| GEOGRAPHY |
| Country name: |
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Jamaica |
| Capital: |
Kingston |
| Location: |
Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba |
| Geographic
Coordinates: |
18 15 N, 77 30 W |
| Area: |
total: 10,991 sq km
land: 10,831 sq km
water: 160 sq km |
| Area
Comparative: |
slightly smaller than Connecticut |
| 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 |
| Elavation
Extremes: |
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Blue Mountain Peak 2,256 m |
| Natural
Resources: |
bauxite, gypsum, limestone |
| GOVERNEMENT |
| Governement
Type: |
constitutional parliamentary democracy |
| Administratives
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 |
| Independence |
6 August 1962 (from UK) |
| National
Holiday: |
Independence Day, 6 August (1962) |
| Constitution: |
6 August 1962 |
| Legal
System; |
based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Suffrage |
18 years of age; universal |
| Executive
Branch: |
chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented by Governor General Sir Howard Felix COOKE (since 1 August 1991)
head of government: Prime Minister Percival James PATTERSON (since 30 March 1992)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister
elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition in the House of Representatives is appointed prime minister by the governor general; the deputy prime minister is recommended by the prime minister |
| Legislative
Branch: |
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 eight seats) and the House of Representatives (60 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 16 October 2002 (next to be held in October 2007)
election results: percent of vote by party - PNP 52%, JLP 47.3%; seats by party - PNP 34, JLP 26 |
| Judicial
Branch: |
Supreme Court (judges appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister); Court of Appeal |
| Political
parties and Leaders: |
Jamaica Labor Party or JLP [Edward SEAGA]; National Democratic Movement or NDM [Hyacinth BENNETT]; People's National Party or PNP [Percival James PATTERSON] |
| PEOPLE |
| Population: |
2,731,832 (July 2005 est.) |
| Age structure: |
0-14 years: 27.5% (male 385,099/female 367,398)
15-64 years: 65.6% (male 897,953/female 893,509)
65 years and over: 6.9% (male 83,632/female 104,241) (2005 est.) |
| Median age: |
total: 27.25 years
male: 26.55 years
female: 27.97 years (2005 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, patois English |
| COMUNICATIONS |
| Telephones - main
lines in use: |
444,400 (2002) |
| Telephones - mobile
cellular: |
1.4 million (2002) |
| Telephone system: |
general assessment: fully automatic domestic telephone network
domestic: NA
international: country code - 1-876; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); 3 coaxial submarine cables |
| Radio broadcast
stations: |
AM 10, FM 13, shortwave 0 (1998) |
| Television broadcast
stations: |
7 (1997) |
| Internet country
code: |
.jm |
| Internet hosts: |
1,480 (2003) |
| Internet users: |
600,000 (2002) |
| TRANSPORT |
| Railways: |
total: 272 km
standard gauge: 272 km 1.435-m gauge
note: 207 of these km belonging to the Jamaica Railway Corporation had been in common carrier service until 1992 but are no longer operational; 57 km of the remaining track is privately owned and used by ALCAN to transport bauxite (2003) |
| Highways: |
total: 18,700 km
paved: 13,109 km
unpaved: 5,591 km (1999 est.) |
| Waterways: |
|
| Pipelines: |
|
| Ports and harbors: |
Alligator Pond, Discovery Bay, Kingston, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Port Antonio, Rocky Point, Port Esquivel (Longswharf) |
| Merchant marine: |
total: 9 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 74,881 GRT/100,682 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 5, petroleum tanker 1, roll on/roll off 3
foreign-owned: 8 (Germany 2, Greece 5, UAE 1) (2005) |
| Airports: |
35 (2004 est.) |
| Airports - with
paved runways: |
total: 11
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 5 (2004 est.) |
| Airports - with
unpaved runways: |
total: 24
914 to 1,523 m: 2
under 914 m: 22 (2004 est.) |
| Heliports: |
|
