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.

Geographic coordinates: 31 00 N, 36 00 E

Map reference: Middle East

Area
Total: 89,213 km²
Land: 88,884 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 1,754 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.)

Natural hazards: NA

Population: 4,561,147 (July 1999 est.)
Growth rate: 3.05% (1999 est.)
Below poverty line: 30% (1998 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Jordanian(s)
Adjective: Jordanian

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

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

Religions: Sunni Muslim 96%, Christian 4% (1997 est.)

Age structure
0-14 years: 43% (male 1,005,211; female 954,968)
15-64 years: 54% (male 1,265,116; female 1,200,372)
65 years and over: 3% (male 67,852; female 67,628) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.05% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 34.31 births/1000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 3.85 deaths/1000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1000 population (1999 est.)

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

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
Under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1 male(s)/female
Total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 32.7 deaths/1000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 73.06 years
Male: 71.15 years
Female: 75.08 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 4.64 children born/woman (1999 est.)

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

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

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

Suffrage: 20 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: King ABDULLAH II (since 7 February 1999)
Head of government: Prime Minister Fayez TARAWNEH (since 20 August 1998)
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: bicameral National Assembly or Majlis al-'Umma consists of the Senate (a 40-member body appointed by the monarch from designated categories of public figures; members serve four-year terms) and the House of Representatives (80 seats; members elected by popular vote on the basis of proportional representation to serve four-year terms)
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

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 (observer), ISO (correspondent), ITU, MONUA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIBH, UNMOP, UNMOT, UNOMIG, UNPREDEP, UNRWA, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Marwan Jamil MUASHIR
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 BURNS
From the us embassy: Jabel Amman, 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) 5,927,712

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of black (top), white, and green with a red isosceles triangle based on the hoist side bearing a small white seven-pointed star; the seven points on the star represent the seven fundamental laws of the Koran

Economy overview: Jordan is a small Arab country with inadequate supplies of water and other natural resources such as oil and coal. Jordan benefited from increased Arab aid during the oil boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when its annual real GNP growth averaged more than 10%. In the remainder of the 1980s, however, reductions in both Arab aid and worker remittances slowed real economic growth to an average of roughly 2% per year. Imports_mainly oil, capital goods, consumer durables, and food_outstripped exports, with the difference covered by aid, remittances, and borrowing. In mid-1989, the Jordanian Government began debt-rescheduling negotiations and agreed to implement an IMF-supported program designed to gradually reduce the budget deficit and implement badly needed structural reforms. The Persian Gulf crisis that began in August 1990, however, aggravated Jordan's already serious economic problems, forcing the government to shelve the IMF program, stop most debt payments, and suspend rescheduling negotiations. Aid from Gulf Arab states, worker remittances, and trade contracted; and 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, but recovery was uneven. A preliminary agreement with the IMF in early 1999 will provide new loans over the next three years. Sluggish growth, along with debt, poverty, and unemployment are fundamental ongoing economic problems.

Real gdp growth rate: 2.2% (1998 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity: $3,500 (1998 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 6%
Industry: 30%
Services: 64% (1995 est.)

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

Industries: phosphate mining, petroleum refining, cement, potash, light manufacturing

Industrial production growth rate: -3.4% (1996)

Labor force: 1.15 million
Note: in addition, there are 300,000 foreign workers (1997 est.)
By occupation industry: 11.4%
By occupation commerce restaurants and hotels: 10.5%
By occupation construction: 10%
By occupation transport and communications: 8.7%
By occupation agriculture: 7.4%
By occupation other services: 52% (1992)

Unemployment rate: 15% official rate; note_actual rate is 25%-30% (1998 est.)

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

Budget
Revenues: $2.8 billion
Expenditures: $3 billion, including capital expenditures of $672 million (1999 est.)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Exports: $1.5 billion (f.o.b., 1997 est.)
Commodities: phosphates, fertilizers, potash, agricultural products, manufactures
Partners: Iraq, India, Saudi Arabia, EU, Indonesia, UAE, Syria, Ethiopia

Imports: $3.9 billion (c.i.f., 1997 est.)
Commodities: crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, food, live animals, manufactured goods
Partners: EU, Iraq, US, Japan, Turkey, Malaysia, Syria, China

Debt external: $7.5 billion (1998 est.)

Exchange rates: Jordanian dinars (JD) per US$1_0.7090 (January 1999-1996), 0.7005 (1995), 0.6987 (1994), 0.6928 (1993)
Note: since May 1989, the dinar has been pegged to a basket of currencies

Electricity
Production: 5.52 billion kWh (1996)
Production by source fossil fuel: 99.64%
Production by source hydro: 0.36%
Production by source nuclear: 0%
Production by source other: 0% (1996)
Consumption: 5.52 billion kWh (1996)
Exports: 0 kWh (1996)
Imports: 0 kWh (1996)

Telephones: 425,000 (1998)

Telephone system
Domestic: microwave radio relay, coaxial and fiber-optic cable, and cellular; Jordan has two cellular telephone providers (with approximately 50,000 subscribers in 1998), ten data service providers, and four Internet service providers (with approximately 8,000 subscribers in 1998)
International: satellite earth stations_3 Intelsat, 1 Arabsat, and 29 land and maritime Inmarsat terminals (1996); coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, and microwave radio relay to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Israel; building a Red Sea Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) fiber-optic submarine cable link and planning to update links with Saudi Arabia and Israel to fiber-optic cable; 4,000 international circuits (1998 est.); participant in Medarabtel

Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $608.9 million (FY 98)
Percent of gdp: 7.8% (1997)

Airports: 17 (1998 est.)
With paved runways total: 14
With paved runways over 3047 m: 9
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 4
With paved runways under 914 m: 1 (1998 est.)
With unpaved runways total: 3
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 1
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 2 (1998 est.)

Pipelines: crude oil 209 km

Railways
Total: 677 km
Narrow gauge: 677 km 1.050-m gauge; note_an additional 110 km stretch of the old Hejaz railroad is out of use (1998 est.)

Merchant marine
Total: 7 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 42,746 GRT/59,100 DWT
Ships by type: bulk 2, cargo 2, container 1, livestock carrier 1, roll-on/roll-off cargo 1 (1998 est.)

Disputes international: none