Military
Fire Group
Manpower availability:
males 15-49, 3,083,765; 1,597,108 fit for military service; 141,259 males
reach military age (18) annually
Defense expenditures:
exchange rate conversion - $200 million, 2.3% of GDP (1988)

:Jamaica Geography

Total area:
10,990 km2
Land area:
10,830 km2
Comparative area:
slightly smaller than Connecticut
Land boundaries:
none
Coastline:
1,022 km
Maritime claims:
Territorial sea:
12 nm
Disputes:
none
Climate:
tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior
Terrain:
mostly mountains with narrow, discontinuous coastal plain
Natural resources:
bauxite, gypsum, limestone
Land use:
arable land 19%; permanent crops 6%; meadows and pastures 18%; forest and
woodland 28%; other 29%; includes irrigated 3%
Environment:
subject to hurricanes (especially July to November); deforestation; water
pollution
Note:
strategic location between Cayman Trench and Jamaica Channel, the main sea
lanes for Panama Canal

:Jamaica People

Population:
2,506,701 (July 1992), growth rate 0.9% (1992)
Birth rate:
23 births/1,000 population (1992)
Death rate:
6 deaths/1,000 population (1992)
Net migration rate:
-8 migrants/1,000 population (1992)
Infant mortality rate:
18 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)
Life expectancy at birth:
72 years male, 76 years female (1992)
Total fertility rate:
2.5 children born/woman (1992)
Nationality:
noun - Jamaican(s); adjective - Jamaican
Ethnic divisions:
African 76.3%, Afro-European 15.1%, East Indian and Afro-East Indian 3.0%,
white 3.2%, Chinese and Afro-Chinese 1.2%, other 1.2%
Religions:
predominantly Protestant 55.9% (Church of God 18.4%, Baptist 10%, Anglican
7.1%, Seventh-Day Adventist 6.9%, Pentecostal 5.2%, Methodist 3.1%, United
Church 2.7%, other 2.5%), Roman Catholic 5%, other 39.1%, including some
spiritualist cults (1982)
Languages:
English, Creole
Literacy:
98% (male 98%, female 99%) age 15 and over having ever attended school (1990
est.)
Labor force:
1,062,100; services 41%, agriculture 22.5%, industry 19%; unemployed 17.5%
(1989)
Organized labor:
24% of labor force (1989)

:Jamaica Government

Long-form name:
none
Type:
parliamentary democracy
Capital:
Kingston
Administrative divisions:
14 parishes; Clarendon, Hanover, Kingston, Manchester, Po