People of Jordan - Demographics

Age structure: 0-14 years: 37.23% (male 980,345; female 938,081)

15-64 years: 59.44% (male 1,633,579; female 1,429,631)

65 years and over: 3.33% (male 84,815; female 86,927) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate: 3% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 25.44 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 2.62 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate: 7.18 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 1.14 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.98 male(s)/female

total population: 1.1 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 20.36 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 77.53 years

male: 75.1 years

female: 80.12 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate: 3.29 children born/woman (2001 est.)

Demographics

Jordan has a population of 5.9 million. 95% of Jordan's population are Arabs. Jordanian Arabs make 55% of the population and a large portion of the population (approximately 40%) are of Palestinian extraction, who fled from Palestine to Transjordan and gained citizenship after the Arab-Israeli wars in 1948 and 1967, the remaining non-Arabs of the population are mainly Circassians, Chechens, Armenians (13th largest in the world) and Kurds, but have integrated into the Jordanian and Arab cultures in the country. Many Jordanians are also of European origin.

The number of Lebanese permanently settling in Jordan since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict has not been established, and is estimated to be very little. According to Labour Ministry figures, the number of guest workers in the country now stands just over 300,000, most are Egyptians who makeup 227,000 of the foreign labor, and the remaining 36,150 workers are mostly from Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka and India. Since the Iraq War many Christians (Assyrians and Chaldeans) from Iraq have settled permanently or temporarily in Jordan.

Christians permanently residing in Jordan form approximately 6% of the population and have 20% of the seats in parliament.(reason for which is a good percentage of expatriate communities of Jordanians abroad are Christian - original percentage should read 12%) Most Christians belong to the Greek Orthodox church (called "Room Urthudux" in Arabic). The rest are Roman Catholics (called "Lateen"), Eastern Catholics (called "Room Katoleek" to distinguish them from "Western Catholics"), and various Protestant communities including Baptists. Christians in Jordan are of many nationalities, as evinced, for example, by the Catholic mass being celebrated in Arabic, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Tagalog and Sinhala, as well as in Iraqi dialects of Arabic. However, Jordanian Christians are indigenous Arabs that share the Greater culture of Jordan and the Broader East Mediterranean Levantine Arab Identity.

Other Jordanians belonging to religious minorities include adherents to the Druze and Bahá'í Faith, which fall administratively under Islamic denomination. The Druze are mainly located in the Eastern Oasis Town of Azraq and the city of Zarka, while the Village of Adassiyeh boardering The Jordan Valley is home to Jordan's Bahá'í community.

The official language is Arabic, but English is used widely in commerce and government and among educated people. Arabic and English are obligatory learning at public and private schools. French is taught at some public and private schools but is not obligatory. However, a vibrant Francophone community has emerged in modern Jordan. Radio Jordan offers radio services in Arabic, English and French.

A portion of the people are registered as Palestinian refugees and displaced persons reside in Jordan, most as citizens. Since 2003 many Iraqis fleeing the Iraq War have settled in Jordan; latest estimates indicate between 700,000 and 1.7 million Iraqis living in Jordan;mainly in Amman, the capital.