Economy in Jamaica

The island of Jamaica is located in the Caribbean Sea in Central America, south of Cuba. It acquired independence from Britain in 1962. It has a population of 2.6 million as of 2000 and a surface area of 10,990 sq/km, therefore making the density 236.6 pop/sq km. When compared to the United States' 282 million population in a 9.6 million sq/km surface area, (making the density 29.4 pop/sq km), one is able to recognize one of the major problems Jamaica is faced with: overpopulation. Jamaica which is classified as a lower-middle income country has a gross domestic product (GDP) of $8.10 billion dollars in 2003 while the U.S. which is a high-income country has a GDP of $10,948 billion in the same year. Jamaica's human development index is 0.736 to America's 0.944 and is ranked 98/177 in the world. Jamaica and the United States are close in their life expectancy years at birth: 71 and 77.03 respectively. HIV is very high in Jamaica as it has infected 1.2 percent of men and women 15-49 years of age to America's 0.6 percent. This does not mean America has less people in the country infected than Jamaica; actually the statistics would show that 1,692,000 Americans would be infected to 31,200 Jamaicans. It is however a high percentage of person to be infected for such a small population. Jamaica has a higher percentage rate of school enrollment than that of America in 2003: Jamaica has 94.7% while the States have 94.3%.

Similarities

Jamaica like many of its neighboring countries strives to improvement their economy. For many developing Caribbean countries Agriculture, Natural minerals and Industrial produce plays a major part of their earnings. Many of these countries produce sugar, bananas, coffee, citrus fruits, allspice and tourism such as Antigua, British Honduras, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Montserrat, St. Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla and St. Vincent, Bahamas and Haiti. Jamaica and Guyana are famous for bauxite and alumina exports to markets such as the U.S., U.K., Japan, CARICOM, Canada Norway, etc. This can be problematic for many developing countries as the try to gain significant footing in a huge international market while exporting the same products.

Life expectancy has increased over the years among developing countries. These Countries have life expectancy in the 70s with one in the 80s which is Cayman Islands ranking at 13th. Jamaica has a life expectancy at 73 ranked at 100/226. Other countries include Barbados, Brazil, Malta, Montserrat, Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Denmark, Cuba, west bank, north Korea, Gaza Strip, Morocco, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Thailand and Bulgaria.

Many developing countries also suffer from a high rate of unemployment. Jamaica is ranked as having the 113th in the CIA fact book ranking from the lowest to highest out of 197 countries with 11.50%. Other developing countries in the same range and region were Bahamas at 103rd (10.20%), Barbados at 106th (10.70%), Ecuador at 107th (10.70%), Antigua and Barbuda at 108th (11.00%), Columbia at 117th (11.80%), Grenada at 125th (12.50%), Belize at 128th (12.90%), St Lucia at 153rd (20.00%) and Guadeloupe at 165th (26.90%).

Education is very important in Jamaica and many other countries in the Caribbean region. According to the United Nations Development Programme Report 2005, Jamaica is ranked 57 in worldwide literacy rate with 87.6. Other developing countries in the region are Barbados (3rd with 99.7), Trinidad and Tobago (11th with 98.5), and St Kitts and Nevis (15th with 97.8). United States ranked at 21st with 97.0.

Differences

According to the Human Development Report of 2005, Jamaica had a HDI value of 0.736 ranking 98/177 in the world as of 2003. Jamaica had also a GDP of US$3,083 per capita and a PPP of US$4,104 as of 2003. It was ranked 107/177 in the world. Jamaica still has a long way to go in order to meet the best performer in the Caribbean and Latin America which is Barbados who ranks 39/177 in the world for its GDP of US$15,720 and 30/177 for HDI of 0.878. The worse performer still remains to be Haiti ranking 144/177 with a GDP per capita of US$1,742 and HDI value of 0.475. Jamaica has a population of 2.6 million people and it is the largest English speaking country in the Caribbean; however, Jamaica is classified as a lower-middle income country. Other smaller countries such as Trinidad and Tobago (1,065,842), St Kitts