ABSTRACT
One snapshot of the Jordanian economy in early 2008 was provided by the World Bank in one of its reports on the kingdom. It stated that
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with 5.5 million inhabitants has one of the youngest populations among lower-middle income countries – 38 percent of the population is under the age of 14. The country has experienced over the last century a succession of migrations that have added to its population, including sendentarized nomads from the Arabian Peninsula, Palestinians who fled the Arab-Israel conflict, and other minorities, such as Circassians, Armenians, and Druzes, and more recently a large number of Iraqis. It is notably resource-poor, with limited agricultural land, no oil resources, and considerably scarce water; its only natural resources are potash and phosphate. Notwithstanding the difficulty of the regional political environment, and the lack of resources, the Jordanian population enjoys today one of the highest per-capita disposable income compared to other emerging countries in the sub-region. Jordan’s GNI per capita in 2003 was $1,850. The relatively comfortable economic situation can be credited to the Kingdom’s ability to maintain social and political stability, but also depends on one of the world’s highest share of unilateral transfers, in the form of workers’ remittances and public grants.
