Countries
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Disputes - international: none
Illicit drugs: 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
Military branches: Jamaica Defense Force: Ground Forces, Coast Guard, Air Wing
Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for voluntary military service; younger recruits may be conscripted with parental consent
Manpower available for military service:
males age 16-49: 726,263
females age 16-49: 742,958
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16-49: 590,673
females age 16-49: 596,414
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
male: 33,369
female: 32,702
Military expenditures: 0.6% of GDP
country comparison to the world: 153
Airports: 27
country comparison to the world: 125
Roadways: total: 22,121 km
country comparison to the world: 107
Merchant marine: total: 14
country comparison to the world: 103
by type: bulk carrier 4, cargo 5, container 4, roll on/roll off 1
foreign-owned: 14 (Denmark 1, Germany 10, Greece 3) (2010)
Ports and terminals: Discovery Bay (Port Rhoades), Kingston, Montego Bay, Port Antonio, Port Esquivel, Port Kaiser, Rocky Point
Telephones - main lines in use: 263,100
country comparison to the world: 121
Telephones - mobile cellular: 3.103 million
country comparison to the world: 120
Telephone system: general assessment: fully automatic domestic telephone network
domestic: the 1999 agreement to open the market for telecommunications services resulted in rapid growth in mobile-cellular telephone usage while the number of fixed-lines in use has declined; combined mobile-cellular teledensity approached 120 per 100 persons in 2010
Broadcast media: privately-owned Radio Jamaica Limited and its subsidiaries operate multiple TV stations, subscription cable services, and radio stations; 2 other privately-owned television stations; roughly 70 radio stations
Internet country code: .jm
Internet hosts: 3,897
country comparison to the world: 149
Internet users: 1.581 million
country comparison to the world: 80
The Jamaican economy is heavily dependent on services, which now account for nearly 65% of GDP. The country continues to derive most of its foreign exchange from tourism, remittances, and bauxite/alumina. Remittances account for nearly 15% of GDP and exports of bauxite and alumina make up about 10%. The bauxite/alumina sector was most affected by the global downturn while the tourism industry was resilient, experiencing an increase of 4% in tourist arrivals. Tourism revenues account for roughly 10% of GDP, and both arrivals and revenues grew in 2010, up 4% and 6% respectively. Jamaica's economy faces many challenges to growth: high crime and corruption, large-scale unemployment and underemployment, and a debt-to-GDP ratio of more than 120%. Jamaica''s onerous public debt burden is the result of government bailouts to ailing sectors of the economy, most notably to the financial sector in the mid-to-late 1990s. In early 2010, the Jamaican government created the Jamaica Debt Exchange in order to retire high-priced domestic bonds and significantly reduce annual debt servicing. The Government of Jamaica signed a $1.27 billion, 27-month Standby Agreement with the International Monetary Fund for balance of payment support in February 2010. Other multilaterals have also provided millions of dollars in loans and grants. Despite the improvement, debt servicing costs still hinder the government''s ability to spend on infrastructure and social programs, particularly as job losses rise in a shrinking economy. The SIMPSON-MILLER administration faces the difficult prospect of having to achieve fiscal discipline in order to maintain debt payments, while simultaneously attacking a serious crime problem that is hampering economic growth. High unemployment exacerbates the crime problem, including gang violence that is fueled by the drug trade.
Government type: constitutional parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm
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
note: for local government purposes, Kingston and Saint Andrew were amalgamated in 1923 into the present single corporate body known as the Kingston and Saint Andrew Corporation
Legal system: common law system based on the English model
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Ethnic groups: black 91.2%, mixed 6.2%, other or unknown 2.6%
Languages: English, English patois
Religions: 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%,
Population: 2,889,187
country comparison to the world: 139
Median age: total: 24.4 years
male: 23.9 years
female: 24.9 years
Population growth rate: 0.714%
country comparison to the world: 139
urban population: 52% of total population
rate of urbanization: 0.6% annual rate of change
Major cities - population: KINGSTON (capital) 580,000
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 73.43 years
country comparison to the world: 118
male: 71.78 years
female: 75.15 years
Total fertility rate: 2.12 children born/woman
country comparison to the world: 112
Health expenditures: 8.3% of GDP
country comparison to the world: 49
Education expenditures: 5.8% of GDP
country comparison to the world: 34
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school
total population: 87.9%
male: 84.1%
female: 91.6%
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24: total: 27.1%
country comparison to the world: 20
male: 22.5%
female: 33.1%
Location: Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 1,022 km
Maritime claims: measured from claimed archipelagic straight baselines
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to edge of the continental margin
Climate: tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior
Terrain: mostly mountains, with narrow, discontinuous coastal plain
Natural resources: bauxite, gypsum, limestone
Land use: arable land: 15.83%, permanent crops: 10.01%, other: 74.16%
Natural hazards: hurricanes (especially July to November)
Environment - current issues: heavy rates of deforestation; coastal waters polluted by industrial waste, sewage, and oil spills; damage to coral reefs; air pollution in Kingston from vehicle emissions
Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note: strategic location between Cayman Trench and Jamaica Channel, the main sea lanes for the Panama Canal
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 increased its 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.
Jamaica
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