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.

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 from vehicle emissions

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

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

English, English patois

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)

2,889,187 (July 2012 est.)

18.89 births/1,000 population (2012 est.)

6.59 deaths/1,000 population (July 2012 est.)

-5.17 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2012 est.)

KINGSTON (capital) 580,000 (2009)

110 deaths/100,000 live births (2010)

2.12 children born/woman (2012 est.)

0.85 physicians/1,000 population (2003)

1.7 beds/1,000 population (2009)

urban: 82% of population

rural: 84% of population

total: 83% of population

urban: 18% of population

rural: 16% of population

total: 17% of population

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)

common law system based on the English model

has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

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 (63 seats; members 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 [Andrew HOLNESS]; 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, AOSIS, C, Caricom, CDB, CELAC, FAO, G-15, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAES, MIGA, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, Petrocaribe, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), 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

green-and-black streamertail (bird)

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 early 2010, the Jamaican government created the Jamaica Debt Exchange in order to retire high-priced domestic bonds and significantly reduce annual debt servicing. 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. Jamaica was hard hit by the effects of the global economic crisis, experiencing economic contractions from 2008-10 and growth remains low. 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. As of late 2012, the SIMPSON-MILLER government was working to negotiate a new IMF Stand-by agreement to gain access to additional funds.

$25.18 billion (2012 est.)

$24.96 billion (2011 est.)

$24.65 billion (2010 est.)

$15.26 billion (2012 est.)

1.325 million (2012 est.)

19.5% of GDP (2012 est.)

25.1% of GDP (2012 est.)

-6.1% of GDP (2012 est.)

127.3% of GDP (2012 est.)

127.6% of GDP (2011 est.)

2% (31 December 2010 est.)

NA% (31 December 2009 est.)

13.1% (31 December 2012 est.)

19.51% (31 December 2011 est.)

$2.028 billion (31 December 2012 est.)

$1.962 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$7.309 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$7.012 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$7.229 billion (31 December 2012 est.)

$7.131 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$7.223 billion (31 December 2011)

$6.626 billion (31 December 2010)

$6.201 billion (31 December 2009)

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

-$1.523 billion (2012 est.)

-$1.723 billion (2011 est.)

$1.718 billion (2012 est.)

$1.665 billion (2011 est.)

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

US 36.8%, Canada 18.1%, Netherlands 7.3%, UK 5.4%, Norway 4.3% (2011)

$6.019 billion (2012 est.)

$5.859 billion (2011 est.)

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

US 32.8%, Venezuela 15%, Trinidad and Tobago 14.2%, China 6.3%, Mexico 4.1% (2011)

$1.9 billion (31 December 2012 est.)

$2.282 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$14.6 billion (31 December 2012 est.)

$14.62 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

Jamaican dollars (JMD) per US dollar -

5.208 billion kWh (2009 est.)

4.801 billion kWh (2009 est.)

1.198 million kW (2009 est.)

93.5% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

1.8% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

4.7% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

0 bbl/day (2011 est.)

0 bbl/day (2009 est.)

23,780 bbl/day (2009 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2012 est.)

22,790 bbl/day (2008 est.)

78,520 bbl/day (2011 est.)

9,145 bbl/day (2008 est.)

68,410 bbl/day (2008 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2012 est.)

9.217 million Mt (2010 est.)

2.975 million (2011)

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 (2007)

1.581 million (2009)

Discovery Bay (Port Rhoades), Kingston, Montego Bay, Port Antonio, Port Esquivel, Port Kaiser, Rocky Point

Jamaica Defense Force: Ground Forces, Coast Guard, Air Wing (2010)

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