"text":"Following 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. Britain demarcated a semi-autonomous region of Transjordan from Palestine in the early 1920s. The area gained its independence in 1946 and thereafter became The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The country's long-time ruler, King HUSSEIN (1953-99), successfully navigated competing pressures from the major powers (US, USSR, and UK), various Arab states, Israel, and a large internal Palestinian population. Jordan lost the West Bank to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. King HUSSEIN in 1988 permanently relinquished Jordanian claims to the West Bank; in 1994 he signed a peace treaty with Israel. King ABDALLAH II, King HUSSEIN's eldest son, assumed the throne following his father's death in 1999. He implemented modest political and economic reforms, but in the wake of the 2011 \"Arab Revolution\" across the Middle East, Jordanians continue to press for further political liberalization, government reforms, and economic improvements. Jordan held a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2014-15 term."
"text":"Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"none of the selected agreements"
}
},
"Geography - note":{
"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"
"text":"Muslim 97.2% (official; predominantly Sunni), Christian 2.2% (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 religionist <0.1, unaffiliated <0.1, other <0.1 (2010 est.)"
"text":"12 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); 'Ajlun, Al 'Aqabah, Al Balqa', Al Karak, Al Mafraq, Al'Asimah, At Tafilah, Az Zarqa', Irbid, Jarash, Ma'an, Ma'daba"
"text":"previous 1928 (preindependence); latest initially adopted 28 November 1947, revised and ratified 1 January 1952; amended several times, last in 2016 (2016)"
"text":"bicameral National Assembly or Majlis al-'Umma consists of the Senate, or the House of Notables or Majlis al-Ayan (60 seats; members appointed by the monarch to serve 4-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies or House of Representatives or Majlis al-Nuwaab (130 seats; 115 members directly elected in single- and multi-seat constituencies by open-list proportional representation vote and 15 seats for women; 12 of the 115 seats reserved for Christian, Chechen, and Circassian candidates; members serve 4-year terms)"
"text":"Court of Cassation or Supreme Court (consists of 15 judges including the chief justice; 7-judge panels for important cases and 5 judge panels for most appeals cases); Constitutional Court (consists of 9 members including the court chairman)"
"text":"Supreme Court chief justice appointed by the king; other judges nominated by the Judicial Council, an 11-member judicial policy-making body consisting of high-level judicial officials and judges, and approved by the king; judge tenure NA; Constitutional Court members appointed by the king for 6-year non-renewable terms with one-third of the membership renewed every 2 years"
"text":"Ahl al-Himma ++ Al-Bayyan ++ Al-Hayah Jordanian Party [Zahier AMR] ++ Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party [Akram al-HIMSI] ++ Ba'ath Arab Progressive Party [Fuad DABBOUR] ++ Citizenship ++ Construction ++ Cooperation ++ Dawn ++ Democratic People's Party [Ablah ABU ULBAH] ++ Democratic Popular Unity Party [Sa'id DIAB] ++ Dignity ++ Du'a Party [Muhammed ABU BAKR] ++ Free Voice ++ Islamic Action Front or IAF [Hamzah MANSOUR] ++ Islamic Centrist Party [Muhammad al-HAJ] ++ Jordanian Communist Party [Munir HAMARNAH] ++ Jordanian National Party [Muna ABU BAKR] ++ Jordanian United Front [Amjad al-MAJALI] ++ Labor and Trade ++ Muslim Center Party [Haitham ALAMAERAH] ++ Nation ++ National Accord Youth Block ++ National Action ++ National Constitution Party [Ahmad al-SHUNAQ] ++ National Current Party [Abd al-Hadi al-MAJALI] ++ National Movement for Direct Democracy [Muhammad al-QAQ] ++ National Union ++ National Unity ++ Nobel Jerusalem ++ Risalah Party [Hazem QASHOU] ++ Salvation ++ Stronger Jordan ++ The Direct Democratic Nationalists Movement Party [Nash'at KHALIFAH] ++ The Homeland (Hizb Al-Watan) ++ The People ++ Unified Front ++ United Front ++ Voice of the Nation; qtgan"
"text":"15 April Movement [Mohammad SUNEID, chairman] ++ 24 March Movement [Mu'az al-KHAWALIDAH, Abdel Rahman HASANEIN, spokespersons] ++ 1952 Constitution Movement ++ Anti-Normalization Committee [Hamzah MANSOUR, chairman] ++ Economic and Social Association of Retired Servicemen and Veterans or ESARSV [Abdulsalam al-HASSANAT, chairman] ++ Group of 36 ++ Higher Coordination Committee of Opposition Parties [Said DIAB] ++ Higher National Committee for Military Retirees or HNCMR [Ali al-HABASHNEH, chairman] ++ Hirak ++ Jordan Bar Association [Saleh al-ARMUTI, chairman] ++ Jordanian Campaign for Change or Jayin ++ Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood [Dr. Hamam SAID, controller general] ++ Jordanian Press Association [Sayf al-SHARIF, president] ++ National Front for Reform or NFR [Ahmad OBEIDAT, chairman] ++ Popular Gathering for Reform ++ Professional Associations Council [Abd al-Hadi al-FALAHAT, chairman] ++ Sons of Jordan"
