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.

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Population in Jordan[1][2]
Year	Million
1971	1.57
1980	2.18
1990	3.17
2000	4.80
2004	5.29
2008	5.91
2013	6.46
2015	9.53
Source: OECD/World Bank[3]

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.^[4]

It is estimated that half of Jordanians are of Palestinian roots, meaning that the two populations interbred. In addition, there are minorities such as Circassians, Chechens, Armenians and refugees such as Iraqis, Syrians, and Assyrians. There are also hundreds of thousands of guest workers from Egypt, Syria, Indonesia, and South Asia, who 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.^[5]

Vital statistics

UN estimates^[6]

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^[7]

	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	3.6
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	28.6	7.0	21.6	3.8
2012		177 695	22 785	154 910				3.5
2013		178 143	23 898	154 245	27.3			3.5

Fertility Rate (The Demographic Health Survey) ^[8]

Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and CBR (Crude Birth Rate):

Year	CBR (Total)	TFR (Total)	CBR (Urban)	TFR (Urban)	CBR (Rural)	TFR (Rural)
1976		7,4
1983		6,6
1990	36,1	5,57 (3,94)	33,9	4,75 (3,36)	39,0	6,85 (4,76)
1997	33,1	4,35 (2,9)	32,5	4,22 (2,9)	35,5	5,00 (3,1)
2002	29,0	3,7 (2,6)	28,4	3,5 (2,5)	31,3	4,2 (2,8)
2007	28,1	3,6 (2,8)	28,1	3,6 (2,8)	28,2	3,7 (2,8)
2009	30,6	3,8 (3,0)	30,6	3,8 (2,9)	30,7	4,0 (3,1)
2012	27,2	3,5 (2,4)	26,7	3,4 (2,4)	29,8	3,9 (2,7)

Structure of the population ^[9]

Structure of the population (01.10.2004) (Census)

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	2 626 287	2 477 352	5 103 639	100
0-4	333 216	317 115	650 331	12,74
5-9	329 133	313 738	642 871	12,60
10-14	313 083	297 046	610 129	11,95
15-19	287 693	272 145	559 838	10,97
20-24	279 600	260 593	540 193	10,58
25-29	239 774	216 487	456 261	8,94
30-34	207 178	191 991	399 169	7,82
35-39	167 737	155 689	323 426	6,34
40-44	123 945	117 455	241 400	4,73
45-49	87 098	83 358	170 456	3,34
50-54	64 607	63 633	128 240	2,51
55-59	55 765	57 956	113 721	2,23
60-64	52 084	46 703	98 787	1,94
65-69	37 095	34 728	71 823	1,41
70-74	23 467	23 353	46 820	0,92
75-79	12 651	11 617	24 268	0,48
80+	10 137	11 923	22 060	0,43
80-84	6 144	7 441	13 585	0,27
85-89	2 444	2 588	5 032	0,10
90-94	1 012	1 304	2 316	0,05
95-99	537	590	1 127	0,02
unknown	2 024	1 822	3 846	0,08

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	975 432	927 899	1 903 331	37,29
15-64	1 565 481	1 466 010	3 031 491	59,40
65+	83 350	81 621	164 971	3,23

Structure of the population (31.12.2013) (Estimates) (Excluding foreigners, including registered Palestinian): refugees. :

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	3 366 000	3 174 000	6 530 000	100
0-4	427 485	405 300	832 785	12,75
5-9	422 095	400 880	822 975	12,60
10-14	401 900	379 680	781 580	11,97
15-19	368 915	347 720	716 635	10,97
20-24	358 485	333 170	691 655	10,59
25-29	307 650	276 855	584 505	8,95
30-34	265 915	245 520	511 435	7,83
35-39	215 425	199 015	414 440	6,35
40-44	158 875	149 975	308 850	4,73
45-49	111 750	106 630	218 380	3,34
50-54	82 805	81 320	164 125	2,51
55-59	71 360	74 040	145 400	2,23
60-64	66 645	59 800	126 445	1,94
65-69	47 485	44 280	91 765	1,41
70-74	30 040	29 785	59 825	0,92
75-79	16 195	14 815	31 010	0,48
80-84	7 865	9 495	17 360	0,27
85-89	3 130	3 300	6 430	0,10
90-94	1 295	1 665	2 960	0,05
95+	685	755	1 440	0,02

