The Facts

Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II (1952)

Governor-General: Kenneth Hall (2006)

Prime Minister: Bruce Golding (2007)

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 mi: 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.

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