Jordan holds a key political position in the Middle East. Because of its geopolitical and strategic importance, the country has been an important partner for Germany for decades. The focus of German-Jordanian cooperation is the water sector. Jordan relies on finance, education and tourism as economic engines. Everyday & Practical Information If you are going… Read More »
Stay healthy in the country Vaccinations, HIV test, medical emergency Traveling and living in Jordan are unproblematic for an average healthy person. Vaccinations are not required for Jordan. However, anyone who lives in the country for more than three months must undergo a medical examination and an AIDS test. If the result is positive, there… Read More »
Just arrived – where can I find what? Information about kindergartens, schools and leisure activities for families with children can be found on this page under the heading “With children in Jordan” (see below). The English-Arabic city guide Amman Today, which can be found free of charge in electronic form and as a brochure at… Read More »
Currency: Jordanian Dinar (JD) Exchange rate: 0.86 JD per euro (December 2020) Time zone: UTC + 2 Country code (phone): +962 Climate (Amman): Moderately Mediterranean-continental Finding accommodation in Amman Thanks to the commitment of other newcomers such as Bastian Müller, you can now find many details about living online, especially about the capital Amman, where… Read More »
Tip in advance Regardless of whether you are coming for a vacation or to work in the country – take a look at the current pages of the Federal Foreign Office. There you will find information on entry, the current status of pandemic measures (Covid19), possible mandatory HIV tests, importing a car and detailed customs… Read More »
Film and TV Jordan – an Arab media location According to naturegnosis, Jordan is increasingly the backdrop for regional film productions. In addition, Jordanian companies are relevant players in the Arab TV market. Amman is home to one of the largest independent Arab television production companies. Numerous foreign TV productions, including children’s series from Germany,… Read More »
Cultural identities According to militarynous, Jordan is an Arabic-speaking country. With Arabic as a common high-level language, Jordan is culturally associated with an estimated 300 million people from the Atlantic to the Gulf. As the language of the Koran, the Islamic revelation, Arabic has a sacred status for Muslims. Even more than language, Islam has… Read More »
Officially recognized religions The annual report of the US State Department on religious freedom in Jordan provides information on the degree of religious freedom, the size of religious communities and their regional distribution in Jordan. Around 97 percent of the total Jordanian population are Sunni Muslims. A good two percent are Christians, most of them… Read More »
School and vocational training In Jordan there are public schools, private schools and schools of the UN Palestinian Aid Organization UNRWA. The UNRWA schools run up to the 10th grade and are attended by almost 120,000 children. The Ministry of Education is responsible for the supervision of the school system up to the Abitur. The… Read More »
Girls and women as guarantors of family honor A central element of the patriarchal mentality is also the idea that girls potentially threaten the family honor because they could lose their virginity if they are not married. At the latest with the onset of puberty, and often even before that, girls are therefore subjected to… Read More »
Jordan is a young society: one third of the population is under 15 years of age, two thirds are under 29 years of age. Many young people are very well educated. But there are not enough jobs and the income is often not even enough for transport to work. Alphabetized adults: 96% (2020) Major religions:… Read More »
The population at a glance Ethnically mixed, religiously and linguistically homogeneous The so-called East Jordanian “tribes ” are considered to be formative for society in Jordan. The term “tribes” is also used very often by the Jordanians themselves, but it can be misleading because in fact we are dealing with large families or family associations.… Read More »
The export of skilled labor and raw materials, as well as services and tourism, form the backbone of the Jordanian economy. The rapid increase in the resident population poses a major challenge for Jordan because the country has few water resources and is heavily dependent on energy imports (oil, gas). Economic indicators, analyzes General data… Read More »
Estimated GDP: US $ 44 billion (2020) Per capita income (purchasing power parity, PPP): US $ 9,100.00 (estimated 2020) Human Development Rank (HDI): 102 (of 189) (2019) Proportion of poverty: Not specified Distribution of income (Gini coefficient): 33.7 (World Bank 2010, no recalculation since) Economic Transformation Index (BTI): Rank 57 of 137 (2020) Domestic development… Read More »
Economic system Free market economy? Distorted competition According to extrareference, Jordan is committed to the free market economy. However, the designation only applies to a limited extent. Politically motivated high inflows of money from outside, the economic supremacy of the Hashemite royal family, the ramified client and patronage system “Wasta” and subsidies for politically important… Read More »
