Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

From Small Sheikhdom to Over-Population

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

  • 506 Accesses

Abstract

Geography and politics have strongly influenced Jordan’s demographic history and the Jordanian population is comprised of two components: the original population, who lived in the East Bank before the 1948 War and their descendants, and the Palestinians, who were the residents of the West Bank. Since the mid-1970s, two non-national groups were added to the Jordanian population: foreign workers and their accompanying family members, and since 1991, non-Palestinian refugees. Despite a large number of non-nationals in the Kingdom, the most prominent factor for Jordan’s rapid population growth since its establishment has been the high fertility rate of the national population.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Department of Statistics, Results of Housing and Population Census, East Bank-1979, Vol. 2, part 1 (Amman, 1983), p. 44, table P.1.10.

  2. 2.

    CIA, The World Factbook-2015.

  3. 3.

    Colbert C. Held, John V. Cotter and John Thomas Cummings, Middle East Patterns: Places, Peoples, and Politics, fifth edition (Boulder: Westview Press, 2011), p. 325.

  4. 4.

    Peter Gubser, Jordan: Crossroad of Middle Eastern Events (Boulder: Westview Press and London: Croom Helm, 1983), p. 12; Mary C. Wilson, King Abdullah, Britain and the Making of Jordan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), p. 56.

  5. 5.

    Al-Mamlaka al-Urdunia al Hashimiyya, Da’irat al-Ihsa’iyyat al-‘Amma, Al-Ta’dad al-ʽAmm lil-Sukan wal-Masakin-1994 (Amman, October 1995), p. 19, table 1 (Arabic).

  6. 6.

    Jordan, Department of Statistics (DoS), Housing and Population Census 2015 [http://www.dos.gov.jo/dos_home_e/main/population/census2015/index.htm].

  7. 7.

    Jordan, DoS [http://web.dos.gov.jo].

  8. 8.

    IBRD, The Economic Development of Jordan (Washington, DC, 1956), p. 49, table 1; Mustafa Kabha, The Palestinians: A People Dispersed (Raʽanna: The Open University, 2010), p. 154 (Hebrew).

  9. 9.

    Asher Susser, “Demography and Politics in Jordan,” in Gad G. Gilbar and Ami Ayalon (eds.), Demography and Politics in the Arab States (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1995), p. 133 (Hebrew).

  10. 10.

    Bichara Khader, “Jordan’s Economy: 1952–1989: Past Achievements and Future Challenges,” Journal of Arab Affairs, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Fall 1990), p. 87.

  11. 11.

    Gad G. Gilbar, Population Dilemmas in the Middle East (London: Frank Cass, 1997), p. 12, table 1.1.

  12. 12.

    Population growth is the sum of the NIR and the net migration balance.

  13. 13.

    The total fertility rate (TFR) is the average number of children a woman would have if she survives all her reproductive years (15–49). The TFR is the most widely used fertility measure.

  14. 14.

    Abdullah Abdel-Aziz, Evaluation of the Jordan Fertility Survey-1976, Scientific Reports, No. 42 (March 1983), p. 17, table 11.

  15. 15.

    Omar B. Ahmad, Alan D. Lopez and Mie Inoue, “The Decline in Child Mortality: A Reappraisal,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Vol. 78, No. 10 (2000), p. 1180, table 1; UNDP, Human Development Report-2006, pp. 315–318, table 10; UNDP, Human Development Report-2016, p. 227, table 8.

  16. 16.

    By 1959, unemployment in Jordan (both banks) was almost 30 per cent. See: Salem O. Ghawi, “The Manpower Situation in Jordan,” paper prepared for seminar on Manpower in Jordan, National Planning Council, Amman, April 1972, p. 8, table 1.

  17. 17.

    John M. Wardwell, “Jordan,” in William J. Serow et al. (eds.), Handbook of International Migration (New York and London: Greenwood Press, 1990), p. 168.

  18. 18.

    M.A.J. Share, “The Use of Jordanian Workers’ Remittances,” in Bichara Khader and Adnan Badran (eds.), The Economic Development of Jordan (London: Croom Helm, 1987), p. 33, table 3.1.

  19. 19.

    Nazli Choucri, “Migration in the Middle East: Transformation and Change,” Middle East Review, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Winter 1983/4), p. 18, table 1.

  20. 20.

    J.S. Birks and C.A. Sinclair, International Migration Project: Country Case Study: The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Durham: The University of Durham, Department of Economics, November 1978), p. 9, table 3.

  21. 21.

    Jordan, Statistical Abstract-1989, p. 83, table 4/2/3.

  22. 22.

    Middle East International, 22 February 1985, p. 16.

  23. 23.

    Muhammad Sa‘ad ‘Amirah, “Waqi‘al-Bitala fil-Urdun wa-Nazara Nahwa al-Mustaqbal,” in Mustafa al-Hamarneh (ed.), al-Iqtisad al-Urduni: al-Mushkilat wal-Afaqa (Amman: Markaz al-Dirasat al-Istratigiyya, 1994), p. 224, table 2 (Arabic).

