JAMAICA
GEOGRAPHY
Total area: 10,990 km2; land area: 10,830 km2
Comparative area: slightly smaller than Connecticut
Land boundaries: none
Coastline: 1,022 km
Maritime claims:
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior
Terrain: mostly mountains with narrow, discontinuous coastal plain
Natural resources: bauxite, gypsum, limestone
Land use: arable land 19%; permanent crops 6%; meadows and pastures
18%; forest and woodland 28%; other 29%; includes irrigated 3%
Environment: subject to hurricanes (especially July to November);
deforestation; water pollution
Note: strategic location between Cayman Trench and Jamaica
Channel, the main sea lanes for Panama Canal
PEOPLE
Population: 2,489,353 (July 1991), growth rate 0.9% (1991)
Birth rate: 24 births/1,000 population (1991)
Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
Net migration rate: - 9 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
Infant mortality rate: 18 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
Life expectancy at birth: 72 years male, 76 years female (1991)
Total fertility rate: 2.6 children born/woman (1991)
Nationality: noun--Jamaican(s); adjective--Jamaican
Ethnic divisions: African 76.3%, Afro-European 15.1%, East Indian
and Afro-East Indian 3.0%, white 3.2%, Chinese and Afro-Chinese 1.2%,
other 1.2%
Religion: predominantly Protestant 55.9% (Church of God 18.4%,
Baptist 10%, Anglican 7.1%, Seven-Day Adventist 6.9%, Pentecostal 5.2%,
Methodist 3.1%, United Church 2.7%, other 2.5%), Roman Catholic 5%,
other 39.1%, including some spiritualist cults (1982)
Language: English, Creole
Literacy: 98% (male 98%, female 99%) age 15 and over having ever
attended school (1990 est.)
Labor force: 1,062,100; services 41%, agriculture 22.5%, industry
19%; unemployed 17.5% (1989)
Organized labor: 24% of labor force (1989)
GOVERNMENT
Long-form name: none
Type: 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
Independence: 6 August 1962 (from UK)
Constitution: 6 August 1962
Legal system: based on English common law; has not accepted
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: Independence Day (first Monday in August),
6 August 1990
Executive branch: British monarch, governor general, prime
minister, Cabinet
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of an upper house
or Senate and a lower house or House of Representatives
Judicial branch: Supreme Court
Leaders:
Chief of State--Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952),
represented by Governor General Sir Florizel A. GLASSPOLE (since 2 March
1973);
Head of Government--Prime Minister Michael MANLEY
(since 13 February 1989)
Political parties and leaders:
People's National Party (PNP), Michael MANLEY;
Jamaica Labor Party (JLP), Edward SEAGA;
Workers' Party of Jamaica (WPJ), Trevor MUNROE
Suffrage: universal at age 18
Elections:
House of Representatives--last held 9 February 1989 (next to be
held by February 1994);
results--PNP 57%, JLP 43%;
seats--(60 total) PNP 45, JLP 15
Communists: Workers' Party of Jamaica (Marxist-Leninist)
Other political or pressure groups:
Rastafarians (black religious/racial cultists, pan-Africanists)
Member of: ACP, C, CARICOM, CCC, CDB, ECLAC, FAO, G-19, G-77,
GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT,
INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, LAES, LORCS, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Richard BERNAL;
Chancery at Suite 355, 1850 K Street NW, Washington DC 20006; telephone
(202) 452-0660; there are Jamaican Consulates General in Miami and New
York;
US--Ambassador Glen A. HOLDEN; Embassy at 3rd Floor, Jamaica Mutual
Life Center, 2 Oxford Road, Kingston; telephone (809) 929-4850
Flag: diagonal yellow cross divides the flag into four
triangles--green (top and bottom) and black (hoist side and fly side)
ECONOMY
Overview: The economy is based on sugar, bauxite, and tourism.
In 1985 it suffered a setback with the closure of some facilities in the
bauxite and alumina industry, a major source of hard currency earnings.
Since 1986 an economic recovery has been under way. In 1987 conditions
began to improve for the bauxite and alumina industry because of
increases in world metal prices. The recovery has also been supported by
growth in the manufacturing and tourism sectors. In September 1988,
Hurricane Gilbert inflicted severe damage on crops and the electric power
system, a sharp but temporary setback to the economy. By October 1989 the
economic recovery from the hurricane was largely complete and real growth
was up about 3% for 1989. In 1990, 3.5% economic growth was led by
mining and tourism.
GDP: $3.9 billion, per capita $1,580; real growth rate 3.5% (1990)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 16.0% (1990)
Unemployment rate: 18.2% (1990)
Budget: revenues $1.0 billion; expenditures $1.1 billion, including
capital expenditures of $197 million (FY90 est.)
Exports: $1.02 billion (f.o.b., 1990);
commodities--bauxite, alumina, sugar, bananas;
partners--US 36%, UK, Canada, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago
Imports: $1.83 billion (c.i.f., 1990);
commodities--petroleum, machinery, food, consumer goods,
construction goods;
partners--US 48%, UK, Venezuela, Canada, Japan, Trinidad and Tobago
External debt: $4.1 billion (1990 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 3% (1989 est.); accounts
for almost 25% of GDP
Electricity: 1,122,000 kW capacity; 2,508 million kWh produced,
1,030 kWh per capita (1990)
Industries: tourism, bauxite mining, textiles, food processing,
light manufactures
Agriculture: accounts for about 9% of GDP, 22% of work force,
and 17% of exports; commercial crops--sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus,
potatoes, and vegetables; livestock and livestock products include
poultry, goats, milk; not self-sufficient in grain, meat, and dairy
products
Illicit drugs: illicit cultivation of cannabis; transshipment point
for ships carrying cocaine and cannabis from central and South America
to North America
Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1.2
billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-88), $1.45 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $27 million;
Communist countries (1974-89), $349 million
Currency: Jamaican dollar (plural--dollars);
1 Jamaican dollar (J$) = 100 cents
Exchange rates: Jamaican dollars (J$) per US$1--8.106 (January
1991), 7.184 (1990), 5.7446 (1989), 5.4886 (1988), 5.4867 (1987), 5.4778
(1986), 5.5586 (1985)
Fiscal year: 1 April-31 March
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: 370 km, all 1.435-meter standard gauge, single track
Highways: 18,200 km total; 12,600 km paved, 3,200 km gravel,
2,400 km improved earth
Pipelines: refined products, 10 km
Ports: Kingston, Montego Bay
Merchant marine: 5 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 13,048
GRT/21,412 DWT; includes 1 cargo, 1 container, 1 roll-on/roll-off cargo,
1 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 1 bulk
Civil air: 6 major transport aircraft
Airports: 41 total, 25 usable; 14 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 2 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 2 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: fully automatic domestic telephone network;
127,000 telephones; stations--10 AM, 17 FM, 8 TV; 2 Atlantic Ocean
INTELSAT earth stations; 3 coaxial submarine cables
DEFENSE FORCES
Branches: Jamaica Defense Force (includes Coast Guard and Air
Wing), Jamaica Constabulary Force
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 628,225; 446,229 fit for
military service; no conscription; 26,442 reach minimum volunteer
age (18) annually
Defense expenditures: $20 million, less than 1% of GDP (FY91)