"text":"<p>After World War I and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations awarded Britain the mandate to govern much of the Middle East. In 1921, Britain demarcated from Palestine a semi-autonomous region of Transjordan and recognized ABDALLAH I from the Hashemite family as the country's first leader. The Hashemites also controlled the Hijaz, or the western coastal area of modern-day Saudi Arabia, until 1925, when IBN SAUD and Wahhabi tribes pushed them out. The country gained its independence in 1946 and thereafter became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.</p> The country has had four kings. Long-time ruler King HUSSEIN (r. 1953-99) successfully navigated competing pressures from the major powers (US, UK, and Soviet Union), various Arab states, Israel, and Palestinian militants, the latter of which led to a brief civil war in 1970 that is known as \"Black September\" and ended in King HUSSEIN ousting the militants.<br><br>Jordan's borders have changed since it gained independence. In 1948, Jordan took control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the first Arab-Israeli War, eventually annexing those territories in 1950 and granting its new Palestinian residents Jordanian citizenship. In 1967, Jordan lost the West Bank and East Jerusalem to Israel in the Six-Day War but retained administrative claims to the West Bank until 1988, when King HUSSEIN permanently relinquished Jordanian claims to the West Bank in favor of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). King HUSSEIN signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, after Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords in 1993.<br><br>Jordanian kings continue to claim custodianship of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem by virtue of their Hashemite heritage as descendants of the Prophet Mohammad and agreements with Israel and Jerusalem-based religious and Palestinian leaders. After Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 War, it authorized the Jordanian-controlled Islamic Trust, or Waqf, to continue administering the Al Haram ash Sharif/Temple Mount holy compound, and the Jordan-Israel peace treaty reaffirmed Jordan's \"special role\" in administering the Muslim holy shrines in Jerusalem. Jordanian kings claim custodianship of the Christian sites in Jerusalem on the basis of the 7th-century Pact of Omar, when the Muslim leader, after conquering Jerusalem, agreed to permit Christian worship.<br><br>King HUSSEIN died in 1999 and was succeeded by his eldest son and current King ABDALLAH II. In 2009, ABDALLAH II designated his son HUSSEIN as the Crown Prince. During his reign, ABDALLAH II has contended with a series of challenges, including the Arab Spring influx of refugees from neighboring states, the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of the war in Ukraine, a perennially weak economy, and the Israel-HAMAS conflict that began in October 2023."
"text":"mostly arid desert; rainy season in west (November to April)"
},
"Terrain":{
"text":"mostly arid desert plateau; a great north-south geological rift along the west of the country is the dominant topographical feature and includes the Jordan River Valley, the Dead Sea, and the Jordanian Highlands"
"text":"Dead Sea (shared with Israel and West Bank) - 1,020 sq km<br>note - endorheic hypersaline lake; 9.6 times saltier than the ocean; lake shore is 431 meters below sea level"
"text":"population heavily concentrated in the west, and particularly the northwest, in and around the capital of Amman; a sizeable, but smaller population is located in the southwest along the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba"
"text":"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; the Dead Sea, the lowest point in Asia and the second saltiest body of water in the world (after Lac Assal in Djibouti), lies on Jordan's western border with Israel and the West Bank; Jordan is almost landlocked but does have a 26 km southwestern coastline with a single port, Al 'Aqabah (Aqaba)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> increased estimate reflects revised assumptions about the net migration rate due to the increased flow of Syrian refugees"
"text":"<br>كتاب حقائق العالم، المصدر الذي لا يمكن الاستغناء عنه للمعلومات الأساسية (Arabic)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information."
"text":"Muslim 97.1% (official; predominantly Sunni), Christian 2.1% (majority Greek Orthodox, but some Greek and Roman Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Protestant denominations), Buddhist 0.4%, Hindu 0.1%, Jewish <0.1%, folk <0.1%, other <0.1%, unaffiliated <0.1% (2020 est.)"
