Demographics of Jordan

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Jordan, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Population in Jordan[1]
Year Million
1971 1.57
1980 2.18
1990 3.17
2000 4.80
2004 5.29
2008 5.91
2014 8.21
Source: OECD/World Bank

According to the OECD/World Bank, the Jordanian population increased from 1990 to 2008 by 2.7 million - an 86% growth in population, compared to 39% growth in Lebanon, 56% growth in Israel, 67% growth in Syria [1] and according to the U.S. Census 106% growth in the Palestinian territories.[2]

The population of Jordan since 1952.

Native Jordanians are mostly descended from village-dwellers and Bedouins originating in the Arabian Peninsula.[3] Half of Jordan's population are of Palestinian origin. In addition, there are minorities such as Circassians, Chechens, Armenians and refugees such as Iraqis, Syrians, Assyrians. There is also hundreds of thousands of guest workers from Egypt, Syria, Indonesia, and South Asia work as domestic and construction employees.

The official language is Arabic. English is used widely in commerce and government. About 70% of Jordan's population is urban; less than 6% of the rural population is nomadic or semi-nomadic. Most people live where the rainfall supports agriculture.

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.[4] Two other events in the history of Jordan affected its demographics, the outcomes of the 1948 and the 1967 conflicts with Israel.

Vital statistics

UN estimates[5]

Period Live births per year Deaths per year Natural change per year CBR1 CDR1 NC1 TFR1 IMR1
1950–1955 26 000 11 000 15 000 47.4 19.3 28.1 7.38 160.9
1955–1960 38 000 13 000 25 000 49.4 16.5 32.9 7.38 128.9
1960–1965 54 000 15 000 40 000 53.6 14.5 39.1 8.00 103.2
1965–1970 73 000 16 000 57 000 52.3 11.8 40.5 8.00 82.8
1970–1975 90 000 17 000 73 000 49.0 9.4 39.6 7.79 68.3
1975–1980 92 000 16 000 76 000 42.8 7.5 35.3 7.38 56.5
1980–1985 101 000 17 000 85 000 39.7 6.5 33.2 7.05 44.4
1985–1990 117 000 18 000 99 000 37.5 5.7 31.8 6.44 36.0
1990–1995 132 000 19 000 113 000 33.9 4.9 29.0 5.14 30.6
1995–2000 147 000 21 000 127 000 32.0 4.5 27.5 4.34 26.7
2000–2005 143 000 21 000 122 000 28.1 4.2 23.9 3.60 23.6
2005–2010 152 000 23 000 128 000 26.4 4.1 22.3 3.27 21.0
1 CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births

Registered births and deaths[6]

Average population Live births Deaths Natural change Crude birth rate (per 1000) Crude death rate (per 1000) Natural change (per 1000) Total fertility rate (TFR)
2007 5 723 185 011 20 924 164 087 29.1 7.0 22.1 3.6
2008 5 850 181 328 19 403 161 925 29.1 7.0 22.1 3.6
2009 5 980 179 872 20 251 159 621 30.1 7.0 23.1 3.8
2010 6 113 183 948 21 550 162 398 30.1 7.0 23.1 3.8
2011 6 249 178 435 21 730 156 705 28.9 7.0 21.9 3.8

Ethnic and religious groups

Muslim (Sunni) 92%, Christian 6% (majority Greek Orthodox, with some in Catholic, Greek Catholic, Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, and Protestant denominations, and Iraqi refugee populations of Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic and Syriac Orthodox), other 2% (several small Shi'a Muslim and Druze populations) (2001 est.)

Ethnically, the Circassians and Chechens form more than 3% of the Jordanian population.

