Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II Prime minister: Portia Simpson-Miller
Population
313,847,465
2,889,187
Life Expectancy
78.490 years
73.430 years
Capital City
Washington, DC
Kingston
Largest city
New York City (population: 8,008,280)
Kingston (population: 937,700)
Human Development Index
0.95
0.771
GDP per capita
$49,000 US
$9,100 US
Literacy Rate
99%
87.9%
Corruption Perception Index
7.3
3.1
Percentage of Women in Parliament
16.6%
13.6%
Wealthiest Citizens
William Gates III ($40.0bn US)
NA
Unemployment Rate
9.000%
12.700%
Death Penalty
Legal
Legal
Political System
Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition
constitutional parliamentary democracy
Independence date
4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)
6 August 1962 (from UK)
Religions
Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)
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)
Languages
English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census) note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii
Jamaican dollars (JMD) per US dollar - 72.236 (2008 est.), 69.034 (2007), 65.768 (2006), 62.51 (2005), 61.197 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
4.060%
0.600%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
110
11
Location
North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico
Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba
Area
9,826,675 km sq
10,991 km sq
Coastline
19,924 km
1,022 km
Climate
mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
