JORDAN
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JORDAN
(also see separate West Bank entry)
@Jordan:Geography
Location: Middle East, northwest of Saudi Arabia
Map references: Middle East
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JORDAN - MAJOR CITIES
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Latitude, Internat'l Time
Population Longitude Phone Code Zone
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AMMAN 900,000 31.57N, 35.56E 962-6 GMT+2
Zarqa 307,000 32.04N, 36.06E 962-9 GMT+2
Irbid 162,000 32.33N, 35.51E 962-2 GMT+2
Salt 134,000 32.03N, 35.44E 962-5 GMT+2
Ajlun 47,000 32.20N, 35.45E 962-4 GMT+2
Jarash 32,000 32.17N, 35.54E 962-4 GMT+2
Madaba 26,000 31.44N, 35.48E 962-8 GMT+2
Aqaba N/A 29.31N, 35.00E 962-3 GMT+2
Maan N/A 30.11N, 35.45E 962-3 GMT+2
Karak N/A 31.11N, 35.42E 962-3 GMT+2
Mafraq N/A 32.20N, 36.12E 962-4 GMT+2
Tafila N/A 30.52N, 35.36E 962-7 GMT+2
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Area:
total area: 89,213 sq km
land area: 88,884 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than Indiana
Land boundaries: total 1,619 km, 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
International disputes: none
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
Natural resources: phosphates, potash, shale oil
Land use:
arable land: 4%
permanent crops: 0.5%
meadows and pastures: 1%
forest and woodland: 0.5%
other: 94%
Irrigated land: 570 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues: limited natural fresh water resources; deforestation;
overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test
Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
@Jordan:People
Population: 4,100,709 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 44% (female 884,462; male 930,266)
15-64 years: 53% (female 1,058,060; male 1,119,347)
65 years and over: 3% (female 53,709; male 54,865) (July 1995 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.69% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 37.32 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Death rate: 4.02 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Net migration rate: -6.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 32.3 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 72.27 years
male: 70.43 years
female: 74.21 years (1995 est.)
Total fertility rate: 5.25 children born/woman (1995 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Jordanian(s)
adjective: Jordanian
Ethnic divisions: Arab 98%, Circassian 1%, Armenian 1%
Religions: Sunni Muslim 92%, Christian 8%
Languages: Arabic (official), English widely understood among upper
and middle classes
Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1991)
total population: 83%
male: 91%
female: 75%
Labor force: 600,000 (1992)
by occupation: industry 11.4%, commerce, restaurants, and hotels
10.5%, construction 10.0%, transport and communications 8.7%,
agriculture 7.4%, other services 52.0% (1992)
@Jordan:Government
Names:
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
Digraph: JO
Type: constitutional monarchy
Capital: Amman
Administrative divisions: 8 governorates (muhafazat, singular -
muhafazah); Al Balqa', Al Karak, Al Mafraq, 'Amman, At Tafilah, Az
Zarqa', Irbid, Ma'an
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 HUSSEIN Bin Talal Al Hashimi (since 11 August
1952)
head of government: Prime Minister Zayd BIN SHAKIR (since 8 January
1995)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the monarch
Legislative branch: bicameral National Assembly (Majlis al-'Umma)
House of Notables (Majlis al-A'ayan): consists of a 40-member body
appointed by the king from designated categories of public figures
House of Representatives: elections last held 8 November 1993 (next to
be held NA November 1997); results - percent of vote by party NA;
seats - (80 total) Muslim Brotherhood (fundamentalist) 16, Independent
Islamic bloc (generally traditionalist) 6, Radical leftist 3,
pro-government 55
note: the House of Representatives has been convened and dissolved by
the King several times since 1974 and in November 1989 the first
parliamentary elections in 22 years were held
Judicial branch: Court of Cassation
Political parties and leaders: Al-'Ahd (Pledge) Party, Sec. Gen. 'Abd
al-Hadi al-MAJALI; Al-Ahrar (Liberals) Party, Sec. Gen. Ahmad
al-ZU'BI; Al-Hurriyah (Freedom) Party, Sec. Gen. Fawwaz al-ZUBI;
Al-Watan (Homeland) Party, leader 'Akif al-FAYIZ; Al-Yaqazah
(Awakening) Party, Sec. Gen. 'Abd al-Ra'uf al-RAWABIDAH;
Constitutional Jordanian Arab Front Party, leader Milhim al-TALL;
Democratic Arab Islamic Movement Party-Du'a', Sec. Gen. Yusuf Abu
BAKR; Democratic Arab Unionist Party-Wad, Sec. Gen. Anis al-MU'ASHIR;
Islamic Action Front (IAF), Sec. Gen. Ishaq al-FARHAN; Jordanian Arab
Democratic Party, Sec. Gen. Mu'nis al-RAZZAZ; Jordanian Arab Masses
Party, Sec. Gen. 'Abd al-Khaliq SHATAT; Jordanian Arab Socialist Ba'th
Party, Command First Secretary Taysir al-HIMSI; Jordanian Communist
Party (JCP), Sec. Gen. Ya'qub ZAYADIN; Jordanian Democratic Popular
Unity Party, Sec. Gen. 'Azmi al-KHAWAJA; Jordanian Democratic
Progressive Party, Sec. Gen. 'Ali 'AMIR; Jordanian National Alliance
Party, Sec. Gen. Mijhim al-KHURAYSHAH; Jordanian People's Democratic
Party-Hashd, Sec. Gen. Taysir al-ZIBRI; Jordanian Socialist Democratic
Party, Sec. Gen. 'Isa MADANAT; Pan-Arab Action Front Party, Sec. Gen.