Arabs

Further information: Palestinians in Jordan and Iraqis in Jordan

Native Jordanians are mostly descended from village-dwellers and Bedouins originating in the Arabian Peninsula.[3] There were some 56,000 Bedouins at the turn of the 20th century on the plain east of Jordan, even after the World War I, Amman was only a village of a few thousand residents,[7] many recent immigrants from the coastal areas of the Ottoman Syria where most of the fighting took place. By 1956, of the 1.5 million population, 200,000 were residing in Amman.[7] Following the 1948 war, and seizure of what later came to be known as the "West Bank", the citizens of Transjordan numbered about 1,185,000: 375,000 Transjordanians, 460,000 former residents of Mandate Palestine and 350,000 refugees from other former Mandate Palestine areas.[8] Of the 100,000 estimated Transjordanians on the West Bank, about half had migrated elsewhere by the early 1950s.[9] In 2004, ethnic Arabs represented 93% of the population.

In Jordan, there is no official census data for how many inhabitants are Palestinian but they are estimated to constitute half of the population,[10][11] which in 2008 amounted to about 3 million.[11] Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics put their number at 3.24 million in 2009.[12] There are more than two million registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan as of January 2012.[13]

Around 58,000 Iraqis are estimated to live in Jordan as of January 2015.[14]

There are a few thousand residents of Lebanese origin who came to Jordan when civil strife and war broke out in their native country. They primarily reside in Amman.

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.

Armenians

Main article: Armenians in Jordan

There were an estimated 5,000 Armenians living within the country in 2009.[15] An estimated 4,500 of these are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church,[15] and predominantly speak the Western dialect[16] of the Armenian language. This population makes up the majority of non-Arab Christians in the country.[17]

Circassians

Further information: Circassian diaspora
Circassian horsemanship in Transjordan, April 1921

Circassians obtained Ottoman citizenships since 1887, immigrated to Jordan and they selected Amman.[18] They settled in several cities such as Jerash and Zarqa, and established their own village, Wadi as-Ser.

The Circassians played a role in the history of Transjordan era, and are famous for their loyalty to Abdullah I of Jordan and his family, obtaining the Transjordan citizenship in the law of citizenship that was issued in 1928,[19] while other tribes obtained their citizenship in 1930 or later.[20]

Over the years, various Circassians have served in distinguished roles in Jordan, including a prime minister (Sa`id al-Mufti), ministers, high-ranking officers, etc. Circassians form the Hashemites honor guard at the royal palaces, and represented Jordan in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 2010, joining other honor guards such as The Airborne Ceremonial Unit.[21][22]

The Circassians are Sunni Muslims and are estimated to number 120,000 persons, or 2% of Jordanian population, while accounting for 5% of Amman's residents.

Mandaeans

Until recently, most Mandaeans were Iraqi, but this religious minority fled the country in the face of this violence, and the Mandaeans community in Iraq faces extinction.[23] Out of the over 60,000 Mandaeans in Iraq in the early 1990s, only about 5,000 to 7,000 remain there; as of early 2007, over 80% of Iraqi Mandaeans were refugees in Syria and Jordan as a result of the Iraq War.

Chechens

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

Education

The era of king Hussein of Jordan saw increased school enrollment rates, which resulted in a rapid rise in the literacy rate in Jordan. At the beginning of his reign in 1952 the literacy rate was 33% and grew to 85% in 1996; according to the 2009 estimate, it is now 94% of the total population.[24]

Population demographic statistics

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1950449,000—    
1960895,000+99.3%
19701,667,000+86.3%
19802,299,000+37.9%
19903,416,000+48.6%
20004,827,000+41.3%
20106,187,000+28.2%
Source:[25]

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

Total population

6,198,677 (July 2008 est.)
6,508,887 (July 2012 est.)

Gender ratio

at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.95 male(s)/female
total population: 1.03 male(s)/female (2012 est.)

Age structure

0–14 years: 32.2% (male 1,017,233/female 976,284)
15–64 years: 62.4% (male 2,110,293/female 1,840,531)
65 years and over: 4.1% (male 122,975/female 131,361) (2008 est.)
0-14 years: 35.3% (male 1,180,595/female 1,114,533)
15-64 years: 59.9% (male 1,977,075/female 1,921,504)
65 years and over: 4.8% (male 153,918/female 160,646) (2011 est.)

Median age

total: 22.6 years
male: 22.2 years
female: 22.9 years (2013 est.)

