Country Facts - Jordan

The People

Ethnic Composition

Arab	98%
Circassian	1%
Armenian	1%

Religious Composition

Sunni Muslim	92%
Christian (Greek Orthodox, Greek and Roman Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Protestant)	6%
Shi'a Muslim and Druze	2%

Languages Spoken

Arabic and English are widely spoken. A relatively high percentage of the business population speaks English.

Education and Literacy

The adult literacy rate in Jordan is 86.6 percent; 93.4 percent of the males and 79.4 percent of the females can read.

Labor Force

Total: 1.26 million
By occupation:

Services	82.5%
Industry	12.5%
Agriculture	5%

Note: in addition, at least 300,000 workers are employed abroad (2001)

Geography

Land Mass Total

35,637 sq mi (92,300 sq km)

Land

35,510 sq mi (91,971 sq km)

Water

127 sq mi (329 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 1,015 mi (1,635 km)
Border countries: Iraq 112 mi (181 km), Israel 147 mi (238 km), Saudi Arabia 462 mi (744 km), Syria 233 mi (375 km), West Bank 60 mi (97 km)

Coastline

16 mi (26 km)

Maritime claim

Territorial sea: 3 nm

Climate/Weather

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: Dead Sea 1,338 ft (408 m)
Highest: Jabal Ramm 5,688 ft (1,734 m)

Natural Resources

Phosphates, potash, shale oil

Land use

Arable land	3%
Permanent crops	1%
Other	96%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Droughts; periodic earthquakes

Environment - current issues

Limited natural freshwater resources; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification.

Geography Note

Strategic location at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba and as the Arab country that shares the longest border with Israel and the occupied West Bank

Demographics

Population

5,307,470 (July 2002)

Age structure

0-14 years:	36.6%	Male: 991,370	Female: 949,247
15-64 years:	60%	Male: 1,698,568	Female: 1,485,261
65 years and over:	3.4%	Male: 90,186	Female: 92,838

Growth Rate

2.89% (2002)

Life Expectancy

77.71 years (2002)
Female: 80.3 years
Male: 75.26 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$4,200 (2001)

Infant Mortality

19.61 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.06 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	1.14 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.97 male(s)/female
Total population:	1.1 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

6.97 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

Jordan is a small Arab country with inadequate supplies of water and other natural resources such as oil. Debt, poverty, and unemployment are fundamental problems, but King Abdallah since assuming the throne in 1999 has undertaken some broad economic reforms in a long-term effort to improve living standards. Amman in the past three years has signed on to an IMF agreement, practiced careful monetary policy, and made significant headway with privatization. The government also has liberalized the trade regime sufficiently to secure Jordan's membership in the WTO, an association agreement with the E.U., and a free trade accord with U.S. These measures have helped improve productivity and have put Jordan on the foreign investment map.
Ongoing challenges include fiscal adjustment to reduce the budget deficit and broader investment incentives to promote job-creating ventures. The multitude of Palestinian "refugees" (many there since the 1950s) within Jordan's borders continues to put a drag on the economy. The government unveiled an emergency budget for 2003 to mitigate the potential economic losses in the event of a U.S. military strike on Iraq. The financial burden on the Jordanian economy could be as high as US$1.5 billion in reduced exports, higher oil imports, lost tourism, interrupted transport, and forgone foreign investments. Jordan is hedging against this potential loss by being cooperative with U.S. military planners in the hopes of compensation at the end of the conflict.

Unemployment

16% official rate; actual rate is 25%-30% (2001)

Inflation Rate

1.5% (2001)

Industries

Phosphate mining, petroleum refining, cement, potash, light manufacturing, tourism.

Exports

US$2.2 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports

US$4.6 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$21.6 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, EU, US, Indonesia, UAE, Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Ethiopia

Top Import Partners

Iraq, Germany, US, Saudi Arabia, Japan, UK, Italy, Turkey, Malaysia, Syria, China

Top Exports

Phosphates, fertilizers, potash, agricultural products, manufactures, pharmaceuticals

Top Imports

Crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, food, live animals, manufactured goods

Debt - external

US$7.9 billion (2001)

Economic aid

ODA, $850 million (1996)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Saturday - Thursday	Friday
Offices	9a.m. to 5:30p.m., often with a one or two hour lunch break.	Closed
Retail	9a.m. to 8:30p.m.	Closed
Banks	8:30a.m. to 12:30p.m. During Ramadan banks are open from 8:30a.m. to 10a.m.	Closed
Government	8a.m. to 2p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Festival of Sacrifice (Eid Al Adha)¹	February 12	February 2	January 21
Islamic New Year²	March 5	February 22	February 10
Good Friday	April 18	April 9	March 24
Easter³	April 20	April 11	March 27
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Birthday of Prophet Mohammad (Mawlid an Nabi)*¹	May 14	May 2	April 21
Independence Day	May 25	May 25	May 25
Army Day	June 10	June 10	June 10
Accession of HM King Hussein	August 11	August 11	August 11
Ascent of the Prophet (Lailat al Miraj, Islamic Observance)*²	September 24	September 12	September 1
Start of Ramadan*³	October 27	October 15	October 4
Birthday of HM King Hussein	November 14	November 14	November 14
End of Ramadan (Eid Al Fitr)**¹	November 26	November 14	November 3
Christmas Day**²	December 25	December 25	December 25
New Year's Eve	December 31	December 31	December 31

¹	Culmination of the Haj or Holy Pilgrimage.
²	The lunar Islamic Hijra calendar is made up of 12 months, each month alternating between 29 and 30 days per month, culminating in a total of 354 days per year. The Hijra calendar is based on the cycles of the moon and annually moves 11 days backward through the seasons.
³	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar and celebrate 13 days later.
*¹	The Birthday of the Prophet Mohammad is celebrated on the 12th day in the month of Rabi'l of the Islamic calendar.
*²	The Ascent of the Prophet Mohammad is celebrated on the 27th day in the month of Rajab of the Islamic calendar.
*³	Ramadan (the month of fasting) begins with the first appearance of the new moon in the ninth month of the lunar Islamic Hijra calendar, and lasts 30 days. Dates for the start of Ramadan will vary from country to country, depending on the first appearance of the moon.
**¹	Feasting that officially marks the end of Ramadan, and commonly lasts for 3 days.
**²	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press