on, Whaling

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

People
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Population: 2,595,275 (July 1996 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 32% (male 430,609; female 411,966)
15-64 years: 61% (male 781,626; female 795,808)
65 years and over: 7% (male 77,725; female 97,541) (July 1996 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.8% (1996 est.)

Birth rate: 22.19 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Death rate: 5.57 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Net migration rate: -8.58 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.8 male(s)/female
all ages: 0.99 male(s)/female (1996 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 15.6 deaths/1,000 live births (1996 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.88 years
male: 72.6 years
female: 77.29 years (1996 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.45 children born/woman (1996 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Jamaican(s)
adjective: Jamaican

Ethnic divisions: African 76.3%, Afro-European 15.1%, East Indian
and Afro-East Indian 3%, white 3.2%, Chinese and Afro-Chinese 1.2%,
other 1.2%

Religions: 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, including some spiritual cults 39.1% (1982)

Languages: English, Creole

Literacy: age 15 and over has ever attended school (1995 est.)
total population: 85%
male: 80.8%
female: 89.1%

Government
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Name of country:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Jamaica

Data code: JM

Type of government: 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

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), a
hereditary mon