How many people live in Jamaica right now?
Right now, according to UN estimates
2,831,859
| Today | In 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Births | · | · |
| Deaths | · | · |
| Net migration | · | · |
| Growth | · | · |
2026 figures
- Rank by population
- 142 of 237
- Share of world population
- 0.03%
- Median age
- 33.3 years
- Children per woman
- 1.33
- Life expectancy
- 71.9 years
- People per km²
- 262
According to UN estimates, about 2.8 million people live in Jamaica right now. It ranks 142nd out of 237 countries and territories by population, between the Gambia and Lithuania, and it is home to 0.034% of the world's population.
Every day, about 90 people are born there and about 70 die. More people leave than arrive: net migration reduces the population by about 11,700 people a year. More people are born than die, but emigration makes the population shrink. Overall, the population shrinks by about 12 people a day (0.16% a year).
In 1950, about 1.4 million people lived there. Today there are 2.0 times as many. It peaked in 2023, at about 2.8 million, and has been falling since. By 2050 it is projected to have about 2.5 million people (13% fewer than today), and by 2100 about 1.1 million.
Half of its people are younger than 33 (worldwide, 31). Women have an average of 1.33 children each, below the 2.1 needed for each generation to replace the one before, and life expectancy at birth is 72 years (worldwide, 74). There are 262 people per square kilometer.
UN estimates up to today and projections (medium variant) from today onward.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the population of Jamaica in 2026?
- Jamaica has about 2.8 million people right now, according to the UN's World Population Prospects 2024. On July 1, 2026, there were 2,833,404.
- How many people are born each day in Jamaica?
- About 90 a day (31,300 a year). About 70 people die each day (24,100 a year).
- Is the population of Jamaica growing?
- No: it shrinks by 0.16% a year, or about 4,400 people.
- What will the population of Jamaica be in 2050?
- According to the UN projection (medium variant), about 2.5 million.
- Why doesn't this figure match the country's official statistics?
- The UN estimates the population of every country with the same method, based on censuses, surveys and registers, and projects it year by year. Each national statistics office uses its own censuses and registers, which may be more up to date or count foreign residents differently. That is why the figures can differ slightly.
Countries with a similar population
- Moldova 2,952,078
- Armenia 2,924,432
- Gambia 2,903,513
- Lithuania 2,789,997
- Albania 2,744,738
- Gabon 2,664,527
More countries in the Americas
- United States 349,570,803
- Brazil 213,783,617
- Mexico 133,319,905
- Colombia 54,089,702
- Argentina 46,051,068
- Canada 40,567,081
- Peru 35,027,449
- Venezuela 28,673,199
- Chile 19,971,251
- Guatemala 19,055,603
- Ecuador 18,493,717
- Bolivia 12,801,731
All countries and territories →
Where these figures come from
The figures are estimates from the United Nations Population Division, published in World Population Prospects 2024 (medium variant): the reference used by international organizations and by most population counters. The UN estimates how many people there are on July 1 of each year and how many are born, die and migrate; between one date and the next, this counter spreads the change continuously, second by second.
It is not a real-time headcount: nobody can count every person in a country at once. It is the best available estimate, and it may differ slightly from the figures of each country's statistics office, which use their own censuses and population registers.