Scarce resources, urban-rural situation Scarce resources (little water, few raw materials), deficits in governance and a poorly developed industry make Jordan economically highly dependent on imports and external financial inflows. International financial aid and loans (USA, IMF, Arab Gulf states), remittances from Jordanian workers abroad (in 2019 it was about 3 billion JD / year… Read More »
Migration Refugees According to the UNHCR country office in Jordan, there are currently (spring 2020) around 700,000 registered non-Palestinian refugees, around 670,000 of them from Syria. Another half a million Syrians are believed to be in the Hashemite kingdom without refugee status. Around 170,000 UNHCR-registered Syrian refugees are now officially allowed to work, around 28… Read More »
The country in a regional and international context Current are the armed conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen as well as the fight against the so-called Islamic State determining factors for Jordan’s foreign policy. The relationship with Israel and the political instability in the Palestinian territories harbor a growing potential for conflict. Jordan signed a… Read More »
History Civilization began in what is now Jordan several thousand years before the legendary empire of the Nabataeans and their capital, Petra. Some of the oldest human settlements ever were found on the east bank of the Jordan. Due to its location at the intersection of great civilizations, Jordan harbors important cultural and historical… Read More »
A major thought leader in jihadist terror is Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi (aka Assem Barqawi), a West Bank-born Palestinian who co-founded the Al-Qaeda terrorist network in Afghanistan. Al-Maqdisi was detained in Jordan for several years. In 2014 he was put under house arrest. Media observers suspected the tactic behind this was that he could have a… Read More »
Since the early 2000’s, the Islamist political spectrum in Jordan has been in great flux. Salafist currents and groups – politically marginal for a long time – gained influence. Some Muslim Brotherhood switched to Salafist groups, or vice versa. The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) were not only faced with competition from the Salafists, there were also… Read More »
Struggle for legitimation Jordan’s politics, including domestic politics, are shaped by the Middle East conflict. An estimated sixty percent of the population of Jordan are of Palestinian descent. Not all, but many of them, deny the Hashemite dynasty the right to rule over them. Because of this legitimacy deficit, Jordan is in a kind of… Read More »
Administration Formal state structure, regional structure At the head of the Jordanian state is the king. He is the head of the state and the army. He appoints the prime minister. Administratively, Jordan is divided into 12 governorates (Arabic muhaafasa), each of which is subordinate to a governor (muhaafis) selected and appointed by the king:… Read More »
Form of government Formally, Jordan is a constitutional hereditary monarchy. Islam is the state religion. The state and official language is Arabic. Constitution, role of the king The current Jordanian constitution dates from 1952 and has been amended several times since then (most recently in 2016). Another relevant document is the National Charter from 1990,… Read More »
Independent Jordan In 1946, Great Britain recognized the independence of Transjordan by treaty, under the so-called Anglo Jordanian Treaty. With the acceptance of the title of king by Abdullah Ibn al-Hussein on May 25, 1946, his territory was renamed the “Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan”. The Jordanian army remained under British control. In November 1947 the… Read More »
The most important eras Prehistory and antiquity Recent archaeological finds have shown that parts of today’s Jordan (including the Amman region) have been continuously inhabited by humans for over 10,000 years, ie since the Mesolithic period, with nomadic and sedentary lifestyles mostly co-existing. The German Evangelical Institute for Classical Studies of the Holy Land in… Read More »
Official name: Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Area: 92,300 km² population: 7.2 million (plus approx. 2.6 million non-citizens) Growth of population: 2.6% per year (due to flight and migration) Seat of government: Amman Official language: Arabic Regional languages: Arabic, Syro-Palestinian dialect Transport and traffic routes According to aristmarketing, the Jordanian Ministry of Transport is involved in… Read More »
Jordan’s immediate neighbors are Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the Palestinian territories in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Jordan’s external borders are 1636 kilometers long. The longest single border is that to Saudi Arabia, with 744 kilometers. In 1965, following negotiations with Saudi Arabia, Jordan was awarded a bilateral agreement around 22 kilometers of coastline… Read More »
Climatic conditions Weather Rainfall in Jordan is generally low and varies considerably: between 700 mm in the north and northwest and 50 mm in the south of the country. The coldest period is from mid-November to mid-February. In Amman and at high altitudes, it can snow heavily in winter. In February 2017, the snowfall was… Read More »
Official language Arabic Capital Amman Form of government constitutional hereditary monarchy Area 88.582 km² Residents 5,480,000 Currency dinar Time zone UTC + 2 License plate JOR Internet TLD .jo Telephone area code 00962 (Source: ALLCITYCODES) Geography The Hashimite Kingdom of Jordan (in Arabic Al-Urdunn, officially Al-Mamlaka al-Urdunnijja al-Haschimjja) is located in the Near East. With… Read More »