"text":"population heavily concentrated in the west, and particularly the northwest, in and around the capital of Amman; a sizeable, but smaller population is located in the southwest along the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba"
"text":"Dead Sea (shared with Israel and West Bank) - 1,020 sq km<br>note - endorheic hypersaline lake; 9.6 times saltier than the ocean; lake shore is 431 meters below sea level"
"text":"in the 13th century B.C., the Ammonites named their main city \"Rabbath Ammon\"; \"rabbath\" designated \"capital,\" so the name meant \"The Capital of [the] Ammon[ites]\"; over time, the \"Rabbath\" came to be dropped and the city became known simply as \"Ammon\" and then \"Amman\""
"text":"12 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); 'Ajlun, Al 'Aqabah, Al Balqa', Al Karak, Al Mafraq, Al ‘Asimah (Amman), At Tafilah, Az Zarqa', Irbid, Jarash, Ma'an, Madaba"
},
"Independence":{
"text":"25 May 1946 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)"
"text":"constitutional amendments require at least a two-thirds majority vote of both the Senate and the House and ratification by the king; amended several times, last in 2022"
"text":"bicameral National Assembly or Majlis al-'Umma consists of:<br>Senate or the House of Notables or Majlis al-Ayan (65 seats; members appointed by the monarch to serve 4-year terms)<br><br>Chamber of Deputies or Majlis al-Nuwaab (138 seats; 97 members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by open-list proportional representation vote; of these, 12 seats reserved for Christian, Circassian, and Chechen minorities, and 18 reserved for women; the remaining 41 members directly elected from a single national constituency by closed party-list proportional representation vote; of these, 2 seats reserved for Christians and 1 each for members of the Chechen and Circassian minorities; party candidate lists must include at least 1 woman among the first 3 candidates and 1 among the next 3 candidates; all members serve 4-year terms)"
"text":"Senate - last appointments on 27 Sep 2020 (next appointments by November 2024)<br>Chamber of Deputies - last held on 10 September 2024 (next to be held in 2028)"
"text":"Senate - composition - men 55, women 10, percent of women 15.4%<br><em><br></em>House of Representatives - percentage by party - NA; seats by party - Islamic Action Front 31, Mithaq 21, Irada 19, and Taqadum 8, other (includes seats reserved for women, minorities)"
"note":"note: in 2022, a new electoral law - effective for the anticipated 2024 election - will increase the total number of Chamber of Deputies' seats to 138 from 130; 97 members to be directly elected from multi-seat geographic districts by open list proportional representation vote, with over 7 percent of total votes needed to gain a seat, and 41 members to be directly elected from a single national district by closed party-list proportional representation vote, with over a 2.5 percent of total votes needed to gain a seat"
"text":"Supreme Court chief justice appointed by the king; other judges nominated by the Judicial Council, an 11-member judicial policymaking body consisting of high-level judicial officials and judges, and approved by the king; judge tenure not limited; Constitutional Court members appointed by the king for 6-year non-renewable terms with one-third of the membership renewed every 2 years"
"text":"Courts of Appeal; Great Felonies Court; religious courts; military courts; juvenile courts; Land Settlement Courts; Income Tax Court; Higher Administrative Court; Customs Court; special courts including the State Security Court"
"text":"'Azem<br>Blessed Land Party<br>Building and Labor Coalition<br>Eradah Party <br>Growth Party<br>Islamic Action Front or IAF<br>Jordanian al-Ansar Party<br>Jordanian al-Ghad Party<br>Jordanian Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party or JASBP <br>Jordanian Civil Democratic Party<br>Jordanian Communist Party or JCP<br>Jordanian Equality Party<br>Jordanian Democratic People's Party or HASD<br>Jordanian Democratic Popular Unity Party or JDPUP/Wihda<br>Jordanian Democratic Unionist Party<br>Jordanian Flame Party<br>Jordanian Future and Life Party<br>Jordanian Model Party<br>Jordanian National Integration Party<br>Jordanian National Loyalty Party<br>Jordanian Reform and Renewal Party or Hassad<br>Jordanian Shura Party<br>Jordanian Social Democratic Party or JSDP<br>Justice and Reform Party or JRP<br>Labor Party<br>National Charter Party<br>National Coalition Party <br>National Constitutional Party<br>National Current Party or NCP<br>National Islamic Party<br>National Union<br>Nationalist Movement Party or Hsq<br>New Path Party <br>Progress Party<br><br><br><br>"
"text":"three equal horizontal bands of black (top), representing the Abbassid Caliphate, white, representing the Ummayyad Caliphate, and green, representing the Fatimid Caliphate; a red isosceles triangle on the hoist side, representing the Great Arab Revolt of 1916, and 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; design is based on the Arab Revolt flag of World War I"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"eagle; national colors: black, white, green, red"
},
"National anthem":{
"name":{
"text":"\"As-salam al-malaki al-urdoni\" (Long Live the King of Jordan)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> adopted 1946; the shortened version of the anthem is used most commonly, while the full version is reserved for special occasions"