Muhammad al-ZU'BI; Popular Unity Party-the Unionists, Sec. Gen. Talal
al-RAMAHI; Progress and Justice Party, Sec. Gen. 'Ali al-SA'D;
Progressive Arab Ba'th Party, Command Secretary Mahmud al-MA'AYITAH;
Al-Mustaqbal (Future) Party, Sec. Gen. Sulayman 'ARAR
Member of: ABEDA, ACC, AFESD, AL, AMF, CAEU, CCC, ESCWA, FAO, G-77,
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF,
IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO (correspondent),
ITU, NAM, OIC, PCA, UN, UNAVEM II, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNOMIL,
UNOMOZ, UNPROFOR, UNRWA, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Fayiz A. TARAWNEH
chancery: 3504 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 966-2664
FAX: [1] (202) 966-3110
US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Wesley E. EGAN, Jr.
embassy: Jabel Amman, Amman
mailing address: P. O. Box 354, Amman 11118 Jordan; APO AE 09892-0200
telephone: [962] (6) 820101
FAX: [962] (6) 820159
Flag: 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 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 the recovery was uneven throughout 1994.
The government is implementing the reform program adopted in 1992 and
continues to secure rescheduling and write-offs of its heavy foreign
debt. Debt, poverty, and unemployment remain Jordan's biggest on-going
problems.
National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $17 billion (1994
est.)
National product real growth rate: 5.5% (1994 est.)
National product per capita: $4,280 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6% (1994 est.)
Unemployment rate: 16% (1994 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $2 billion
expenditures: $2.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $630
million (1995 est.)
Exports: $1.4 billion (f.o.b., 1994)
commodities: phosphates, fertilizers, potash, agricultural products,
manufactures
partners: India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, EU, Indonesia, UAE
Imports: $3.5 billion (c.i.f., 1994)
commodities: crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, food, live
animals, manufactured goods
partners: EU, US, Iraq, Japan, Turkey
External debt: $6 billion (March 1995 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 3% (1993 est.); accounts for 20% of
GDP
Electricity:
capacity: 1,050,000 kW
production: 4.2 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 1,072 kWh (1993)
Industries: phosphate mining, petroleum refining, cement, potash,
light manufacturing
Agriculture: accounts for about 8% of GDP; wheat, barley, citrus
fruit, tomatoes, melons, olives; sheep, goats, poultry; large net
importer of food
Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1.7 billion;
Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-89), $1.5 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $9.5 billion;
Communist countries (1970-89), $44 million
Currency: 1 Jordanian dinar (JD) = 1,000 fils
Exchange rates: Jordanian dinars (JD) per US$1 - 0.6994 (January
1995), 0.5987 (1994), 0.6928 (1993), 0.6797 (1992), 0.6808 (1991),
0.6636 (1990)
Fiscal year: calendar year
@Jordan:Transportation
Railroads:
total: 789 km
narrow gauge: 789 km 1.050-m gauge
Highways:
total: 7,500 km
paved: asphalt 5,500 km
unpaved: gravel, crushed stone 2,000 km
Pipelines: crude oil 209 km
Ports: Al'Aqabah
Merchant marine:
total: 2 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 61,678 GRT/113,080 DWT
ships by type: bulk 1, oil tanker 1
Airports:
total: 17
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 9
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4
with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 1
with paved runways under 914 m: 2
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 1
@Jordan:Communications
Telephone system: 81,500 telephones; adequate telephone system
local: NA microwave, cable, and radio links
intercity: NA
international: 2 INTELSAT (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) and 1
ARABSAT earth station; coaxial cable and microwave to Iraq, Saudi
Arabia, and Syria; microwave link to Lebanon is inactive; participant
in MEDARABTEL, a microwave radio relay network linking Syria, Jordan,
Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco
Radio:
broadcast stations: AM 5, FM 7, shortwave 0
radios: NA
Television:
broadcast stations: 8 and 1 TV receive-only satellite link
televisions: NA
@Jordan:Defense Forces
Branches: Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF; includes Royal Jordanian Land
Force, Royal Naval Force, and Royal Jordanian Air Force); Ministry of
the Interior's Public Security Force (falls under JAF only in wartime
or crisis situations)
Manpower availability: males age 15-49 981,004; males fit for military
service 699,891; males reach military age (18) annually 45,494 (1995
est.)
Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $564.2 million, 9.1%
of GDP (1995 est.)
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