Part 419

Coastline: 1,022 km

Maritime claims: measured from claimed archipelagic baselines continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior

Terrain: mostly mountains with narrow, discontinuous coastal plain

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m highest point : Blue Mountain Peak 2,256 m

Natural resources: bauxite, gypsum, limestone

Land use: arable land : 14% permanent crops: 6% permanent pastures: 24% forests and woodland: 17% other: 39% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 350 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: hurricanes (especially July to November)

Environment - current issues: deforestation; coastal waters polluted by industrial waste, sewage, and oil spills; damage to coral reefs; air pollution in Kingston results from vehicle emissions

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Whaling signed, but not ratified : none of the selected agreements

Geography - note: strategic location between Cayman Trench and Jamaica Channel, the main sea lanes for Panama Canal

@Jamaica:People

Population: 2,615,582 (July 1997 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years : 32% (male 428,831; female 409,959) 15-64 years: 61% (male 793,609; female 806,031) 65 years and over: 7% (male 78,453; female 98,699) (July 1997 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.75% (1997 est.)

Birth rate: 21.56 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Death rate: 5.5 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Net migration rate: -8.51 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.8 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (1997 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 15 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 75.12 years male : 72.8 years female: 77.56 years (1997 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.39 children born/woman (1997 est.)

Nationality: noun : Jamaican(s) adjective: Jamaican

Ethnic groups: black 76.3%, Afro-European 15.1%, East Indian and Afro-East Indian 3%, white 3.2%, Chinese and Afro-Chinese 1.2%, other 1.2%

Religions: Protestant 55.9% (Church of God 18.4%, Baptist 10%, Anglican 7.1%, Seventh-Day Adventist 6.9%, Pentecostal 5.2%, Methodist 3.1%, United Church 2.7%, other 2.5%), Roman Catholic 5%, other, including some spiritual cults 39.1% (1982)

Languages: English, Creole

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school total population: 85% male: 80.8% female: 89.1% (1995 est.)