Health experts sound alarm over Jamaica’s declining birth rate

Several health experts have warned that Jamaica’s declining birth rate could jeopardize the island’s aspirations for developed country status, urging immediate action to reverse the trend and address the socio-economic factors contributing to the issue.

Among them is former permanent secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce Reginald Budhan who said the island’s declining birth rate is a serious problem. Speaking at a recent forum hosted by the Hugh Wynter Institute for Reproductive Healthcare and Endoscopic Surgery at The University of the West Indies, Budhan emphasized the urgent need for action to reverse the trend.

Jamaica’s Population Health Status Report 2000–2022, tabled in Parliament earlier this year, reveals a troubling decline in the country’s birth rate. The crude birth rate, which measures live births per 1,000 people annually, dropped by 10.2 percentage points between 2000 and 2022. Jamaica has also fallen below the replacement fertility rate of 2.1, needed to sustain the population, with the current rate at 1.9.