Jamaica

Region: Central America and Caribbean

Official language: English

Population: 2,823,713 (2024 est.)

Nationality: Jamaican(s) (noun), Jamaican (adjective)

Land area: 10,831 sq km (4,182 sq miles)

Water area: 160 sq km (62 sq miles)

Capital: Kingston

National anthem: "Jamaica, Land We Love," by Hugh Braham Sherlock/Robert Charles Lightbourne

National holiday: Independence Day, August 6, (1962)

Population growth: 0.1% (2024 est.)

Time zone: UTC –5

Flag: The colors of the Jamaican flag (gold, green, and black) are considered pan-African colors. A gold, diagonal cross (saltire) divides the flag into four triangles. The equilateral triangles on each side are black (sable), and the equilateral triangles on the top and bottom are green.

Motto: “Out of many one people”

Independence: August 6, 1962 (from the UK)

Government type: constitutional parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Legal system: common law system based on the English model

Jamaica is a small island nation located just 145 kilometers (90 miles) south of Cuba, 160 kilometers (99 miles) west of Haiti, and about 920 kilometers (572 miles) south of Miami, Florida. Once a central market for sugarcane and the slave trade, Jamaica has a varied and unique history.

Jamaica's membership in the British Commonwealth of Nations and strong ties to the United States have kept the country in a stronger diplomatic position than many of its Caribbean neighbors, and have made the island an important tourist destination. Like Cuba and Haiti, however, Jamaica continues to struggle with the widespread poverty and economic weakness that is the inheritance of its colonial past.

Note: unless otherwise indicated, statistical data in this article is sourced from the CIA World Factbook, as cited in the bibliography.

People and Culture

Population: The blending of cultures and histories that characterizes Jamaica makes standard ethnic designations impossible in the small, island nation. In fact, enslaved people, slaveholders, slave traders, adventurers, colonists, and migrants repopulated Jamaica during the sixteenth through twentieth centuries after the first Spanish colonists eradicated the island's Indigenous population. Largely because of the impact of slavery on the island's history, most of Jamaica's populace claims West African ancestry, often without reference to a specific nation or tribe in Africa.

As of the latest Population and Housing Census in 2011, approximately 0.8 percent of Jamaica's population was East Indian. Just over 6.1 percent of residents considered themselves to be ethnically or racially mixed, while the island's more than 92.1 percent population identified as Black. Jamaica also had small but significant communities of Syrians, Lebanese, and Europeans.

Some of Jamaica's African-based genealogy is evident in the religious practices of the islanders. Rastafarianism is a blend of religious and social beliefs that include a devotion to Haile Selassie (born Ras Tafari), the late emperor of Ethiopia, himself a Christian. Many Jamaicans incorporate some form of African-derived spirituality into their religious beliefs. However, the overwhelming majority of Jamaicans who adhere to a religious faith belong to one of the Christian sects. Islam, Buddhism, and Hindu are also represented amongst the country's religious faiths.

Government-sponsored family planning programs and a high rate of emigration slowed Jamaica's population growth to 0.1 percent by 2024, though Jamaica continues to be one of the world's most densely populated countries. Average life expectancy is 76.3 years—74.5 years for men and 78.1 years for women (2024 estimates).

It is estimated that approximately 30,000 Jamaicans were infected with HIV/AIDS in 2022, but improvements in health care and urban planning have decreased the presences of contagious and air- or water-borne diseases. Most of Jamaica's health care services are devoted to the treatment of chronic disease like heart disease or diabetes.

Jamaica's HDI value for 2022 is 0.706— which put the country in the High human development category—positioning it at 115 out of 193 countries and territories.

Indigenous People: Jamaica's earliest recorded population consisted of Arawaks, probably originating in the South American Andes, who settled the island sometime around 700. Their word for the island, Xaymaca (meaning "land of wood and water"), became "Jamaica" after Spanish colonists settled the island in the sixteenth century.

When Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica in 1494, approximately ten thousand Arawak were living on the island. However, the Spanish settlers who followed subjected the Indigenous population to slavery, introduced European diseases, and violently repressed any efforts at rebellion. As a result, the Arawak population appears to have disappeared completely by the beginning of the seventeenth century, leaving traces only in cave drawings, artifacts, and residual cultural practices.

Education: Since the introduction of radical education reforms in the 1970s, Jamaica has had a universally free system of education for primary and secondary study. Education is compulsory from the age of six.

Primary and secondary schools were designed according to a British system that requires students to pass a series of exams working toward specialization in a single subject by the end of secondary school. This system was streamlined and, to a large degree, centralized, in the 1980s.

The last two years of high school are still preparatory for university study for many students. Since the 1980s, however, the government has funded educational programs for vocational training at several Human Employment and Resources Training institutions under the HEART program. The Jamaican government has also created a number of community colleges, a Vocational Training Development Institute, and a comprehensive literacy initiative over the past decades.

As a result of educational reforms since independence, Jamaica's literacy rate has increased from less than 68 percent during pre-independence to 88.7 percent in 2015.

Jamaica's local, accredited regional colleges include the University of the West Indies at Mona, the University of Technology; the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts; College of Agriculture, Science and Education; G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sports; Northern Caribbean University (formerly West Indies College), a number of seminaries, and several teacher training colleges.

Health Care: Jamaica's health care system is run by the Ministry of Health. The system was completely restructured in the late 1990s to provide for four regions: the Northeastern, Southeastern, Western, and Southern Health Authorities. As of 2020, health-care spending represented 6.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Under the current program, the government provides a limited set of services free to the public, including immunization, family planning, pre- and postnatal care clinics, and child health clinics, as well as certain targeted basic care programs. The government subsidizes other health services provided through health centers and hospitals. User fees for services, based on the service and the status of the patient, were prohibited beginning in 2008.

The government also provides large subsidies to the University Hospital of the West Indies, one of two teaching hospitals on the island. The island also has a National Family Planning Board and a national Mental Health Unit, which includes outpatient clinics and Bellevue residential hospital.

Food: Jamaica's cuisine shows its remarkable mixture of traditions and influences, including Arawak, Spanish, African, Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, and British.

The island's most famous cooking method involves some form of meat (usually poultry) marinated in hot spices and smoked in pits of pimento wood to make "jerk." A small portion of jerk chicken or a meat pie often serves as lunch on the island, while breakfast may be based on ackee, a tree-grown fruit. Tropical fruits, pickled vegetables, pork, goat, and fish are all likely to turn up in the more substantial dinner meal, more often than not flavored with a blend of island-grown spices.

Jamaica is also well known for its rum, coconut milk, and the coffee beans that grow in the island's Blue Mountains.

Arts & Entertainment: Jamaica's musical traditions have spread from the small Caribbean island to mainstream audiences worldwide. Made famous by Jamaican artists such as Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff, Rastafarian-inspired reggae music blends West African rhythms with Caribbean instruments and socially or spiritually inflected lyrics.

Before reggae, however, Jamaica was exporting ska and rock steady styles, mostly to the American popular music scene. Though more famous for its ties to the Caribbean island of Trinidad, calypso music is well established in Jamaica. Derived from a singing form of communication between enslaved people who were forbidden to talk with one another, calypso was popularized outside the islands by international musicians like Harry Belafonte during the first half of the twentieth century.

Soca music, a form of calypso with a faster beat, has spread around the Caribbean. Along with traditional reggae and calypso styles, fast-moving soca music has become an integral part of Jamaica's many festivals and the all-important Carnival.

Holidays: Official holidays in Jamaica include Labour Day (May 23), Emancipation Day (August 1), Independence Day (August 6), and National Heroes Day (October). A number of Christian holidays are also officially recognized, including Ash Wednesday (February or March); Good Friday, Easter, and Easter Monday (March or April); Christmas Day (December 25), and Boxing Day (December 26).

Jamaica does have its own set of unofficial holiday celebrations, as well. Junkanoo, a Christmas celebration that has historically involved street parades of people dressed in masquerade, comes from traditions created by enslaved Africans. Jamaica's version of Carnival (celebrated the week after Easter) is a lively mix of Jamaica's unique and influential music: calypso, reggae, and dancehall soca.

