This article is about the demographic

Demographics

Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...

 features of the population

Population

A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

 of Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

, including population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

, ethnicity

Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...

, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook unless otherwise referenced.

Age structure

0–14 years:
12.5 %
(male 464,297/female 449,181)

15–64 years:
59.6% (male 808,718/female 835,394)

65 years and over:
7.3% (male 90,100/female 110,434) (2006 est.)

Birth rate

20.82 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
There were a total of 45,600 births in 2007. (46,300 in 2006 and 47,000 in 2005 resulting in a birth rate of 17.0 per 1000 in 2007.

Death rate

6.55 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)[Note: Birth-Death+Net mig=Pop increase --> 20.82-X-6.27=8 --> X=6.55]

Sex ratio

Practic:
1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:
1.03 male(s)/female

15-64 years:
0.97 male(s)/female

65 years and over:
0.82 male(s)/female

total population:
0.98 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total population:
15.98 deaths/1,000 live births

male:
16.66 deaths/1,000 live births

female:
15.27 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population:
73.24 years

male:
71.54 years

female:
75.03 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility

Fertility

Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...

 rate

• 2.26

Children born/woman (2010 est.)

• 2.41 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Ethnic groups

This topic is somewhat contentious with several respected sources giving different figures. In alphabetic order these are:

• CIA Fact Book: black 91.2%, mixed 6.2%, other or unknown 2.6% (2001 census).
• University of the West Indies: 76.3% African descent, 15.1% Afro-European, 3.4% East Indian and Afro-East Indian, 3.2% Caucasian, 1.2% Chinese and Afro-Chinese and 0.8% Other.

Religions

Protestant

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 62.5% (including Church of God

Church of God

Church of God is a name used by numerous, mostly unrelated Christian denominational bodies, most of which descend from either Pentecostal/Holiness or Adventist traditions.-Pentecostal Movement:*Church of God...

23.7%, Seventh-Day Adventist

Seventh-day Adventist Church

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...

 10.8%, Pentecostal

Pentecostalism

Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...

 9.5%, Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 7.2%, Anglican

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

 3.6%)
Roman Catholic

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 2.6%

Languages

English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 (official), Jamaican Patois, Levantine Arabic

Levantine Arabic

Levantine Arabic is a broad variety of Arabic spoken in the 100 to 200 km-wide Eastern Mediterranean coastal strip...

, Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

, Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

. Also includes Mandarin Chinese.

Literacy

definition:
age 15 and over has ever attended school

total population:
87.9%

male:
84.1%

female:
91.6% (2003 est.)

External links

• CIA World Factbook -- Jamaica