Jamaica
Name
| Official name | Jamaica — no longer form; a Commonwealth realm |
|---|---|
| Former names | Xaymaca of the Taíno; Santiago under Spain (1494–1655); the Colony of Jamaica (1655–1962), briefly a province of the West Indies Federation (1958–1962) |
| Demonym | Jamaican |
| Meaning of the name | Xaymaca — "the land of wood and water," in Taíno |
| Motto | "Out of Many, One People" — since 1962 |
Quick facts
| Capital | Kingston — founded 1692, the capital since 1872; about 600,000 in the city and parish, 1.2 million in the metropolitan area |
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| Largest towns | Kingston; Portmore; Spanish Town, the capital of 1534–1872; Montego Bay; May Pen; Mandeville; Ocho Rios; Negril |
| Official language | English; Jamaican Patois — Patwa, the Creole of the island — the spoken tongue of nearly all |
| Currency | Jamaican dollar — ISO code JMD, J$; 100 cents; about 157 to the U.S. dollar |
| Time zone | Eastern Standard Time, UTC−5, all year — no summer time |
| Calling codes | +1 876 and +1 658 |
| Internet domain | .jm |
| ISO 3166 codes | JM · JAM · 388 |
| Vehicle registration code | JA |
| Driving side | Left |
| Electricity | 110 V, 50 Hz; plug types A and B |
| Independence | 6 August 1962, from the United Kingdom — Alexander Bustamante the first prime minister; the first of the British West Indies |
| National days | 6 August, Independence Day; 1 August, Emancipation Day, for 1838; the third Monday of October, National Heroes Day; 23 May, Labour Day; Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas and Boxing Day; the Carnival of April |
| Constitution | 6 August 1962 — the Jamaica (Constitution) Order in Council; the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms added in 2011; the Constitution (Amendment) (Republic) Bill of 10 December 2024 to replace the King with a president, requiring a two-thirds vote and a referendum |
| Population | 2,697,983 at the census of 2011; about 2.77 million by the preliminary count of the census of 2022; about 2.8 million (2025 est.) |
| Area | 10,991 km² (4,244 sq mi) — land 10,831 km², water 160 km²; the third-largest island of the Caribbean |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A gold saltire dividing the field into two green triangles at top and bottom and two black at the hoist and fly — "hardships there are, but the land is green and the sun shineth," the black for the strength and creativity of the people since 1996 — the only national flag with none of red, white or blue; adopted 6 August 1962.Flag of Jamaica |
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| Coat of arms | A shield bearing the red cross of St. George with five golden pineapples, supported by a Taíno man with a bow and a Taíno woman with a basket, under a crocodile on a helmet — granted by royal warrant in 1661, the oldest arms of any Commonwealth country outside Britain; the motto since 1962, "Indus uterque serviet uni," both Indies shall serve one, before |
| National anthem | "Jamaica, Land We Love" — words by Hugh Sherlock, music by Robert Lightbourne; adopted 19 July 1962 |
| National motto | "Out of Many, One People" |
| National colors | Black, green and gold |
| National bird | The doctor bird — the red-billed streamertail hummingbird, Trochilus polytmus, found only in Jamaica, with its two long tail feathers; on the dollar |
| National flower | The lignum vitae — Guaiacum officinale, the "wood of life," with its blue flowers and the hardest wood in the trade |
| National tree | The blue mahoe — Hibiscus elatus, the timber of the Blue Mountains |
| National fruit | The ackee — Blighia sapida, brought from West Africa in the 1770s, poisonous unripe and the nation's breakfast ripe |
| National dish | Ackee and saltfish; jerk chicken and pork from the pits of Boston Bay, the Maroons' cooking; curry goat; rice and peas; the patty; the Blue Mountain coffee |
| National music | Reggae — on UNESCO's list of intangible heritage since 2018; the mento, ska, rocksteady and dancehall before and after it; Bob Marley |
| Symbol status | The flag, arms and anthem are fixed by law; the bird, flower, tree and fruit declared by the government in 1962; the dishes widely cited; reggae by UNESCO listing |
Geography
| Location | The Caribbean — the Greater Antilles, 145 km south of Cuba and 190 km west of Haiti, in the sea between Central America and Hispaniola |
