Jamaica  

Jamaica’s international ranking of 88th on raw materials concentration suggests that there is an overreliance on exports of raw materials. Physical capital available to the Jamaican workforce is below the global average, despite Jamaica having the 27th highest level of foreign direct investment. The domestic savings rate is also low at only 16% of GDP. The banking sector is moderately efficient with high net interest margins of 7.6 percentage points, ranking Jamaica 91st, but low amounts of defaulted loans rank the country above the global average. The unemployment and inflation rates stand at 9%, and both place the country in the bottom third on these variables.

Despite having a low number of formal procedures required to start up a business, only 3,674 new enterprises were registered in Jamaica in 2007. Levels of royalty receipts are around the international average, allowing Jamaicans to capitalise on their intellectual property, but expenditure on R&D is very low with a value of only 0.3%. Ranking above the global average, value added in the service industry stands at 61%. Although Jamaica has one of the most advanced internet infrastructures in the world in terms of bandwidth, it has comparatively few secure internet servers per capita, and only 67 personal computers per 1,000 people, positioning Jamaica 63rd on the latter variable. Jamaica ranks in the bottom quartile in terms of the amount of ICT and high-tech exports.

Jamaica ranks 38th for political rights and 51st for civil liberties, suggesting that some freedoms are still being denied. Despite holding open democratic elections for appointments to both executive and legislative positions in the government, figures suggest that there is only limited political competition among rival parties in elections for the executive branch of the government. Higher levels of open political competition are recorded in legislative elections. Ranking 48th globally, Jamaica has some political constraints in place that prohibit political actors from enforcing arbitrary changes in legislation, but figures suggest that these could be enforced more stringently. The judiciary is still dependent on the government, which allows for the possibility of interference in legal proceedings by executive authorities. Jamaica ranks 25th in regime stability, having had the same political system in place for the past 50 years.

With only nine out of 10 primary school age children enrolled in education, Jamaica ranks below the global average on this variable. While secondary school enrolment figures are lower, with only 87% of children enrolled, this figure ranks higher, overall. While there is gender equality in enrolment, with 28 students to each teacher, class sizes at the primary level are large, and government expenditure per student is below the global average. Jamaican workers have, on average, 5.4 years of secondary education but only 3.4 years of tertiary education, rates which are the 38th and 77th highest, worldwide. This performance is in line with Jamaica’s low tertiary education enrolment rate, which places the country 71st on this variable.

With less than 10 medical professionals and 20 hospital beds per 10,000 people, Jamaica has comparatively low medical resources. Health issues relating to poverty are all close to international averages: Jamaica ranks 61st for sanitation facilities, 67th for infant mortality, and 63rd for undernourishment in the population. Despite this, Jamaicans have a high health-adjusted life expectancy of 65 years. Jamaica performed well on subjective health factors, ranking the country in the top 15 countries on indexes of health satisfaction, as 89% of respondents were satisfied with water quality, and only 18% of respondents consider themselves to have health problems.* In addition, Jamaica has the third lowest percentage of people who reported feeling pain, and a slightly below average number of respondents considered themselves well rested, ranking Jamaica 68th, internationally.*

Jamaica has a comparatively high homicide rate of 45 deaths per 100,000, placing the country 95th, worldwide, and less than half of people surveyed reported feeling safe walking alone at night.* When asked, only 4% of people reported having been assaulted in 2006, and just 14% reported having had property or money stolen in the same time period.* Challenges to national security related to refugees and groups with a history of discrimination or other grievances are relatively minor, ranking the country in the top third for both variables. More pressing concerns are issues related to human flight from dangerous or degrading conditions, placing Jamaica at 64th for this variable. Additionally, the extent to which citizens are victims of state-sponsored violence and political imprisonment is high, ranking the country at 80th on this variable.

The regulation of commercial and financial markets is of a high standard in Jamaica and the civil service is moderately effective when carrying out governmental objectives. However, the rule of law is not equally or comprehensively enforced, ranking the country 72nd on this variable. Political participation is the legal right of all citizens in Jamaica, but the country ranks in the bottom five in terms of citizens’ confidence in electoral honesty.* It also ranks in the bottom five on variables of business and governmental corruption, with approximately 95% of the population believing in widespread dishonesty.* More people have confidence in the military and in the judicial process, but Jamaica still ranks at 73rd and 66th, respectively.*

Jamaicans enjoy excellent freedoms of movement, religion, and speech. However, less than 75% of citizens are satisfied with their freedom of choice in their daily lives.* Jamaicans have higher tolerance towards immigrants than ethnic minorities, ranking the country 39th on the former and at 60th on the latter.*

More than six out of 10 people reported that they had helped a stranger within the preceding year.* Contrastingly, there were comparatively low levels of charitable giving and volunteering, at 28% and 18%, respectively.* Jamaica ranked 29th on measures for reliance on friends and family, with 91% feeling they can rely on their friends and family in times of need.* Only 20% of respondents reported being married, the second lowest percentage, worldwide, implying that citizens have a low level of access to familial support networks.* Religion is of below average importance to Jamaicans, who rank just 58th on the religiosity variable, suggesting limited access to religious support networks. No data was available for variables on levels of social trust, importance of friends, or group membership.

* Data taken from the Gallup World Poll

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