Following World War I and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the UK received a mandate to govern much of the Middle East. Britain separated out a semi-autonomous region of Transjordan from Palestine in the early 1920s, and the area gained its independence in 1946; it adopted the name of Jordan in 1950.

The country's long-time ruler was King Hussein (1953-99). A pragmatic leader, he successfully navigated competing pressures from the major powers (US, USSR, and UK), various Arab states, Israel, and a large internal Palestinian population, despite several wars and coup attempts.

In 1989 he reinstituted parliamentary elections and gradual political liberalization; in 1994 he signed a peace treaty with Israel. King Abdallah II, the son of King Hussein, assumed the throne following his father's death in February 1999. Since then, he has consolidated his power and undertaken an aggressive economic reform program. Jordan acceded to the World Trade Organization in 2000, and began to participate in the European Free Trade Association in 2001.

After a two-year delay, parliamentary and municipal elections took place in the summer of 2003. The prime minister appointed in November 2005 stated the government would focus on political reforms, improving conditions for the poor, and fighting corruption.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population: 6,053,193 (July 2007 est.)

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Age structure: 0-14 years: 33% (male 1,018,934/female 977,645) 15-64 years: 63% (male 2,037,550/female 1,777,361) 65 years and over: 4% (male 117,279/female 124,424) (2007 est.)

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Median age: total: 23.5 years male: 24.1 years female: 22.8 years (2007 est.)

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Population growth rate: 2.412% (2007 est.)

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Birth rate: 20.69 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Death rate: 2.68 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Net migration rate: 6.11 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.042 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.146 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.943 male(s)/female total population: 1.102 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

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Infant mortality rate: total: 16.16 deaths/1,000 live births male: 19.33 deaths/1,000 live births female: 12.81 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth: total population: 78.55 years male: 76.04 years female: 81.22 years (2007 est.)

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Total fertility rate: 2.55 children born/woman (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2001 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 600 (2003 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 500 (2003 est.)

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Nationality: noun: Jordanian(s) adjective: Jordanian

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Ethnic groups: Arab 98%, Circassian 1%, Armenian 1%

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Religions: Sunni Muslim 92%, Christian 6% (majority Greek Orthodox, but some Greek and Roman Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Protestant denominations), other 2% (several small Shi'a Muslim and Druze populations) (2001 est.)

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Languages: Arabic (official), English widely understood among upper and middle classes

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Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 89.9% male: 95.1% female: 84.7% (2003 est.)

Jordan is a small Arab country with insufficient supplies of water, oil, and other natural resources. Poverty, unemployment, and inflation are fundamental problems, but King ABDALLAH, since assuming the throne in 1999, has undertaken some broad economic reforms in a long-term effort to improve living standards. Since Jordan's graduation from its most recent IMF program in 2002, Amman has continued to follow IMF guidelines, practicing careful monetary policy, and making substantial headway with privatization. In 2006, Jordan reduced its debt to GDP ratio significantly. The government also has liberalized the trade regime sufficiently to secure Jordan's membership in the WTO (2000), a free trade accord with the US (2001), and an association agreement with the EU (2001). These measures have helped improve productivity and have put Jordan on the foreign investment map. Jordan imported most of its oil from Iraq, but the US-led war in Iraq in 2003 made Jordan more dependent on oil from other Gulf nations, and has forced the Jordanian Government to raise retail petroleum product prices and the sales tax base. Jordan's export market, which is heavily dependent on exports to Iraq, was also affected by the war but recovered quickly while contributing to the Iraq recovery effort. The main challenges facing Jordan are reducing dependence on foreign grants, reducing the budget deficit, and attracting investment to promote job creation.

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GDP (purchasing power parity): $30 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP (official exchange rate): $12.52 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP - real growth rate: 6.3% (2006 est.)

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GDP - per capita (PPP): $5,100 (2006 est.)

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GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 3.6% industry: 30.5% services: 65.9% (2006 est.)

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Labor force: 1.512 million (2006 est.)

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Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 5% industry: 12.5% services: 82.5% (2001 est.)

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Unemployment rate: 15.4% official rate; unofficial rate is approximately 30% (2006 est.)

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Population below poverty line: 30% (2001 est.)

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Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.3% highest 10%: 29.8% (1997)

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Distribution of family income - Gini index: 36.4 (1997)

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Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6.3% (2006 est.)

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Investment (gross fixed): 24.8% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Budget: revenues: $4.88 billion expenditures: $5.51 billion; including capital expenditures of $1.092 billion (2006 est.)

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Public debt: 72.2% of GDP (30 September 2006 est.)

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Agriculture - products: citrus, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives; sheep, poultry, stone fruits, strawberries, dairy

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Industries: clothing, phosphate mining, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, petroleum refining, cement, potash, inorganic chemicals, light manufacturing, tourism

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Industrial production growth rate: 4.6% (2006 est.)

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Electricity - production: 8.431 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - consumption: 8.387 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - exports: 4 million kWh (2004)

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Electricity - imports: 550 million kWh (2004)

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Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - consumption: 107,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)

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Oil - exports: 0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - imports: 106,400 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - proved reserves: 1 million bbl (1 January 2005)

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Natural gas - production: 310 million cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - consumption: 1.41 billion cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - imports: 1.1 billion cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - proved reserves: 6.23 billion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

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Current account balance: -$2.834 billion (2006 est.)

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Exports: $4.798 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Exports - commodities: clothing, pharmaceuticals, potash, phosphates, fertilizers, vegetables, manufactures

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Exports - partners: US 25.3%, Iraq 17%, India 8.1%, Saudi Arabia 5.8%, Syria 4.7% (2006)

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Imports: $10.42 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Imports - commodities: crude oil, textile fabrics, machinery, transport equipment, manufactured goods

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Imports - partners: Saudi Arabia 22.9%, Germany 8.1%, China 7.9%, US 5.2% (2006)

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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $6.57 billion (October 2006)

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Debt - external: $7.3 billion (31 September 2006)

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Economic aid - recipient: ODA, $752 million (2005 est.)

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Currency (code): Jordanian dinar (JOD)

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Exchange rates: Jordanian dinars per US dollar - 0.709 (2006), 0.709 (2005), 0.709 (2004), 0.709 (2003), 0.709 (2002)

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Fiscal year: calendar year