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| Land borders | None |
| Coastline | 1,022 km (635 mi) |
| Highest point | Blue Mountain Peak, 2,256 m (7,402 ft) — the highest in the English-speaking Caribbean |
| Lowest point | The Caribbean Sea, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 18 m (59 ft) by the Factbook's reckoning of the settled land; the island mountainous through its spine |
| Rivers | The Rio Minho, 93 km, the longest; the Black River, 53 km, the longest navigable, through the Great Morass; the Rio Cobre of Spanish Town; the Rio Grande of the rafts; Dunn's River and its falls at Ocho Rios; the White River |
| Terrain | The Blue Mountains of the east and the John Crow Mountains beside them; the limestone plateau of the interior with the Cockpit Country's hills and sinkholes, the Maroons' refuge; the coastal plains of the south; the north coast of the resorts; the Pedro Bank and the cays offshore |
| Climate | Tropical maritime — hot and humid on the coasts, cool in the mountains; the rains of May and October; the hurricane season from June to November; the trade winds, the "doctor breeze" |
| Natural hazards | Hurricanes — Melissa, 28 October 2025, Category 5 with 295 km/h winds at landfall at New Hope in Westmoreland, the strongest to strike the island on record, at least 45 dead, 15 missing, the west flattened and the damage near US$8.8 billion; Gilbert, 12 September 1988; Beryl, July 2024; Ivan 2004; earthquakes — Port Royal 1692, Kingston 1907; floods and landslides |
| Natural resources | Bauxite, the red earth of the interior, mined since 1952 and once the largest source on earth; limestone, gypsum; the Blue Mountain coffee; the beaches and the reef |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 41%; forest about 31% |
| National parks | The Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park of 1993; the Montego Bay, Negril, Ocho Rios and Portland Bight marine parks; the Cockpit Country Protected Area of 2022; the Black River Morass, a Ramsar wetland |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 2 — the Blue and John Crow Mountains (2015), a mixed site, for the forests and the Maroon heritage; the Archaeological Landscape of Port Royal (2025), the sunken pirate city; reggae music on the intangible list since 2018 |
| Administrative divisions | 14 parishes in 3 counties — Cornwall in the west, Middlesex in the center, Surrey in the east — Kingston and St. Andrew joined as one corporation; the parish councils |
People
| Population | 2,697,983 (census of 2011); about 2.8 million (2025 est.) |
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| Population density | About 255 per km² (660 per sq mi) |
| Population growth | About 0.1% a year — the emigration taking the growth |
| Median age | About 32 years |
| Life expectancy | About 75 years |
| Fertility rate | About 1.9 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 57% |
| Adult literacy | About 89% |
| Ethnic groups | Black about 92%, the descendants of the enslaved of West Africa; mixed about 6%; East Indian, Chinese, Lebanese and European under 2% together; the Maroons of Accompong and Moore Town (census of 2011) |
| Languages | English official and of the schools; Jamaican Patois spoken by about 90% at home — an English-based Creole with West African grammar, from "wah gwaan" to "irie"; the Kromanti of the Maroons nearly gone |
| Religion | Christian about 65% — Protestant above all: Seventh-day Adventist about 12%, Pentecostal 11%, Church of God, Baptist, Anglican; Catholic about 2%; Rastafari about 1% by the census and more in influence, the faith of Marley born in the 1930s; no religion about 21%; the Kumina and Revival of the tradition |
| Human Development Index | 0.720 (2023 data, 2025 report) — high; about 110th of 193 |
| Violence | A homicide rate above 50 per 100,000 through the 2010s, among the highest in the world; down by about 40% in 2024–25 to about 30 under the states of emergency and the zones of special operations; the gangs of Kingston and Montego Bay; the police shootings the rights groups count |
| Sport | Athletics — the sprint nation: Usain Bolt's eight Olympic golds and the world records of 9.58 and 19.19 seconds set in 2009; Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Merlene Ottey; the most Olympic sprint medals per head of any country; cricket within the West Indies; the bobsled team of Calgary 1988; netball and the Sunshine Girls; football and the Reggae Boyz of the World Cup of 1998 |
