITAL:

Kingston

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

INDEPENDENCE:

6 August 1962 (from UK)

ECONOMY:

The Jamaican economy is heavily dependent on services, which now account for 60% of GDP. The country continues to derive most of its foreign exchange from tourism, remittances, and bauxite/alumina. The global economic slowdown, particularly after the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001, stunted economic growth; the economy rebounded moderately in 2003-04, with brisk tourist seasons. But the economy faces serious long-term problems: high interest rates; increased foreign competition; a pressured, sometimes sliding, exchange rate; a sizable merchandise trade deficit; large-scale unemployment; and a growing internal debt, the result of government bailouts to ailing sectors of the economy. The ratio of debt to GDP is close to 150%. Inflation, previously a bright spot, is expected to remain in the double digits. Uncertain economic conditions have led to increased civil unrest, including gang violence fueled by the drug trade. In 2004, the government faced the difficult prospect of having to achieve fiscal discipline in order to maintain debt payments while simultaneously attacking a serious and growing crime problem
which is hampering economic growth. Attempts at deficit
 control were derailed by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004,
which required substantial government spending to
repair the damage. Despite the hurricane, tourism looks
 set to enjoy solid growth for the foreseeable future.

GDP:

purchasing power parity - $11.13 billion

(2004 est.)

POPULATION BELOW POVERT LINE:

19.7%

(2002 est.)

INFLATION RATE:

12.4%

(2004 est.)

UNEMPLOYMENT:

15% (2004 est.)

EXCHANGE RATES:

Jamaican dollars per US dollar -
 61.5321 (2004),
 57.7409 (2003),
 48.4159 (2002),
45.9962 (2001),
 42.7011 (2000)

ILLICIT DRUGS:

major transshipment point for cocaine from South America to North America and Europe; illicit cultivation 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