Country Comments

Jamaica is a tropical biodiverse caribbean island. It’s population and consumption levels exceed the carrying capacity of the country. Due to population pressure and tourism, the forests have seen significant losses to widespread agriculture and population related development.

Jamaica is one of the most heavily indebted countries in the world, and the government has struggled to stimulate economic growth in order to break out of a pattern of stagnation, which has underpinned persistent poverty, high unemployment rates, high crime rates and large income inequalities. Emigration for better opportunities abroad has been slowing overall population growth. A good sign, fertility rates have been at or below replacement for the past six years.

Today, women are dominating school enrollment, closing the gender gap in education. Significantly more women than men now go on to higher education at universities and colleges. According to the Borgen Project, Jamaica’s teen pregnancy rate is higher than the global average, with 59 out of 1,000 adolescent girls becoming pregnant. The education policy states that pregnant teens must be dismissed from school until they are allowed to re-enroll once they have the baby. This deprives teen mothers of the education they need and often discourages them to go back.