Jamaica 
Facts
Population:
2,665,636 (July 2001 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years:
29.7% (male 405,189; female 386,555)
15-64 years:
63.52% (male 845,226; female 847,944)
65 years and over:
6.78% (male 80,667; female 100,055) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.51% (2001 est.)
Birth rate:
18.12 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate:
5.48 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate:
-7.52 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years:
1 male(s)/female
65 years and over:
0.81 male(s)/female
total population:
1 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
14.16 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
75.42 years
male:
73.45 years
female:
77.49 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate:
2.08 children born/woman (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.71% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
9,900 (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
650 (1999 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Jamaican(s)
adjective:
Jamaican
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, Creole
Literacy:
definition:
age 15 and over has ever attended school
total population:
85%
male:
80.8%
female:
89.1% (1995 est.)
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $9.7 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
0.2% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $3,700 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture:
7.4%
industry:
35.2%
services:
57.4% (1999 est.)
Population below poverty line:
34.2% (1992 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%:
2.9%
highest 10%:
28.9% (1996)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
8.8% (2000 est.)
Labor force:
1.13 million (1998)
Labor force - by occupation:
services 60%, agriculture 21%, industry 19% (1998)
Unemployment rate:
16% (2000 est.)
Budget:
revenues:
$2.23 billion
expenditures:
$2.56 billion, including capital expenditures of $232.5 million (FY99/00 est.)
Industries:
tourism, bauxite, textiles, food processing, light manufactures, rum, cement, metal, paper, chemical products
Industrial production growth rate:
-2% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production:
6.53 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel:
92.28%
hydro:
1.36%
nuclear:
0%
other:
6.36% (1999)
Electricity - consumption:
6.073 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products:
sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus, potatoes, vegetables; poultry, goats, milk
Exports:
$1.7 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Exports - commodities:
alumina, bauxite; sugar, bananas, rum
Exports - partners:
US 35.7%, EU (excluding UK) 15.8%, UK 13%, Canada 10.5% (1999)
Imports:
$3 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and transport equipment, construction materials, fuel, food, chemicals, fertilizers
Imports - partners:
US 47.8%, Caricom countries 12.4%, Latin America 7.2%, EU (excluding UK) 4.7% (1999)
Debt - external:
$4.7 billion (2000 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$102.7 million (1995)
Currency:
Jamaican dollar (JMD)
Currency code:
JMD
Exchange rates:
Jamaican dollars per US dollar - 45.557 (January 2001), 42.701 (2000), 39.044 (1999), 36.550 (1998), 35.404 (1997), 37.120 (1996)
Fiscal year:
1 April - 31 March
Statistics: CIA World Factbook.
Press
(Privately-owned, Independent), Kingston
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/
(Privately-owned, Independent), Kingston
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/
Jamaica Record, The
(Independent), Kingston
Sunday Gleaner, The
(Centrist), Kingston
Jamaica in the News
1 2
Displaying 5 to 6 of 6 items.
Ripples from the furious battle for control of the United Kingdom’s fourth-largest food retailer, Safeway, have washed hard against the shores of the eastern Caribbean. Robert Taylor reviews the Carribbean press.
World Press Review - The Jamaica Gleaner reflects on the recent violence in Kingston and what it says about the current state of the nation.
Americas 