| Diaspora | About 3 million of Jamaican descent abroad — in the United States, New York, Miami and Atlanta; Britain, the Windrush generation of 1948 and after; Canada, Toronto; the remittances a fifth of the economy |
Government
| Form of government | Parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the Constitution of 1962 — the King head of state, represented by the Governor-General; the prime minister head of government with the confidence of the House; the Westminster model of two parties |
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| Monarch | King Charles III, since 8 September 2022 — King of Jamaica; the republic bill of 2024 to end the office |
| Governor-General | Sir Patrick Allen, since 26 February 2009 — a Seventh-day Adventist pastor and church president before; the sixth since independence |
| Prime Minister | Andrew Holness (Jamaica Labour Party), since 3 March 2016 — the ninth person in the office, prime minister before for 74 days in 2011–12 at 39, the youngest; leader of the JLP since 2011, education minister 2007–11, born 22 July 1972 in Spanish Town; the third consecutive term from 16 September 2025, the fourth in all; his wife Juliet Holness the Speaker of the House since 2025 |
| The 2025 election | Held 3 September 2025: the JLP 50.54% and 412,705 votes with 35 of the 63 seats after the final count — 34 on the preliminary — the PNP 49.16% and 401,398 with 28, up 14 from the rout of 2020; turnout 39.96% of 2,077,800 registered; a record 19 women elected; the observers calling the vote peaceful and organized with delays from the new voter ID; the economy, the minimum wage and the violence the issues; the JLP's fourth win in a row since 2016 |
| Opposition | The People's National Party under Mark Golding, leader since 2020 — the party of Norman and Michael Manley and P.J. Patterson, in office 1972–80 and 1989–2007 |
| Parliament | The House of Representatives — 63 members elected for five years by first past the post; the Senate — 21 appointed, 13 on the prime minister's advice and 8 on the opposition leader's |
| The next election | Due by 2030 |
| The republic | The Constitution (Amendment) (Republic) Bill tabled 10 December 2024 — a president elected by parliament in place of the King, the "Republic of Jamaica"; a two-thirds vote in both houses and a referendum needed, the opposition tying its support to leaving the Privy Council for the Caribbean Court of Justice; the transition promised before the next election |
| Hurricane Melissa | The storm of 28 October 2025 — Category 5 at landfall, the strongest on the island's record, across St. Elizabeth, Westmoreland and Hanover; at least 45 dead and 15 missing, Black River and the west destroyed, three-quarters of the island without power; damage estimated at US$8.8 billion, near 40% of GDP; the catastrophe bond of US$150 million paid out; the aid of December 2025 and the rebuilding of 2026 |
| Legal system | Common law from England; the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court; the Privy Council in London the final appeal still; the Caribbean Court of Justice for trade only; the death penalty on the books, unused since 1988 |
| Parishes | 14 with elected councils, the local elections last in February 2024 |
| United Nations | Member since 18 September 1962; the International Seabed Authority headquartered in Kingston since 1994 |
| Memberships | CARICOM, a founder in 1973; the Commonwealth; the OAS; the Association of Caribbean States; the Non-Aligned Movement; the WTO; the CARICOM Single Market |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$21 billion (2025, IMF) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$7,500 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$13,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 1–2% a year before Melissa and a contraction after — the storm's cost near 40% of GDP, the recovery the story of 2026; inflation about 5% |
| Economy by sector | Services about 70% — tourism, finance, the call centers; industry about 21%; agriculture about 8% |
| Currency | Jamaican dollar (JMD) |
| Tourism | About 4 million visitors a year with the cruise ships — Montego Bay, Negril, Ocho Rios, the all-inclusives of Sandals; about a third of the economy with the spending; the north coast spared by Melissa and open |
| Remittances | About US$3.5 billion a year from the diaspora — about a fifth of GDP, the largest source of foreign exchange after tourism |
| Bauxite and alumina | The red earth of St. Elizabeth, Manchester and St. Ann — the largest bauxite producer in the world in the 1960s, the fourth or fifth now, about 6 million metric tons; the Jamalco and Windalco refineries, Jamalco's knocked out by Melissa |
| Agriculture | Sugar, the old crop of the plantations, nearly gone; bananas; the Blue Mountain coffee, among the most expensive in the world; yams, the world's third producer; the ganja, legal to grow under license since 2015 |
| The debt | Public debt cut from 147% of GDP in 2013 to about 65% by 2025 — the fiscal discipline praised by the IMF as a model; the primary surpluses of a decade; the Bank of Jamaica's independence of 2020 |
| Income classification | Upper-middle income (World Bank) |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Sangster International at Montego Bay, the busiest, about 5 million passengers; Norman Manley International at Kingston on the Palisadoes; Ian Fleming International at Boscobel |
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| Airline | No national carrier — Air Jamaica of 1968 sold to Caribbean Airlines of Trinidad in 2011; American, JetBlue, Delta, British Airways, Virgin and the rest |
| Main ports | Kingston — the Kingston Freeport container terminal run by CMA CGM, the transshipment hub of the Caribbean on the seventh-largest natural harbor in the world; Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Falmouth for the cruise ships; Port Esquivel and Rocky Point for the alumina |
| Railways | None in service — the Kingston–Spanish Town line of 1845 was the first railway in the British colonies, the network of 330 km closed to passengers in 1992; the bauxite lines |
| Roads | About 22,000 km (13,700 mi), three-quarters paved; Highway 2000, the toll road from Kingston to May Pen and over the mountains to Ocho Rios, the north–south link of 2016; the Southern Coastal Highway to Port Antonio |
| The rivers | The bamboo rafts of the Rio Grande and the Martha Brae; the Black River safari |
History in dates
| c. 650 | The Taíno settle Xaymaca |
|---|---|
| 1494 | Columbus lands at Discovery Bay, 5 May |
| 1509 | The Spanish settle; the Taíno destroyed |
| 1655 | The English take the island, 10 May |
| 1670 | Spain cedes Jamaica by the Treaty of Madrid |
| 1692 | Port Royal sinks in the earthquake, 7 June; Kingston founded |
| 1739 | The Maroon treaty with Cudjoe — the Leeward Maroons' freedom |
| 1831–1832 | The Christmas Rebellion of Sam Sharpe |
| 1834 · 1838 | Emancipation; the apprenticeship ends, 1 August 1838 |
| 1845 | The first railway in the British colonies |
| 1865 | The Morant Bay rebellion, 11 October — Paul Bogle and George William Gordon hanged |
| 1907 | The Kingston earthquake, 14 January |
| 1930s | Rastafari born; the labor riots of 1938 — Bustamante and Manley |
| 1944 | Universal suffrage; the first election, 14 December |
| 1962 | Independence, 6 August |
| 1972 | Michael Manley prime minister, 2 March |
| 1980 | The election of 30 October — some 800 dead in the campaign; Seaga |
| 1981 | Bob Marley dies, 11 May |
| 1988 | Hurricane Gilbert, 12 September; the bobsled team at Calgary |
| 2008 | Bolt's golds at Beijing; 9.58 at Berlin, 16 August 2009 |
| 2010 | The Tivoli Gardens incursion, 24 May — 73 dead |
| 2016 | Andrew Holness prime minister, 3 March |
| 2022 | Charles III King of Jamaica, 8 September |
| 2024 | The republic bill tabled, 10 December |
| 2025 | Port Royal inscribed, July; the election, 3 September; Hurricane Melissa, 28 October |
Records & firsts
| The fastest man | Usain Bolt, 9.58 seconds |
|---|---|
| The most sprint medals per head | Of any nation |
| The only flag without red, white or blue | Black, green and gold |
| The oldest arms in the Commonwealth | 1661 |
| The first railway of the British colonies | 1845 |
| The seventh-largest natural harbor | Kingston |
| Reggae | On UNESCO's list, 2018 |
| The first British West Indian colony to independence | 6 August 1962 |
| The strongest hurricane on its record | Melissa, 2025 |
| The wickedest city on earth | Port Royal, before 1692 |
| The Maroons | A treaty with the empire, 1739 |
| The Blue Mountain coffee | Among the most expensive in the world |
| A debt cut by half | From 147% of GDP to 65% |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Jamaica?
Jamaica — with no "republic" or "kingdom," a Commonwealth realm with King Charles III as head of state — independent from Britain since 6 August 1962, the first of the British West Indies to go. The name is the Taíno Xaymaca, "the land of wood and water," which Columbus heard when he landed in 1494; the Spanish held the island as Santiago until the English took it in 1655. A bill to make the country a republic was tabled in December 2024, with the government pledging the change before the next election.
What is the capital of Jamaica?
Kingston, on the southeast coast beside the seventh-largest natural harbor in the world — founded in 1692 for the survivors of the earthquake that sank Port Royal across the water, the capital since 1872 in place of Spanish Town, with about 600,000 people in the city and parish and 1.2 million in the metropolitan area, the largest English-speaking city of the Caribbean south of Miami. Montego Bay on the north coast is the tourist capital and the second city; Spanish Town, the old capital, Portmore and Mandeville follow.
How big is Jamaica, and how many people live there?
About 10,991 km² (4,244 sq mi) — a little smaller than Connecticut, about the size of Lebanon — the third-largest island of the Caribbean after Cuba and Hispaniola, 235 km long and 82 km wide, 145 km south of Cuba. The census of 2011 counted 2,697,983 people and the count of 2022 about 2.77 million by its preliminary figure; the estimate for 2025 is about 2.8 million, with as many Jamaicans again living abroad.
What are the highest and lowest points of Jamaica?
Blue Mountain Peak, 2,256 m (7,402 ft), in the Blue Mountains of the east, where the coffee grows — the highest point of the English-speaking Caribbean, with Cuba visible from its summit on a clear morning; and the Caribbean. The island is mountainous through its center, with the limestone hills and sinkholes of the Cockpit Country, where the Maroons fought the English, in the west, and the plains and the beaches on the coasts.
What currency does Jamaica use?
The Jamaican dollar (ISO code JMD, J$), of 100 cents, issued by the Bank of Jamaica since 1969, when it replaced the Jamaican pound — at about 157 to the U.S. dollar, floated since 1990. Clocks keep Eastern Standard Time, UTC−5, all year, without summer time. Jamaica drives on the left.
Who governs Jamaica?
Prime Minister Andrew Holness of the Jamaica Labour Party, head of government since 3 March 2016 and before that for ten weeks in 2011–12, re-elected on 3 September 2025 to a third consecutive term with 35 of the 63 seats on a popular vote of 50.5 to 49.2 percent, the opposition People's National Party under Mark Golding having doubled its seats; he was sworn in on 16 September 2025. Sir Patrick Allen has been Governor-General, representing the King, since 2009. Seven weeks after the election Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, struck the west of the island with at least 45 dead and damage near 40 percent of the economy, and the recovery is the government's task. The next election is due by 2030.
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