aths:
900 (2003 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

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school
total population: 87.9%
male: 84.1%
female: 91.6% (2003 est.)

Government Jamaica

Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Jamaica

Government type:
constitutional parliamentary democracy

Capital:
Kingston

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

Independence:
6 August 1962 (from UK)

National holiday:
Independence Day, first Monday in 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 o