Environment and Geography

Topography: Jamaica is 235 kilometers (146 miles) long and ranges from 35 to 82 kilometers (22 to 51 miles) in width. In the eastern portion of the island, the Blue Mountains cover the central interior, forming a long ridge that reaches above 1,800 meters (5,900 feet) for a 3-kilometer stretch. The country's highest point is 2,256 meters (7,402 feet), atop Blue Mountain Peak.

West of the Blue Mountains, toward the middle of the island, the John Crow Mountains and Dry Harbour Mountains are actually elevated limestone plateaus, created when the island's volcanic base was submerged in the sea billions of years ago. The Manchester Plateau lies to the south of the Dry Harbour Mountains. With their caves, sinkholes, disappearing streams, hummocks, and red soil valleys, these limestone plateaus are known as karst landscapes.

To the western side of Jamaica, the karst landscape becomes particularly dramatic in the Cockpit Country, where deep basins and conical hills and ridges once provided ample hiding places for those who escaped slavery. The Vale of Clarendon in Cockpit Country is 80 kilometers (50 miles) long and 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide.

Jamaica's northeast coast is rugged, rocky, and steep, with small inlets providing the only safe harbors. To the west, however, narrow coastal plains create calm waters and white sand beaches that rise slightly on a plateau created by uplifted coral reefs. Jamaica's western coastline has the long, flat stretches of beach for which the country is famous.

The southern coastline beaches are smaller plains of black sand backed by limestone cliffs. Between these stretches, cliffs drop up to 300 meters (984 feet) into the sea. Only on the southwest shoreline do the coastal plains stretch significantly inland. In this area, the Black River runs through the widest of these plains into the sea. Swampland known as the Great Morass and Upper Morass dominates these plains.

Natural Resources: Jamaica has reserves of bauxite, gypsum, and limestone. Bauxite (used in the manufacture of alumina) was discovered on the island in the 1940s and helped ease the Jamaican economy's reliance on bananas and sugarcane.

The island's most important resources are its beaches, warm weather, and its position between Cayman Trench and Jamaica Channel, providing access to the Panama Canal.

Plants & Animals: Many of Jamaica's indigenous plants and wildlife can still be found in the Blue Mountains, the central part of Cockpit Country, and along the coast from Discovery Bay to Rio Bueno.

Like its plant life, Jamaica's indigenous animal species are now difficult to find on the island, if they have not disappeared altogether. While an array of bird, insect, and lizard species are still common even in populated areas, animals like the Jamaican red bat, snoring frog, and Brown's hutia are all vulnerable or endangered.

Climate: Jamaica's high central mountain ranges break the island's climate into two zones. On the windward side of the mountains, to the northeast, trade winds deposit plentiful rainfall, giving this half of Jamaica an upland tropical climate. To the southwest, however, the mountains shield the island from rain, resulting in a warm, semiarid climate.

Rainfall is heaviest from May to October.

Because of Jamaica's location near the equator, temperatures are fairly constant throughout the year. Temperatures can drop below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) at night in the Blue Mountains. Temperatures are moderated by northeast trade winds, an onshore breeze known as the Doctor's Breeze, and an offshore breeze known as the Undertaker's Breeze.

The island is prone to hurricanes, particularly between the months of July and November. Winds and flooding from Hurricane Ivan caused significant damage in September 2004, but the tourism industry recovered. Hurricane Sandy also hit in 2012, leading to millions of dollars in damage.

Economy

Jamaica's economy relies on service industries, most of which are part of the tourist trade. These industries accounted for more than 60.1 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023. Jamaica's GDP in 2023 was estimated at US$29.225 billion.

Problems facing the economy include inflation, large debt, and high unemployment. In 2017 some 19 percent of Jamaica's population lived below the poverty line, a number that increasingly includes a population of working poor in the island's urban centers. Jamaica's poverty rates are also reflected in high crime rates, particularly in the Kingston area. Unemployment stood at 4.42 percent in 2023.

