Jamaica

SINCE GAINING independence from Great Britain in 1962, the Caribbean island of Jamaica has experienced decades of deteriorating economic conditions and political violence that have resulted in a poverty rate of 19.7 percent and an unemployment rate of 15 percent. Tourism is a major revenue source for Jamaica, but tourists have been frightened away in recent years by the growing unrest. Other government revenue resources include the production of bauxite/alumina and regular remittances from Jamaicans who work abroad. Just over one-fifth of the labor force is engaged in agriculture. [Page 591]In this lower-middle-income country, Jamaicans have an average annual income of $2,690. Nevertheless 13.3 percent of the population live on less than $2 a day. The poorest 20 percent of the population subsist on 6.7 percent of the country's resources, while the richest 20 percent share 46 percent. Jamaica is ranked 37.9 on the Gini Index of Human Inequality.

Among Jamaica's population of 2,731,832, life expectancy is 76.29 years, with females outliving males an average of four years. The median age is 27.25 years. Almost 28 percent of the population are under the age of 14, and 6.9 percent have reached the age of 65. Jamaicans generally enjoy easy access to healthcare. There are 85 physicians for every 100,000 residents, and only around five percent of the people are unable to afford essential drugs. However, eight percent of Jamaicans lack access to safe water and proper sanitation.

With an HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 1.6 percent, Jamaica has reported more HIV/AIDS cases than any other country in the Latin American/Caribbean region. Eight percent of the infected are under the age of 10. Many of these children contracted the disease from their mothers at birth. At least four-fifths of these children come from poor families. One in every four children with HIV/AIDS is abandoned. Since 1995, adolescent infection rates have doubled every year, and girls are three times more likely than boys to contract the disease. Overall, some 22,000 Jamaicans have HIV/AIDS, and 900 people have died from the disease and its complications.

Infant mortality is relatively low in Jamaica, with 12.36 deaths occurring out of every 1,000 live births. That number had declined significantly since the 49-per-1,000 infant mortality rate recorded in 1970. Between that time and 2003, the mortality rate of children under the age of five dropped from 64 to 20 deaths per 1,000. Four percent of all children under the age of five are malnourished, and rates of wasting and stunting are low. Ranging from a percentage in the mid-80s to the high 90s, childhood immunizations have improved over the last few decades but are still below the level to keep all children healthy.

Fertility rates have dropped considerably in Jamaica over the last decades. Between 1970 and 2005, total fertility declined from five children per woman to 1.95 children per woman. Adolescent fertility is currently estimated at 81 births per 1,000. Some 65 percent of Jamaican women use contraceptives of some sort. Trained medical staff attend 94.6 percent of all births in Jamaica. According to modeled estimates, maternal mortality dropped from 120 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1975 to 87 deaths per 100,000 in 2000. Jamaica bases its definition of literacy on the percentage of those over 15 who have attended school. By this definition, 87.9 percent of the relevant age group is literate. Literacy among females is higher at 91.6 percent than among males at 84.1 percent. While children are more likely to attend school than in the past, some 30 percent of students, mostly boys, are still believed to be functionally illiterate when they finish primary school. Primary school completion rates have dropped in recent years.

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