waste, sewage, and oil spills; damage to coral reefs; air pollution in
Kingston results from vehicle emissions
natural hazards: hurricanes (especially July to November)
international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Climate Change, Law
of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test
Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution

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

@Jamaica:People

Population: 2,574,291 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 33% (female 412,565; male 431,043)
15-64 years: 60% (female 786,700; male 770,681)
65 years and over: 7% (female 96,348; male 76,954) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.78% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 22.03 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 5.62 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -8.65 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 16.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.65 years
male: 72.39 years
female: 77.01 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.42 children born/woman (1995 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 (1987)
total population: 82%
male: 77%
female: 86%

Labor force: 1,062,100
by occupation: services 41%, agriculture 22.5%, industry 19%,
unemployed 17.5% (1989)

@Jamaica:Government

Names:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Jamaica

Digraph: JM

Type: 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 c