Jamaica

North AmericaCapital city: KingstonCapital metro: KingstonPrime Minister: Andrew Holness
2026 population
2.8M
Rank #144 globally
Area
11k km² (4k sq mi)
Metros tracked
4
65% of population in metros
Composite score
7.6
Rank #112 globally

population: 2022 census (12 Sep 2022) · indicators as of 5 Sep 2026 · 4 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography4 metros

Jamaica metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
4 polygons

Select a metro for its rank and a link to its page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 4 tracked metros
4 metros
#380Kingston★ Capital▲ Largest
St. Andrew · St. Catherine · 1.2M · Established Metro
6.9
St. James · 192K · Local Metro
0.6
#3175May Pen
Clarendon · 247K · Local Metro
0.1
Manchester · 192K · Local Metro
0.1
🗂️ Parishs

14 entries listed under Jamaica. Select any to see its metros and footprint.

14 total
📋 At a glance
Official languages
English, Jamaican Patois
Legislature
Parliament of Jamaica
Demonym
Jamaican
Time zone
UTC-05:00
Driving side
Left
Calling code
+1876
Internet TLD
.jm
ISO 3166
JM
Established
1962
Highest point
Blue Mountain Peak (2,256 m (7,402 ft))
National anthem
Jamaica, Land We Love

Facts via Wikidata.

🗣️ Languages of Jamaica

English first; 2 languages share the country; 1 official.

LanguageShareStatus
English98%Official
Jamaican Creole English95%None

Shares count first and second language, so they overlap and can add past 100%.

English reach
98%
Tier 3 country
Effective languages
1.0
Official-language gap
2%
English is spoken by 98%

Jamaica on the languages board · Language power

💹 Economy and developmentUpper middle income
Human Dev. Index
#117 / 191
0.720
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#124 / 193
$22.7B
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#93 / 193
$8.0k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#116 / 190
$13.3k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#92 / 192
$7.8k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#121 / 194
71.6 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
31.7 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#110 / 194
59%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
-0.1%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#34 / 193
262/km² (679/mi²)
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#158 / 193
0.8%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#42 / 175
0.85
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#121 / 166
39.9
World Bank · 2021
Internet users
#54 / 193
90%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
#123 / 185
4.0%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#99 / 192
3.0 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#141 / 186
13%
Ember · 2024

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

🔮 What happens next

Our forecasts, frozen before the result and scored after it.

LA28 Olympics · resolves 30 Jul 2028

How many gold medals does Jamaica win at LA28?

3 gold medals80% range 1 gold medals to 7 gold medals

How the model worksTrack record

LA28 Olympics · resolves 30 Jul 2028

How many medals in all does Jamaica win at LA28?

8 medals80% range 4 medals to 17 medals

How the model worksTrack record

Alliances & Organisations4 full memberships

Political & Economic

Subregional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History12 leaders · click to expand
Andrew Holness✦ Current
Prime Minister · JLP · 10y 4m 0d
2016–Present
Portia Simpson-Miller
Prime Minister · PNP · 4y 1m 27d
2012–2016
Andrew Holness
Prime Minister · JLP · 2m 13d
2011–2012
Bruce Golding
Prime Minister · JLP · 4y 1m 12d
2007–2011
Portia Simpson-Miller
Prime Minister · PNP · 1y 5m 12d
2006–2007
P. J. Patterson
Prime Minister · PNP · 14y 0d
1992–2006
Michael Manley
Prime Minister · PNP · 3y 1m 17d
1989–1992
Edward Seaga
Prime Minister · JLP · 8y 3m 12d
1980–1989
Michael Manley
Prime Minister · PNP · 8y 7m 30d
1972–1980
Hugh Shearer
Prime Minister · JLP · 4y 10m 20d
1967–1972
Donald Sangster
Prime Minister · JLP · 1m 20d
1967–1967
Alexander Bustamante
Prime Minister · JLP · 4y 6m 16d
1962–1967
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#106 · 0.1%
3%5%8%10%2000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)

The power line is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

⚔️ Wars and conflicts1 interstate war · click to expand
Combat deaths: 102+

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
2.8m
#142 in the world
Since 1800
9.47×
from 300k
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.04%
0.03% in 1800
710k1.4m2.1m2.8m18001850190019502000

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Jamaica: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak
2023
2.8m; already passed
2050
2.5m
95% band 2.0m to 3.1m
2100
1.1m
95% band 368k to 3.8m
2100 against 2025
0.38×
median falling from 2024
Deaths outnumber births
from 2034
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
988k2.0m3.0m4.0m1950197520002025205020752100
estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
46k born · 16k died · +14k net migration
TFR 3.92 · life expectancy 56.6 · median age 21.2
1960
67k born · 15k died · -29k net migration
TFR 5.54 · life expectancy 63.8 · median age 18.7
1970
63k born · 16k died · -23k net migration
TFR 5.35 · life expectancy 66.7 · median age 16.4
1980
61k born · 18k died · -15k net migration
TFR 3.59 · life expectancy 69.0 · median age 18.3
1990
62k born · 18k died · -25k net migration
TFR 2.96 · life expectancy 71.7 · median age 20.8
2000
52k born · 18k died · -17k net migration
TFR 2.35 · life expectancy 71.3 · median age 22.3
2010
43k born · 18k died · -13k net migration
TFR 1.80 · life expectancy 72.0 · median age 25.5
2020
34k born · 22k died · 0 net migration
TFR 1.38 · life expectancy 71.5 · median age 30.2

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

🏆 National Teams

Jamaica on the international stage. Select a card for the full record.

🏟️ League Hubs

Domestic league portals that operate in Jamaica: 1 league.