Map of Jordan | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

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Background: For most of its history since independence from British administration in 1946 Jordan was ruled by King HUSSEIN (1953-1999). A pragmatic ruler he successfully navigated competing pressures from the major powers (US USSR and UK) various Arab states Israel and a large internal Palestinian population through several wars and coup attempts. In 1989 he resumed parliamentary elections and gradually permitted political liberalization; in 1994 a formal peace treaty was signed with Israel. King ABDALLAH II - the eldest son of King HUSSEIN and Princess MUNA - assumed the throne following his father's death in February 1999. Since then he has consolidated his power and established his domestic priorities.


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Location: Middle East northwest of Saudi Arabia

Geographic coordinates: 31 00 N 36 00 E

Map reference: Middle East

Area
Total: 92,300 km²
Land: 91,971 km²
Water: 329 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than Indiana

Land boundaries
Total: 1,619 km
Border countries: (5) Iraq 181 km; , Israel 238 km; , Saudi Arabia 728 km; , Syria 375 km; , West Bank 97 km

Coastline: 26 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 3 NM

Climate: mostly arid desert; rainy season in west (November to April)

Terrain: mostly desert plateau in east highland area in west; Great Rift Valley separates East and West Banks of the Jordan River

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m
Extremes highest point: Jabal Ram 1,734 m

Natural resources: phosphates potash shale oil

Land use
Arable land: 4%
Permanent crops: 1%
Permanent pastures: 9%
Forests and woodland: 1%
Other: 85% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 630 km² (1993 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: droughts

Geography


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Population: 5,153,378 (July 2001 est.)
Growth rate: 3% (2001 est.)
Below poverty line: 30% (1998 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Jordanian
Adjective: Jordanian

Ethnic groups: Arab 98% Circassian 1% Armenian 1%

Languages: Arabic (official) English widely understood among upper and middle classes

Religions: Sunni Muslim 92% Christian 6% (majority Greek Orthodox but some Greek Catholics Roman Catholics Syrian Orthodox Coptic Orthodox Armenian Orthodox and Protestant denominations) other 2% (several small Shi'a Muslim and Druze populations) (2000 est.)

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 37.23% (male 980,345; female 938,081)
15-64 years: 59.44% (male 1,633,579; female 1,429,631)
65 years and over: 3.33% (male 84,815; female 86,927) (2001 est.)

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 3% (2001 est.)

Birth rate: 25.44 births/1000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate: 2.62 deaths/1000 population (2001 est.)

Net migration rate: 7.18 migrant(s)/1000 population (2001 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: limited natural fresh water resources; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
International agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
International agreements signed but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.06 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.05 male/female
15-64 years: 1.14 male/female
65 years and over: 0.98 male/female
Total population: 1.1 male/female (2001 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 20.36 deaths/1000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 77.53 years
Male: 75.1 years
Female: 80.12 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.29 children born/woman (2001 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: 0.02% (1999 est.)
People living with hivaids: NA
Deaths: NA

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 86.6%
Male: 93.4%
Female: 79.4% (1995 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Conventional short form: Jordan
Local long form: Al Mamlakah al Urduniyah al Hashimiyah
Local short form: Al Urdun
Former: Transjordan

Government type: constitutional monarchy

Capital: Amman

Administrative divisions: 12 governorates (muhafazat singular - muhafazah); Ajlun Al 'Aqabah Al Balqa' Al Karak Al Mafraq 'Amman At Tafilah Az Zarqa' Irbid Jarash Ma'an Madaba

Dependent areas

Independence: 25 May 1946 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)

National holiday: Independence Day 25 May (1946)

Constitution: 8 January 1952

Legal system: based on Islamic law and French codes; judicial review of legislative acts in a specially provided High Tribunal; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 20 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: King ABDALLAH II (since 7 February 1999); Crown Prince HAMZAH (half brother of the monarch, born 29 March 1980)
Head of government: Prime Minister Ali Abul RAGHEB (since 19 June 2000)
Cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the prime minister in consultation with the monarch
Elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; prime minister appointed by the monarch

Legislative branch
Elections: House of Representatives - last held 4 November 1997 (next to be held NA November 2001)
Election results: House of Representatives - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - National Constitutional Party 2, Arab Land Party 1, independents 75, other 2
Note: the House of Representatives has been convened and dissolved by the monarch several times since 1974; in November 1989 the first parliamentary elections in 22 years were held

Judicial branch: Court of Cassation; Supreme Court (court of final appeal)

Political parties and leaders: Al-Umma (Nation) Party [Ahmad al-HANANDEH secretary general]; Arab Land Party [Dr. Muhammad al-'ORAN secretary general]; Jordanian Democratic Popular Unity Party [Sa'eed THIYAB secretary general]; National Constitutional Party [Abdul Hadi MAJALI secretary general]

International organization participation: ABEDA ACC AFESD AL AMF CAEU CCC ESCWA FAO G-77 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICFTU ICRM IDA IDB IFAD IFC IFRCS ILO IMF IMO Intelsat Interpol IOC IOM ISO (correspondent) ITU MINURSO MONUC NAM OIC OPCW OSCE (partner) PCA UN UNAMSIL UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UNMEE UNMIBH UNMIK UNMOP UNMOT UNOMIG UNRWA UNTAET UPU WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTrO

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Marwan Jamil MUASHER
In the us chancery: 3,504 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 966-2,664
In the us fax: [1] (202) 966-3,110
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador William J. BURNS
From the us embassy: Abdoum, Amman
From the us mailing address: P. O. Box 354, Amman 11,118 Jordan; APO AE 9,892-0200
From the us telephone: [962] (6) 5,920,101
From the us fax: [962] (6) 5,920,121

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of black (top the Abbassid Caliphate of Islam) white (the Ummayyad Caliphate of Islam) and green (the Fatimid Caliphate of Islam) with a red isosceles triangle (representing the Great Arab Revolt of 1916) based on the hoist side bearing a small white seven-pointed star symbolizing the seven verses of the opening Sura (Al-Fatiha) of the Holy Koran; the seven points on the star represent faith in One God humanity national spirit humility social justice virtue and aspirations

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: Jordan is a small Arab country with inadequate supplies of water and other natural resources such as oil. The Persian Gulf crisis which began in August 1990 aggravated Jordan's already serious economic problems forcing the government to stop most debt payments and suspend rescheduling negotiations. Aid from Gulf Arab states worker remittances and trade revenues contracted. Refugees flooded the country producing serious balance-of-payments problems stunting GDP growth and straining government resources. The economy rebounded in 1992 largely due to the influx of capital repatriated by workers returning from the Gulf. After averaging 9% in 1992-95 GDP growth averaged only 1.5% during 1996-99. In an attempt to spur growth King ABDALLAH has undertaken limited economic reform including partial privatization of some state-owned enterprises and Jordan's entry in January 2000 into the World Trade Organization (WTrO). Debt poverty and unemployment are fundamental ongoing economic problems.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 2% (2000 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,500 (2000 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 3%
Industry: 25%
Services: 72% (1998 est.)

Agriculture products: wheat barley citrus tomatoes melons olives; sheep goats poultry

Industries: phosphate mining petroleum refining cement potash light manufacturing tourism

Industrial production growth rate: 3.8% (2000 est.)

Labor force
Note: in addition, at least 300,000 workers are employed abroad (1997 est.)
By occupation: industry 11.4% commerce restaurants and hotels 10.5% construction 10% transport and communications 8.7% agriculture 7.4% other services 52% (1992)

Unemployment rate: 15% official rate; actual rate is 25%-30% (1999 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 30% (1998 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 2.4%
Highest 10: 34.7% (1991)

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Revenues: $2.8 billion
Expenditures: $3.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 0.7% (2000 est.)

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $2 billion (f.o.b. 2000 est.)
Commodities: phosphates fertilizers potash agricultural products manufactures
Partners: India Iraq Saudi Arabia EU Indonesia UAE Lebanon Kuwait Syria Ethiopia

Imports: $4 billion (f.o.b. 2000 est.)
Commodities: crude oil machinery transport equipment food live animals manufactured goods
Partners: Iraq Germany US Japan UK Italy Turkey Malaysia Syria China

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $8 billion (2000 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates
Note: since May 1989, the Jordanian dinar has been pegged to a group of currencies


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Electricity
Production: 6.657 billion kWh (1999)
Production by source fossil fuel: 99.79%
Production by source hydro: 0.21%
Production by source nuclear: 0%
Production by source other: 0% (1999)
Consumption: 6.594 billion kWh (1999)
Exports: 4 million kWh (1999)
Imports: 407 million kWh (1999)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 403,000 (1997)
Mobile cellular: 11,500 (1995)

Telephone system
General assessment: service has improved recently with the increased use of digital switching equipment, but better access to the telephone system is needed in the rural areas and easier access to pay telephones is needed by the urban public
Domestic: microwave radio relay transmission and coaxial and fiber-optic cable are employed on trunk lines; considerable use is made of mobile cellular systems; Internet service is available
International: satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat, 1 Arabsat, and 29 land and maritime Inmarsat terminals; fiber-optic cable to Saudi Arabia and microwave radio relay link with Egypt and Syria; connection to international submarine cable FLAG (Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe); participant in MEDARABTEL; international links total about 4,000

Broadcast media

Internet
Country code: .jo
Service providers isps: 5 (2000)
Users: 87,500 (2000)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $608.9 million (FY98/99)
Percent of gdp: 7.8% (FY98/99)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 18 (2000 est.)
With paved runways total: 15
With paved runways over 3047 m: 7
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 6
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 1
With paved runways under 914 m: 1 (2000 est.)
With unpaved runways total: 3
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 3 (2000 est.)

Heliports: 1 (2000 est.)

Pipelines: crude oil 209 km; note - may not be in use

Railways
Total: 677 km
Narrow gauge: 677 km 1.050-m gauge (2000)

Roadways

Waterways: none

Merchant marine
Total: 6 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 40,919 GRT/57,777 DWT
Ships by type: bulk 1, cargo 3, container 1, roll on/roll off 1 (2000 est.)

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs