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Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II
(1952)
Governor-General: Kenneth Hall
(2006)
Prime Minister: Bruce Golding
(2007)
Current government officials
Land area: 4,181 sq mi (10,829 sq km);
total area: 4,244 sq mi (10,991 sq km)
Population (2008 est.): 2,801,544
(growth rate: 0.7%); birth rate: 20.0/1000; infant mortality rate:
15.4/1000; life expectancy: 73; density per sq km: 258
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Kingston, 937,700 (metro. area), 590,500 (city
proper)
Monetary unit: Jamaican dollar
Languages:
English, Jamaican Creole
Ethnicity/race:
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%
National Holiday:
Independence Day, August 6
Literacy rate: 88% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005
est.): $11.56 billion; per capita $4,200. Real growth rate:
1.5%. Inflation: 12.9%. Unemployment: 11.5%. Arable
land: 16%. Agriculture: sugarcane, bananas, coffee,
citrus, yams, ackees, vegetables; poultry, goats, milk; crustaceans,
mollusks. Labor force: 1.2 million; agriculture 19.3%,
industry 16.6%, services 64.1% (2004). Industries: tourism,
bauxite/alumina, agro processing, light manufactures, rum, cement,
metal, paper, chemical products, telecommunications. Natural
resources: bauxite, gypsum, limestone. Exports: $1.608
billion f.o.b. (2004 est.): alumina, bauxite, sugar, bananas, rum,
coffee, yams, beverages, chemicals, wearing apparel, mineral
fuels. Imports: $4.093 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.): food and
other consumer goods, industrial supplies, fuel, parts and
accessories of capital goods, machinery and transport equipment,
construction materials. Major trading partners: U.S., Canada,
France, China, UK, Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Trinidad and
Tobago, Japan (2004).
Member of Commonwealth of Nations
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 444,400 (2002); mobile cellular: 1.4 million (2002).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 10, FM 13, shortwave 0 (1998).
Television broadcast stations: 7 (1997). Internet
hosts: 1,480 (2003). Internet users: 600,000 (2002).
Transportation: Railways: 272 km; note:
207 km belonging to the Jamaica Railway Corporation, were in common
carrier service but are no longer operational; the remaining track
is privately owned and used to transport bauxite (2003).
Highways: total: 18,700 km; paved: 13,109 km; unpaved: 5,591
km (1999 est.). Ports and harbors: Kingston, Port Esquivel,
Port Kaiser, Port Rhoades, Rocky Point. Airports: 35 (2004
est.).
International disputes: none.
Major sources and definitions
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