"text":"Petra (c); Quseir Amra (c); Um er-Rasas (Kastrom Mefa'a) (c); Wadi Rum Protected Area (m); Baptism Site “Bethany Beyond the Jordan” (Al-Maghtas) (c); As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban Hospitality (c)"
"text":"low growth, upper middle-income Middle Eastern economy; high debt and unemployment, especially for youth and women; key US foreign assistance recipient; natural resource-poor and import-reliant"
"note":"<b>note:</b> central government revenues (excluding grants) and expenses converted to US dollars at average official exchange rate for year indicated"
"text":"Jordan’s government has focused on the use of ICT in a range of sectors, aimed at transforming the relatively small economy through the use of digital services; this policy has helped the country rise in the league tables for digital connectivity and internet readiness, and it has also attracted investment from foreign companies; during the ongoing global pandemic, the start-up sector has been further encouraged to develop solutions to combat the crisis, while other efforts have facilitated e-government services and encouraged businesses to adapt to new methods of working through their own digital transformation; these developments have been supported by the highly developed mobile sector, led by three major regional players which have near-comprehensive LTE network coverage (2022)"
"text":"country code - 962; landing point for the FEA and Taba-Aqaba submarine cable networks providing connectivity to Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Asia; satellite earth stations - 33 (3 Intelsat, 1 Arabsat, and 29 land and maritime Inmarsat terminals (2019)"
"text":"radio and TV dominated by the government-owned Jordan Radio and Television Corporation (JRTV) that operates a main network, a sports network, a film network, and a satellite channel; first independent TV broadcaster aired in 2007; international satellite TV and Israeli and Syrian TV broadcasts are available; roughly 30 radio stations with JRTV operating the main government-owned station; transmissions of multiple international radio broadcasters are available"
"text":"Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF): Royal Jordanian Army (includes Special Operations Forces, Border Guards, Royal Guard), Royal Jordanian Air Force, Royal Jordanian Navy<br><br>Ministry of Interior: Public Security Directorate (includes national police, the Gendarmerie, and the Civil Defense Directorate) (2024)",
"note":"<strong>note: </strong>the JAF report administratively to the minister of defense and have a support role for internal security; the prime minister serves as defense minister, but there is no separate ministry of defense"
"text":"the JAF inventory is comprised of a wide mix of imported equipment, much of it older or secondhand, from China, Europe, some Gulf States, Russia, and the US (2024)"
"text":"17 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women); initial service term is 24 months, with option to reenlist for up to 18 years; conscription was abolished in 1991, but in 2020 Jordan announced the reinstatement of compulsory military service for jobless men aged between 25 and 29 with 12 months of service, made up of 3 months of military training and 9 months of professional and technical training; in 2019, Jordan announced a voluntary 4-month National Military Service program for men and women aged between 18-25 years who have been unemployed for at least 6 months; service would include 1 month for military training with the remaining 3 months dedicated to vocational training in the sectors of construction and tourism (2023)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> women comprised about 3% of the military as of 2023"
"text":"the JAF traces its origins back to the Arab Legion, which was formed under the British protectorate of Transjordan in the 1920s; it is responsible for territorial defense and border security and has a supporting role for internal security; the JAF participates in both bilateral and multinational exercises, UN peacekeeping missions, and has taken part in regional military operations alongside international forces in Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen<br><br>the JAF’s primary concerns include terrorist and criminal threats emanating from its borders with Syria and Iraq, as well as the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and conflicts in southern Lebanon/northern Israel and the Red Sea; the terrorist group Hizballah and Iranian-backed militia forces operate in southwestern Syria near Jordan’s border while fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) terrorist group continue to operate in both Iraq and Syria; ISIS fighters have included Jordanian nationals, some of whom have returned to Jordan; individuals and groups sympathetic to Palestinian causes have planned and conducted terrorist attacks in Jordan<br><br>the US is a key security partner, and Jordan is one of the largest recipients of US military aid in the region; it cooperates with the US on a number of issues, including border and maritime security, arms transfers, cybersecurity, and counterterrorism; Jordan has Major Non-NATO Ally status with the US, a designation under US law that provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation (2024)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in the Terrorism reference guide"
"text":"primarily a transshipment country for amphetamine tablets originating in Lebanon and Syria and destined for Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Gulf countries; the government is increasingly concerned about domestic consumption of illicit drugs"