Population growth rate

2.338% (2008 est.)
-0.965% (2012 est.)

Birth rate

26.52 births/1,000 population (2012 est.)

Death rate

2.74 deaths/1,000 population (July 2012 est.)

Net migration rate

5.97 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)
-33.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2012 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 82.7% of total population (2011)
rate of urbanization: 2.17% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)

Maternal mortality rate

63 deaths/100,000 live births (2010)

Infant mortality rate

15.26 deaths/1,000 live births (2013 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 80.18 years
male: 78.82 years
female: 81.61 years (2012 est.)

Total fertility rate

3.36 children born/woman (2012 est.)

Health expenditures

8.0% of GDP (2010)

Physicians density

2.45 physicians/1,000 population (2009)

Hospital bed density

1.8 beds/1,000 population (2010)

Obesity - adult prevalence rate

30% (2008)

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

1.9%

Languages

Arabic is the official language of Jordan. English is widely understood among the educated and the upper and middle classes.

Literacy

Young girls reading in Amman, Jordan

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 92.6%
male: 95.8%
female: 93% (2010 est.)

Jordanian demographic policy

Initial integration of former residents of Mandatory Palestine, and granting them citizenship, was revoked following violence against PLO in 1970. Most Iraqi refugees are not granted citizenship.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion Population 1971-2008 (pdf pages 83-85) IEA (OECD/ World Bank) original population ref e.g. in IEA Key World Energy Statistics 2010 page 57)
  2. ↑ US Census Bureau International Programs International Data Base IDB. See: West Bank and Gaza
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lowi, Miriam R., Water and power: the politics of a scarce resource in the Jordan River basin, Cambridge University Press, 1995, p.36
  4. ↑ "American Jewish Yearbook p.528" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-12-22.
  5. ↑ World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision
  6. ↑ Department of Statistics, Jordan
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Glubb, General Sir John Bagot, LIFE, 16 April 1956, Glubb tells how our Mid-East enemies work: Arab agitators abetted by Reds, says Jordan’s ousted general, imperil West's position, Time Inc, Vol. 40, No. 16, pp. 145-156
  8. ↑ Mazur, Michael P., Economic growth and development in Jordan, Taylor & Francis, 1979, p.8
  9. ↑ Mazur, Michael P., Economic growth and development in Jordan, Taylor & Francis, 1979, p.9
  10. ↑ "Assessment for Palestinians in Jordan". Minorities at Risk. 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Jordan". Minority Rights Group International. 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  12. ↑ "Palestinians at the end of 2012" (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  13. ↑ "Where We Work - Jordan". UNRWA. 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  14. ↑ "2015 UNHCR country operations profile - Jordan". UNHCR. 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Jordan: Religions & Peoples
  16. ↑ Ethnologue 14 report for language code:ARM
  17. ↑ Jordan :: Religion - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
  18. ↑ Amman Centennial, From the end of the Ummayad era till 1878
  19. ↑ http://www.farrajlawyer.com/viewTopic.php?topicId=661 Arabic Language
  20. ↑ http://www.moi.gov.jo/%C7%E1%D5%DD%CD%C9%C7%E1%D1%C6%ED%D3%ED%C9/%DE%E6%C7%E4%ED%E4%E6%CA%D4%D1%ED%DA%C7%CA/%DE%C7%E4%E6%E4%C7%E1%CC%E4%D3%ED%C9%C7%E1%C7%D1%CF%E4%ED%C9/tabid/107/Default.aspx Via Ministry of Interior (Arabic Language)
  21. ↑ http://www.edintattoo.co.uk/news-and-press/jordan-the-tattoo
  22. ↑ http://www.echoesfromjordan.com/performing-group/circassian-honour-guard Via EchoesfromJordan Website
  23. ↑ Genocide Watch: Mandaeans of Iraq
  24. ↑ The annual 'Eradication of Illiteracy' report by the Jordanian Ministry of Education http://www.moe.gov.jo/Departments/DepartmentSectionDetails.aspx?DepartmentSectionDetailsID=120&DepartmentID=17
  25. ↑ World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision