Essay: Jamaica's Quality of Life

The Jamaica Paradox 

      I remember a discussion we had on the trip about Jamaica and its reputation for having such a happy populace who at the same time are living in less than ideal conditions. I started thinking a lot about this discussion. I talked to Dr. Quillin about it and he told me I should look into the Jamaican “quality of life”. Before I speak about what I found, it is important to explain the difference between two terms: quality of life and standard of living. Standard of living refers to the level of wealth, comfort, material goods and necessities available to a certain socioeconomic class in a certain geographic area(“Standard”). Quality of life is the general well-being of individuals and societies(“Quality”). Quality of life can be viewed from many different frames of reference, for example healthcare, politics, employment and social and physical environment. Standard of living is more based on income(“Standard”). Neither of these alone are good measures of what living in a place at a certain time is, but when factored together they can be very useful. 

        Upon researching Jamaica’s quality of life in comparison to other countries, I came across The 2000 Health System Ranking and The UN Human Development Index (HDI) (“Living”). The 2000 Health System Ranking was created by The World Health Organization (WHO) and examines and compares aspects of health systems around the world (WHO?). Jamaica was ranked 53 out of 190 countries and was in the top three for English-speaking Caribbean. The Human Development Index is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, education and having a decent standard of living (“Human Development Reports”). The HDI for Jamaica currently is .72 out of 1. Comparing that to the global average of .71, Jamaica appears to have a decent quality of life (“Jamaica”). But this seems to contrast Jamaica’s economic situation, where the unemployment rate in 2014 was 14.2% and the percent of unemployment among 15-24 year olds is 34% compared to the 13.4% in the US (The World Factbook). 

        I figured that there was only so much that statistical data alone could tell me. After all, some of the data between Jamaica and the US were not that different. The life expectancy in Jamaica is around 74 years and in the US its 80 years (The World Factbook). While the total percent of improved drinking water sources in the US is 99.2% of its population, Jamaica’s 93.8% of the population is not too far behind (The World Factbook). The total amount of years Jamaican children can expect to receive schooling is 12 years, only four years behind the US’s average (The World Factbook). I started looking for information and reports from Jamaica about the quality of life. A 2004 report from the Jamaica Information Service stated that the population was “better off than it was 14 years ago” (“Population”). The report stated that more and more people began to use public health facilities rather than private ones and that  much of the data they found was used to improve social welfare and combat crime in the country. After finding some information on the Jamaican economic history, it appears that the Jamaican economy has had many economic struggles, and that the inverse relationship between the economy of Jamaica and the quality of life began. 

       Jamaica got its independence from Britain in 1962, and the 1950s and 1960s were times of economic boom, as Jamaica’s rich supply of bauxite, aka aluminum, became highly desirable (“Jamaica-ECONOMY”). However, from 1972 to 1986, Jamaica’s economy didn’t really achieve any growth and actually had seven years of negative growth (“Jamaica-ECONOMY”). Moreover, the distribution of wealth was extremely skewed, which is often attributed to Jamaica’s long history of slavery. During this time, Jamaica’s fourth prime minister, Michael Manley, a democratic socialist, implemented so many social reforms (Franklyn). These included: lowering the voting age from 21 to 18, Family Court, Community Health Aid, equal pay,  National Housing Trust, maternity leave with pay, the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning and expanded land reform(Franklyn). Manley is often blamed for the economic crisis of the 70’s, but is also remembered for being the man who helped improve the livelihood of Jamaicans. Manley’s efforts clearly worked, as many Jamaicans had a relatively high quality of life in the 1980’s compared to its Caribbean neighbors (“Jamaica-ECONOMY”). It is clear that Jamaica had many avenues for its people to take to improve their livelihoods, although they may have been limited due to the sporadic nature of Jamaica’s economy at the time, but these did help the people nonetheless. It seems to me that the economy needs time to catch up with the quality of life services that Jamaica has. 

Bibliography: 

“Quality of Life.” Web. 21 Jan.16

“Standard of living.” Web. 21 Jan.16

"Living in Jamaica." Living in Jamaica. JAMPRO- Trade and Investment Jamaica. Web. 21 Jan. 2016. <http://www.jamaicatradeandinvest.org/about-ja/living-in-jamaica>.

"The World Health Report 2000 - Health Systems: Improving Performance." WHO. World Health Organization. Web. 21 Jan. 2016. <http://www.who.int/whr/2000/en/>.

“Jamaica”. Rep. Pan American Health Organizaton. Web

"Human Development Reports." Human Development Index (HDI). United Nations Development Programme. Web. 21 Jan. 2016. <http://hdr.undp.org/english/content/human-development-index-hdi>.

The World Factbook 2013-14. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2013. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html>

"Population Better off Than Fourteen Years Ago – SLC." Jamaica Information Service. Jamaica Information Service, 12 Mar. 2004. Web. 21 Jan. 2016. <http://jis.gov.jm/population-better-off-than-fourteen-years-ago-slc/>.

"Jamaica - ECONOMY." Jamaica - ECONOMY. Ed. Sasha W. Meditz and Dennis M. Hanratty. Library of Congress. Web. 21 Jan. 2016. <http://countrystudies.us/caribbean-islands/24.htm>.

Franklyn, Delano. "Michael Manley — the Visionary Who Will Never Be - News." Jamaica Observer News. 14 Dec. 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2016.