"text":"P. O. Box 354, Amman 11118 Jordan; Unit 70200, Box 5, DPO AE 09892-0200"
},
"telephone":{
"text":"[962] (6) 590-6000"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[962] (6) 592-0163"
}
},
"Flag description":{
"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)"
"text":"Jordan's economy is among the smallest in the Middle East, with insufficient supplies of water, oil, and other natural resources, underlying the government's heavy reliance on foreign assistance. Other economic challenges for the government include chronic high rates of poverty, unemployment and underemployment, budget and current account deficits, and government debt. ++ ++ King ABDALLAH, during the first decade of the 2000s, implemented significant economic reforms, such as expanding foreign trade and privatizing state-owned companies that attracted foreign investment and contributed to average annual economic growth of 8% for 2004 through 2008. The global economic slowdown and regional turmoil contributed to slower growth from 2010 to 2014 - with growth averaging 2.8% per year - and hurt export-oriented sectors, construction, and tourism. Through 2014, Jordan's finances were strained by a series of natural gas pipeline attacks in Egypt, disrupting natural gas exports to Jordan, and led Jordan to rely on more expensive diesel imports, primarily from Saudi Arabia, to generate electricity. ++ ++ To diversify its energy mix, Jordan has secured several contracts for liquefied natural gas and is currently exploring nuclear power generation, exploitation of abundant oil shale reserves and renewable technologies, as well as the import of Israeli offshore gas. In August 2015, Jordan completed a $2.1 billion, three-year IMF Stand-By Arrangement, which the government had entered to help correct budgetary and balance of payments imbalances. Jordan plans to expand on its fiscal reform measures enacted over the previous few years with a follow-on IMF agreement in 2016 to boost government revenues, reduce the budget deficit, and manage its burgeoning debt, brought on in part by an influx of over 650,000 Syrian refugees since 2011, which put additional pressure on expenditures."
"text":"data cover central government debt and include debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury, and treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data exclude debt issued by subnational entities, as well as intra-governmental debt; intra-governmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds, such as for retirement, medical care, and unemployment; debt instruments for the social funds are not sold at public auctions"
"text":"service has improved recently with increased use of digital switching equipment; microwave radio relay transmission and coaxial and fiber-optic cable are employed on trunk lines; growing mobile-cellular usage in both urban and rural areas is reducing use of fixed-line services"
"text":"1995 telecommunications law opened all non-fixed-line services to private competition; in 2005, monopoly over fixed-line services terminated and the entire telecommunications sector was opened to competition; currently multiple mobile-cellular providers with subscribership up to 170 per 100 persons"
"text":"country code - 962; landing point for the Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) FEA and FLAG Falcon submarine cable networks; satellite earth stations - 33 (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; participant in Medarabtel (2015)"
"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 (2007)"
"text":"Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF): Royal Jordanian Land Force (RJLF), Royal Jordanian Navy, Royal Jordanian Air Force (Al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Malakiya al-Urduniya, RJAF), Special Operations Command (Socom); Public Security Directorate (normally falls under Ministry of Interior, but comes under JAF in wartime or crisis) (2013)"
},
"Military service age and obligation":{
"text":"17 years of age for voluntary male military service; initial service term 2 years, with option to reenlist for 18 years; conscription at age 18 suspended in 1999; women not subject to conscription, but can volunteer to serve in noncombat military positions in the Royal Jordanian Arab Army Women's Corps and RJAF (2013)"
},
"Military expenditures":{
"text":"4.65% of GDP (2012) ++ 4.64% of GDP (2011) ++ 4.65% of GDP (2010)"
}
},
"Transnational Issues":{
"Disputes - international":{
"text":"2004 Agreement settles border dispute with Syria pending demarcation"
