Society of Jamaica

society

KEY FACTS 2015

Population per sq km: 258

Life expectancy: 76 years

Net primary enrolment: 82% (2010)


Population: 2,725,000 (2015); 55 per cent of people live in urban areas; growth 0.2 per cent p.a. 1990–2015 but emigration (principally to the UK, Canada and the USA) has been significant for two generations; birth rate 14 per 1,000 people (35 in 1970); life expectancy 76 years (68 in 1970).

The population is predominantly of African descent (91 per cent in 2001 census) with European-, East Indian- and Chinese-descended minorities and some people of mixed descent (six per cent).

Language: English; an English-African Creole, Jamaican Patois, is widely spoken.

Religion: Mainly Christians (Church of God 19 per cent, Seventh Day Adventists 12 per cent, Pentecostals 11 per cent, Baptists seven per cent, Anglicans three per cent, Roman Catholics two per cent), and there is also a significant Rastafarian community (2011 census).

Media: National dailies are The Gleaner, Jamaica Observer and Daily Star (evenings), and all have weekend editions. Sunday Herald is a weekly.

 

After the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation was privatised in 1997, many – mostly commercial – radio and TV broadcasters entered the field, including Radio Jamaica and Television Jamaica.

Some 88 per cent of households have TV sets (2011).

Public holidays: New Year’s Day, Labour Day (23 May), Emancipation Day (1 August), Independence Day (6 August), National Heroes’ Day (third Monday in October), Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Religious and other festivals whose dates vary from year to year include Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and Easter Monday.