Industry: Tourism has become Jamaica's largest industry, replacing much of the earlier bauxite/alumina-based industry. Jamaica also produces or processes food products, apparel, alcoholic beverages, cement, metal, paper, chemicals, mineral fuels, and telecommunications equipment. Jamaica's primary export partners in 2022 were the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Russia. It imported chiefly from the US and China that year.

Agriculture: Jamaica's arable land produces a wealth of sugarcane, bananas, citrus, yams, and vegetables, mostly for export. Coffee beans grown in the Blue Mountains are world renowned and exported internationally. Rum is also produced domestically from sugarcane and is an important export commodity.

Jamaicans also raise poultry, goats, and milk cows, almost entirely for use on the island. Fishermen harvest a variety of fish species but a larger supply of crustaceans and mollusks from coastal waters.

Tourism:Tourism is the backbone of the Jamaican economy. The country's political stability, transportation infrastructure, plentiful accommodation, lively culture, and close ties to Britain and the United States have created a massive tourist industry on the island. According to the Jamaica Tourist Board, there were 4.23 million visitor arrivals to Jamaica in 2019. This number dropped sharply to 1.3 million in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that began the following year, though figures subsequently began to rise again. In 2021, an estimated 1.5 million international arrivals were reported by the Jamaica Tourist Board.

Jamaica's tourist trade revolves around several large resorts, concentrated on the north coast of the island. Ocho Rios, Montego Bay, and Port Antonio, as well as Negril on the west coast, are among the country's most popular resort areas.

Government

Jamaica is a constitutional parliamentary democracy. As a member state of the British Commonwealth of Nations, Jamaica recognizes Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as the nation's monarch and the governor general as her representative on the island. However, a bicameral parliament and a prime minister wield all political power under the constitution.

The prime minister is chosen by the ruling party in the parliament and appointed by the governor general. The prime minister, in turn, chooses a deputy prime minister and advises the governor general on appointments to the cabinet.

The Senate's twenty-one members are formally appointed by the governor general, on the recommendation of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition party in the House of Representatives. The sixty-three members of the House of Representatives are elected by direct, popular vote to five-year terms.

In 2020, Andrew Holness wins a second consecutive win for the Jamaica Labour Party. The JLP, which had promised a referendum on becoming a republic but had not carried one out, states that holding a referendum remains a goal.

In 2022, Legal and constitutional a minister Marlene Malahoo Forte says Jamaica's move to become republic is to be completed by the next general election, currently scheduled for 2025. Popular support for republicanism grows following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Interesting Facts

• Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean.
• Every February yacht owners from all over the world set out from Miami toward Jamaica's Montego Bay for the world famous Pineapple Cup Yacht Race.
• A British-run Jamaican Assembly abolished slavery on the island on August 1, 1834, after four hundred enslaved people were killed in retribution for the 1831 Christmas Rebellion, inspired by the passive resistance of Jamaican hero "Daddy" Sam Sharpe.
• Jamaican Usain Bolt is considered one of the fastest and greatest sprinters in history. In the Summer Olympics in 2016, he won his ninth gold medal, though one of these medals was controversially taken away from him in early 2017 when one of his relay teammates from the 2008 Olympics was found to have used a banned substance.
• In 2019 the Jamaican women's soccer team became the first from a Caribbean nation to qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Bibliography

"Jamaica." The World Bank, 2024, data.worldbank.org/country/jamaica. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.

"Jamaica." The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 20 Dec. 2024, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/jamaica/. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.

"Jamaica." Human Development Reports, 13 Mar. 2024, https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data#/countries/JAM. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.

"Jamaica." World Health Organization, www.who.int/countries/jam/en/. Accessed 19 Oct. 2023.

“Jamaica.” OEC, Observatory of Economic Complexity, oec.world/en/profile/country/jam. Accessed 19 Oct. 2023.‌

"Report and Statistics." Jamaica Tourist Board, www.jtbonline.org/report-and-statistics/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2023.