Cultural Demography
Jamaica is the largest English-speaking island of the Caribbean, with a population of over 2.7 million. The capital, Kingston, is the largest English-speaking city in the Western Hemisphere south of Miami. The official language is English, but a majority of Jamaicans speak an English-based local patois, called Creole or Patois, that incorporates a synthesis of old English and nautical terms, Irish dialect, and Spanish and African words.
About two-thirds of Jamaicans are Christians, predominantly Protestant, with numerous denominations represented including Anglican, Baptist and Methodist, among others. Seven percent of the people are Roman Catholic. Other beliefs professed on the island include Rastafarianism and various African-based, often syncretic faiths. Jamaica also hosts small communities of Hindus, Muslims and Jews.
Rastafarianism is an indigenous Jamaican religion that evolved from social movements decrying the dominance of materialistic white society and culture in the 1930s. Despite its pop-cultural association with marijuana use and dreadlocks, Rastafarianism is a bona fide religion that valorizes the late Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, and emphasizes the intrinsic dignity and spirituality within all people.
Jamaica's original inhabitants were Arawak Indians, believed to have arrived from the northern coast of South America at least 2,500 years ago. The most advanced phase of Arawakan culture produced a society on Jamaica and adjoining Caribbean islands known as the Taínos. These were the people the first Europeans to reach the region encountered. However, after Jamaica became a Spanish colony, the indigenous population died off essentially completely.
Today, a large majority of Jamaicans are of predominantly African origin, the descendants of slaves brought to work on the island's plantations. The slave trade to Jamaica lasted from the 16th through the early 19th century; most of those forced into bondage on the island were of West African extraction. Jamaicans today also include substantial numbers of people with European (largely British) and mulatto (mixed European and African) ancestries. There are also smaller communities from the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia. The national motto-"Out of Many, One People"-reflects and celebrates the diversity of Jamaica's population.
Historically, emigration from Jamaica has been heavy, both to the United Kingdom and to the United States and Canada. After the United Kingdom restricted emigration in 1967, the major flow has been to the United States and Canada. An estimated 20,000 Jamaicans immigrate to the United States annually; New York, Miami, Chicago and Hartford are among the Unite d States cities with significant Jamaican populations. Remittances from expatriate Jamaicans help significantly to support the island's economy.
Human Development
About 5.8 percent of GDP is spent on education in this country; about 8.3 percent of GDP is spent on health expenditures. Access to water is regarded as very good; access to sanitation is regarded good although there may be some limits in certain rural areas.
Education in Jamaica is free and compulsory until the age of 14, and the country has a literacy rate of about 87.9 percent, according to recent estimates. Also according to other recent estimates, the average infant mortality rate is 15.73 deaths per 1,000 live births and the average life expectancy is about 73.3 years. The country's relatively poor economic performance during the 1990s has apparently had some adverse effects on social and health indicators in recent years.
Another quality-of-life indicator that reflects on Jamaica is the Human Development Index (HDI), compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main arenas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. In a ranking of 169 countries, the HDI places Jamaica in the high human development category, at 80th place.
Note: Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.
Written by Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Editor in Chief, www.countrywatch.com; see Bibliography for references.