Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II Prime minister: Portia Simpson-Miller
President: Francois Hollande Prime minister: Jean-Marc Ayrault
Population
2,889,187
65,630,692
Life Expectancy
73.430 years
81.460 years
Capital City
Kingston
Paris
Largest city
Kingston (population: 937,700)
Paris (population: 2,138,550)
Human Development Index
0.771
0.955
GDP per capita
$9,100 US
$35,600 US
Literacy Rate
87.9%
99%
Corruption Perception Index
3.1
6.9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
13.6%
19.6%
Wealthiest Citizens
NA
Bernard Arnault ($16.5bn US)
Unemployment Rate
12.700%
9.300%
Death Penalty
Legal
Abolished
Political System
constitutional parliamentary democracy
republic
Independence date
6 August 1962 (from UK)
486 (Frankish tribes unified); 843 (Western Francia established from the division of the Carolingian Empire)
Religions
Protestant 62.5% (Seventh-Day Adventist 10.8%, Pentecostal 9.5%, Other Church of God 8.3%, Baptist 7.2%, New Testament Church of God 6.3%, Church of God in Jamaica 4.8%, Church of God of Prophecy 4.3%, Anglican 3.6%, other Christian 7.7%), Roman Catholic 2.6%, other or unspecified 14.2%, none 20.9%, (2001 census)
Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4% overseas departments: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, pagan
Languages
English, English patois
French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) overseas departments: French, Creole patois
machinery and transportation equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel, beverages
External Debt
$14,700,000,000 $
$5,633,000,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
Jamaican dollars (JMD) per US dollar - 72.236 (2008 est.), 69.034 (2007), 65.768 (2006), 62.51 (2005), 61.197 (2004)
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6799 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
0.600%
2.600%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
11
40
Location
Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba
Western Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain, southeast of the UK; bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Spain
