Demographics of Jordan


has a population of approximately 9,531,712 inhabitants as of 2015. Jordanians are the citizens of Jordan, who share a common Levantine Semitic ancestry. Some 98% percent of Jordanians are Arabs, while the remaining 2% are other ethnic minorities. Around 2.9 million were non-citizens, a figure including refugees, legal and illegal immigrants. Jordan's annual population growth rate stood at 2.05% in 2017, with an average of three children per woman. There were 1,977,534 households in Jordan in 2015, with an average of 4.8 persons per household.
The official language is Arabic, while English is the second most widely spoken language by Jordanians. It is also widely used in commerce and government. In 2016, about 84% of Jordan's population live in urban towns and cities. Many Jordanians and people of Jordanian descent live across the world, mainly in the United States, United Arab Emirates, Canada, France, Sweden and Spain.
In 2016, Jordan was named as the largest refugee hosting country per capita in the world, followed by Turkey, Pakistan and Lebanon. The kingdom of Jordan hosts refugees mainly from Palestine, Syria, Iraq and many other countries. There are also hundreds of thousands of workers from Egypt, Indonesia and South Asia, who work as domestic and construction workers.

Definition

The territory of Jordan can be defined by the history of its creation after the end of World War I, the League of Nations and redrawing of the borders of the Eastern Mediterranean littoral. The ensuing decisions, most notably the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which created the Mandatory Palestine. In September 1922, Transjordan was formally identified as a subdivision of the Mandate Palestine after the League of Nations approved the British Transjordan memorandum which stated that the Mandate east of the Jordan River would be excluded from all the provisions dealing with Jewish settlement west of the Jordan River.

Ethnic and religious groups

Arab

Arab Jordanians are either descended from families and clans who were living in the cities and towns in Transjordan prior to the 1948 war, most notably in the governorates of Jerash, Ajlun, Balqa, Irbid, Madaba, Al Karak, Aqaba, Amman and some other towns in the country, or from the Palestinian families who sought refuge in Jordan in different times in the 20th century, mostly during and after the wars of 1948 and 1967. Many Christians are natives especially in towns such as Fuhies, Madaba, Al Karak, Ajlun, or have Bedouin origins, and a significant number came in 1948 and 1967 mainly from Jerusalem, Jaffa, Lydda, Bethlehem, and other Palestinian cities. Along to some other Arab ethnicities, mostly from Syria and Iraq.

Druze

The Druze people are believed to constitute about 0.5% of the total population of Jordan, which is around 32,000. The Druze, who refer to themselves as al-Muwahhideen, or "believers in one God," are concentrated in the rural, mountainous areas west and north of Amman.

Bedouins arabs

The other group of Jordanians is descended from Bedouins. Bedouin settlements are concentrated in the wasteland south and east of the country.

Armenians

There were an estimated 5,000 Armenians living within the country in 2009. An estimated 4,500 of these are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and predominantly speak the Western dialect of the Armenian language. This population makes up the majority of non-Arab Christians in the country.

Assyrians

There is an Assyrian refugee population in Jordan. Many Assyrians have arrived in Jordan as refugees since the invasion of Iraq, making up a large part of the Iraqi refugees.

Circassians

By the end of the 19th century, the Ottoman Authorities directed the Circassian immigrants to settle in Jordan. The Circassians are Sunni Muslims and are estimated to number 20,000 to 80,000 persons.

Chechens

There are about 10,000 Chechens estimated to reside in Jordan.

Refugees

Jordan is a home to 2,175,491 registered Palestine refugees. Out of those 2,175,491 refugees, 634,182 have not been given Jordanian citizenship. Jordan also hosts around 1.4 million Syrian refugees who fled to the country due to the Syrian Civil War since 2011. About 31,163 Yemenis and 22,700 Libyan refugees live in Jordan as of January 2015. There are thousands of Lebanese refugees who came to Jordan when civil strife and war and the 2006 war broke out in their native country. Up to 1 million Iraqis came to Jordan following the Iraq War in 2003. In 2015, their number was 130,911. About 2,500 Iraqi Mandaean refugees have been resettled in Jordan.

