CIA - The World Factbook

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. 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.

Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba

slightly smaller than Connecticut

measured from claimed archipelagic straight baselines

tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior

mostly mountains, with narrow, discontinuous coastal plain

bauxite, gypsum, limestone

hurricanes (especially July to November)

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

strategic location between Cayman Trench and Jamaica Channel, the main sea lanes for the Panama Canal

2,825,928 (July 2009 est.)

19.68 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)

6.43 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)

-5.7 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)

2.25 children born/woman (2009 est.)

black 91.2%, mixed 6.2%, other or unknown 2.6% (2001 census)

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)

English, English patois

constitutional parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm

14 parishes; Clarendon, Hanover, Kingston, Manchester, Portland, Saint Andrew, Saint Ann, Saint Catherine, Saint Elizabeth, Saint James, Saint Mary, Saint Thomas, Trelawny, Westmoreland

6 August 1962 (from the UK)

Independence Day, 6 August (1962)

based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

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)

Supreme Court (judges appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister); Court of Appeal; Privy Council in UK; member of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)

Jamaica Labor Party or JLP [Bruce GOLDING]; People's National Party or PNP [Portia SIMPSON-MILLER]; National Democratic Movement or NDM [Michael WILLIAMS]

New Beginnings Movement or NBM; Rastafarians (black religious/racial cultists, pan-Africanists)

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

diagonal yellow cross divides the flag into four triangles - green (top and bottom) and black (hoist side and outer side); green represents hope, vegetation, and agriculture, black reflects hardships overcome and to be faced, and yellow recalls golden sunshine and the island's natural resources

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 the lowest economic growth in Latin America, will face increasing difficulties as the global economy slows. The economy faces serious long-term problems: a sizable merchandise trade deficit, large-scale unemployment and underemployment, and a debt-to-GDP ratio of almost 130%. 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. It hinders government spending on infrastructure and social programs as debt servicing accounts for nearly half of government expenditures. Inflation rose sharply in 2008 as a result of high prices for imported food and oil and should fall in 2009 with the decline in international oil prices. 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.

$20.88 billion (2008 est.)

$20.69 billion (2006)

$13.47 billion (2008 est.)

1.261 million (2008 est.)

34.9% of GDP (2008 est.)

124.1% of GDP (2008 est.)

NA% (31 December 2008)

17.2% (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$1.369 billion (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$4.54 billion (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$6.609 billion (31 December 2007)

$12.33 billion (31 December 2007)

sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus, yams, ackees, vegetables; poultry, goats, milk; crustaceans, mollusks

tourism, bauxite/alumina, agro processing, light manufactures, rum, cement, metal, paper, chemical products, telecommunications

7.04 billion kWh (2006 est.)

6.1 billion kWh (2006 est.)

0 bbl/day (2005 est.)

73,370 bbl/day (2006 est.)

1,535 bbl/day (2005)

71,280 bbl/day (2005)

0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

$-2.448 billion (2008 est.)

$2.569 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

alumina, bauxite, sugar, rum, coffee, yams, beverages, chemicals, wearing apparel, mineral fuels

US 37.2%, Canada 15%, UK 9.7%, Netherlands 9.1% (2007)

$7.191 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

food and other consumer goods, industrial supplies, fuel, parts and accessories of capital goods, machinery and transport equipment, construction materials

US 37.2%, Trinidad and Tobago 14.5%, Grenada 9.7%, Venezuela 8.3%, Brazil 4.2% (2007)

$2.05 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

$10.38 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

Jamaican dollars (JMD) per US dollar - 72.236 (2008 est.), 69.034 (2007), 65.768 (2006), 62.51 (2005), 61.197 (2004)

2.495 million (2006)

AM 10, FM 13, shortwave 0 (1998)

Kingston, Port Esquivel, Port Kaiser, Port Rhoades, Rocky Point

Jamaica Defense Force: Ground Forces, Coast Guard, Air Wing (2007)

18 years of age for voluntary military service; younger recruits may be conscripted with parental consent (2001)

0.6% of GDP (2006 est.)

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