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	1 251 480	1 185 860	2 437 340	37,33
15-64	2 007 825	1 874 045	3 881 870	59,45
65+	106 695	104 095	210 790	3,23

Ethnic and religious groups

Arabs

Native Jordanians are either descended from Bedouins (of which, 6% live a nomadic lifestyle),^[11] or from the many deeply rooted non bedouin communities across the country, most notably Al-Salt city west of Amman which was at the time of Emirate the largest urban settlement east of the Jordan River. Along with indigenous communities in Al Husn, Aqaba, Irbid, Al Karak, Madaba, Jerash, Ajloun, Fuheis and Pella.^[12]

In Jordan, there is no official census data for how many inhabitants have Palestinian roots but they are estimated to constitute half of the population,^[13][14] which in 2008 amounted to about 3 million.^[14] Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics put their number at 3.24 million in 2009.^[15] There are more than two million registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan as of January 2012.^[16]

Around 58,000 Iraqis are estimated to live in Jordan as of January 2015.^[17]

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.

Armenians

There were an estimated 5,000 Armenians living within the country in 2009.^[18] An estimated 4,500 of these are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church,^[18] and predominantly speak the Western dialect^[19] of the Armenian language. This population makes up the majority of non-Arab Christians in the country.^[20]

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

Circassians obtained Ottoman citizenships since 1887, immigrated to Jordan and they selected Amman.^[21] 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,^[22] while other tribes obtained their citizenship in 1930 or later.^[23]

Over the years, various Circassians have served in distinguished roles in Jordan, including the first ever Mayor of Amman Ismael Babouk, 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.^[24][25]

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.

Chechens

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

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.^[26] 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.

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.^[27]

Population demographic statistics

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1950	449,000	—
1960	895,000	+99.3%
1970	1,667,000	+86.3%
1980	2,299,000	+37.9%
1990	3,416,000	+48.6%
2000	4,827,000	+41.3%
2010	6,187,000	+28.2%
2016	9,531,712	+54.1%
Source:[28]

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

Total population

6,508,887 (July 2012 est.)

8,117,564 (July 2015 est.) - Including Refugees of the Syrian Civil War

Gender ratio

at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female

15–24 years: 1.05 male(s)/female

25–54 years: 1 male(s)/female

55–64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.89 male(s)/female

total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2015 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years: 35.42% (male 1,474,464/female 1,400,926)

15-24 years: 20.25% (male 840,714/female 803,237)

25-54 years: 36.12% (male 1,468,388/female 1,463,452)

55-64 years: 4.3% (male 169,857/female 179,275)

65 years and over: 3.91% (male 149,207/female 168,044) (2015 est.)

Median age

total: 22 years

male: 21.7 years

female: 22.4 years (2015 est.)

Population growth rate

2.338% (2008 est.)

0.83% (2015 est.)

Birth rate

25.37 births/1,000 population (2015 est.)

Death rate

3.79 deaths/1,000 population (July 2015 est.)

Net migration rate

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

-13.24 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2015 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 83.7% of total population (2015)

rate of urbanization: 3.79% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)

Maternal mortality rate

58 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)

Infant mortality rate

14.25 deaths/1,000 live births (2015 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 80.18 years

male: 78.82 years

female: 81.61 years (2012 est.)

total population: 74.35 years

male: 73 years

female: 75.78 years (2015 est.)

Total fertility rate

3.36 children born/woman (2012 est.)

3.17 children born/woman (2015 est.)

Health expenditures

7.2% of GDP (2013)

Physicians density

2.56 physicians/1,000 population (2010)

Hospital bed density

1.8 beds/1,000 population (2012)

Obesity - adult prevalence rate

28.1% (2014)

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

3% (2012)

Languages

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

Literacy

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

See also

• Religion in Jordan

References