Jamaica Population & People

Jamaica's population is currently estimated at 2.665 million, of which about 800,000 live in Kingston. At least another two million Jamaicans live abroad. Emigration has served as an escape valve to help balance the high birthrate of 20 per 1000 (down from 25.2 per 1000 in 1990). One-third of the population is under 14 years of age. Life expectancy was over 75 years in 2001, when the infant mortality rate was 14 deaths per 1000 live births.

Diverse People

The nation's motto - 'Out of Many, One People' - reflects Jamaica's diverse heritage. Tens of thousands of West Africans, plus large numbers of Irish, Germans, and Welsh arrived throughout the colonial period, along with Hispanic and Portuguese Jews and those whom Jamaicans call 'Syrians' (a term for all those of Levantine extraction). Following emancipation in 1838, Chinese and Indians arrived as indentured laborers from Hong Kong and Panama. A new wave of Hong Kong Chinese has settled in recent years, bringing new vitality to retail trade.

Some 91 % of the population is classified as being of pure African descent; 7.3% are of Afro-European descent; the remainder are white (0.2%), East Indian and Middle Eastern (1.3%), and Afro-Chinese and Chinese (0.2%).

Jamaica proclaims itself a melting pot of racial harmony. Still, insecurities of identity have been carried down from the plantation era. Class divisions in Jamaica are still related to color, and there is much lingering resentment - as well as prejudice - against whites, particularly among the poorer segment of society.

Whites are divided into 'white Jamaicans' (immigrants from Europe, mostly England) and island-born 'Jamaican whites,' most of whom are really 'off-whites' who contain at least a trace of black blood. You'll also come across many brown-skinned, green-eyed, blond-haired mulattos (so-called 'red' people, a pejorative term), notably around Treasure Beach in St Elizabeth.

EDUCATION

During the late 19th century, the British established in Jamaica the foundations of an admirable education system. Jamaica still boasts some of the finest schools in the Americas. Case in point: Jamaica produced the winner of the 1998 US National Spelling Bee championship.

However, per-student spending has steadily fallen during the past few decades. Low salaries fail to attract quality teachers. Although primary education is free and compulsory to the age of 15, about 60% of Jamaican schoolchildren (mostly in rural areas) drop out early. Children in rural areas must often walk many miles to reach school. And in Kingston's ghettoes, a huge population of children remains illiterate because it is too dangerous for them to venture through what is literally a war zone.

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