Religion

Health and Education

Jordan prides itself on its health services, some of the best in the region. Qualified medics, favourable investment climate and Jordan's stability have contributed to the success of this sector.
Jordan has a very advanced education system. The school education system comprises 2 years of pre-school education, 10 years of compulsory basic education, and two years of secondary academic or vocational education, after which the students sit for the General Certificate of Secondary Education Exam. Scholars may attend either private or public schools.
Access to higher education is open to holders of the General Secondary Education Certificate, who can then choose between private Community Colleges, public Community Colleges or universities. The credit-hour system, which entitles students to select courses according to a study plan, is implemented at universities. The number of public universities has reached, besides universities that are private, and community colleges. Numbers of universities accompanied by significant increase in number of students enrolled to study in these universities, where the number of enrolled students in both public and private universities is estimated at nearly thousand; thousand out of the total are from Arab or foreign nationalities.
PeriodLife expectancy in
Years		PeriodLife expectancy in
Years
1950–195546.51985–199069.2
1955–196050.71990–199570.4
1960–196554.61995–200071.3
1965–197058.42000–200572.2
1970–197561.92005–201073.0
1975–198064.92010–201573.8
1980–198567.2

Source: UN World Population Prospects

Statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Total population

10,086,876.

Gender ratio

Age structure

Structure of the population
Structure of the population
Age GroupMaleFemaleTotal%
Total2 626 2872 477 3525 103 639100
0-4333 216317 115650 33112,74
5-9329 133313 738642 87112,60
10-14313 083297 046610 12911,95
15-19287 693272 145559 83810,97
20-24279 600260 593540 19310,58
25-29239 774216 487456 2618,94
30-34207 178191 991399 1697,82
35-39167 737155 689323 4266,34
40-44123 945117 455241 4004,73
45-4987 09883 358170 4563,34
50-5464 60763 633128 2402,51
55-5955 76557 956113 7212,23
60-6452 08446 70398 7871,94
65-6937 09534 72871 8231,41
70-7423 46723 35346 8200,92
75-7912 65111 61724 2680,48
80+10 13711 92322 0600,43
80-846 1447 44113 5850,27
85-892 4442 5885 0320,10
90-941 0121 3042 3160,05
95-995375901 1270,02
unknown2 0241 8223 8460,08

Structure of the population :
refugees. :
Age GroupMaleFemaleTotal%
Total3 366 0003 174 0006 530 000100
0-4427 485405 300832 78512,75
5-9422 095400 880822 97512,60
10-14401 900379 680781 58011,97
15-19368 915347 720716 63510,97
20-24358 485333 170691 65510,59
25-29307 650276 855584 5058,95
30-34265 915245 520511 4357,83
35-39215 425199 015414 4406,35
40-44158 875149 975308 8504,73
45-49111 750106 630218 3803,34
50-5482 80581 320164 1252,51
55-5971 36074 040145 4002,23
60-6466 64559 800126 4451,94
65-6947 48544 28091 7651,41
70-7430 04029 78559 8250,92
75-7916 19514 81531 0100,48
80-847 8659 49517 3600,27
85-893 1303 3006 4300,10
90-941 2951 6652 9600,05
95+6857551 4400,02

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate

Births and deaths
Average population

Live birthsDeathsNatural changeCrude birth rate Crude death rate Natural change Total fertility rate
20014,918,000142,95616,164126,79229.13.325.8
20025,038,000146,07717,220128,85729.03.425.6
20035,164,000148,29416,937131,35728.73.325.4
20045,414,000150,24817,011133,23727.83.124.6
20055,678,000152,27617,883134,39326.83.123.7
20065,843,000162,97220,397142,57527.93.524.4
20076,017,000185,01120,924164,08730.73.527.33.6
20086,200,000181,32819,403161,92529.23.126.13.6
20096,392,000179,87220,251159,62128.13.225.03.6
20106,594,000183,94821,550162,39827.93.324.63.8
20116,846,000178,43521,730156,70526.13.222.93.8
20127,210,000177,69522,785154,91024.63.221.53.5
20137,771,000178,14323,898154,24522.93.119.93.5
20148,459,000188,90225,782163,12022.33.019.3
20159,182,000198,01826,640171,37821.62.918.7
20169,798,000197,78927,608170,18120.42.917.6
201710,053,000211,44127,516183,92521.02.718.3
201810,309,000207,91727,753180,16420.22.717.5

Death rate

Net migration rate

Urbanization

Maternal mortality rate

Life expectancy at birth

Total fertility rate

Fertility Rate
Fertility Rate and CBR :
YearCBR TFR CBR TFR CBR TFR
19767.4
19836.6
199036.15.57 33.94.75 39.06.85
199733.14.35 32.54.22 35.55.00
200229.03.7 28.43.5 31.34.2
200728.13.6 28.13.6 28.23.7
200930.63.8 30.63.8 30.74.0
201227.23.5 26.73.4 29.83.9
2017-1821.62.7 21.32.7 23.73.1

Fertility Rate by nationality
YearJordanianSyrianOther nationality
2017-20182.6 4.7 1.9

Health expenditures

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Obesity - adult prevalence rate

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Literacy rate

15–24 years :
15 years and older :

Public attitudes

One World Values Survey reported 51.4% of Jordanians responded that they would prefer not to have neighbors of a different race.