  24. 24.

    Tayseer Abdel Jaber, “Jordanian Labour Migration: Social, Political and Economic Effects,” in Mohammad Shtayyeh (ed.), Labour Migration: Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and Israel (Jerusalem: Palestine Center for Regional Studies, 1998), p. 85.

  25. 25.

    J.S. Birks and C.A. Sinclair, International Migration and Development in the Arab Region (Geneva, 1980), p. 135, table 10.

  26. 26.

    HRD base Ltd., Lloyds Bank Chambers, Socio-Demographic Profiles of Key Arab Countries (Newcastle, May 1987), p. 44, table 3.2.

  27. 27.

    The Jordan Times, 14 October 1991.

  28. 28.

    Jordan, DoS, Housing and Population Census-1994.

  29. 29.

    ESCWA, Survey, 1998–1999, p. 51; The Jordan Times, 18 November 1999.

  30. 30.

    Jordan, DoS, Housing and Population Census-2004.

  31. 31.

    The Jordan Times, 11 July 2016.

  32. 32.

    Riad al Khouri, “Aspects of Migration and Development in Jordan,” paper prepared for the Migration and Refugee Movements in the Middle East and North Africa, The Forced Migration & Refugee Studies Program, The American University in Cairo, Egypt 23–25 October 2007, p. 17.

  33. 33.

    Migration Policy Centre, Migration Facts-Jordan (April 2013).

  34. 34.

    Joseph Sasson, The Iraqi Refugees: The New Crisis in the Middle East (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2009), p. 33.

  35. 35.

    Jordan, DoS, 2015 Census data, table 7.7; Jordan Times, 30 January 2016.

  36. 36.

    Fouzi Sahawneh, “Demographic and Social Characteristics of Family Planning in Jordan,” Population Bulletin of ECWA, No. 22/23 (June & December 1982), p. 119.

  37. 37.

    Charles W. Warren et al., “Fertility and Family Planning in Jordan: Results from the 1985 Jordan Husbands’ Fertility Survey,” Studies in Family Planning, Vol. 21, No. 1 (1990), pp. 33–34.

  38. 38.

    The Director of the Economic Data Bank (Amman).

  39. 39.

    Wasef Y. Azar, “The Population Position of Jordan,” paper presented at the First Regional Population Conference of ECWA, Beirut, 18 February–1 March 1974, p. 6.

  40. 40.

    Badran Abbdul-Razaq Badran, “Features of the Population Situation and Policies in Jordan,” Population Bulletin of ESCWA, No. 40 (1992), p. 83.

  41. 41.

    On the Jordanian anti-natalist measures, see: Gilbar, Population Dilemmas, pp. 73–76; Onn Winckler, Population Growth and Migration in Jordan, 1950–1994 (Brighton and Portland: Sussex Academic Press, 1997), pp. 82–84.

  42. 42.

    JPFHS-2002, p. 3.

  43. 43.

    JPFHS-1990, p. 37.

  44. 44.

    Jordan Population and Family Health Survey-2002, p. 3; Jordan, Ministry of Planning, Plan for Economic and Social Development, 1993–1997 (Amman, 1993), p. 155.

  45. 45.

    JPFHS-2012, pp. 3–4.

  46. 46.

    Ebba Augustin, “Demographic Transition and Gender Systems: The Case of Jordan and Yemen,” in Hans Groth and Alfonzo Sousa-Poza (eds.), Population Dynamics in the Muslim Countries (London and New York: Springer, 2012), p. 167.

  47. 47.

    Jordan Higher Population Council, National Reproductive Health/Family Planning Strategy, 2013–2017, p. 11, figure 4.

  48. 48.

    Ibid., p. iv.

  49. 49.

    JPFHS-2012, p. 49, table 5.2.

  50. 50.

    IMF, Jordan: 2014 Article IV Consultation, IMF Country Report No. 14/152 (June 2014), p. 5.

  51. 51.

    ESCWA, Survey, 2014–2015, pp. 60–61.

  52. 52.

    IMF, Jordan: Selected Issues, IMF Country Report No. 17/232 (July 2017), pp. 4–5.

  53. 53.

    USAID, JCAP, Exploring Gender Norms and Family Planning in Jordan: A Qualitative Study, Final Report (Amman, January 2016), p. 4.

  54. 54.

    Jordan HPC, National Reproductive Health/Family Planning Strategy, 2013–2017, p. 1; USAID, “Population and Family Health in Jordan” [https://www.usaid.gov/jordan/family-planning-reproductive-health]; USAID, “A New Roadmap to Guide Family Planning in Jordan,” 7 August 2013; USAID, Jordan Family Planning Assessment: Final Report, April 2016, p. 8.

  55. 55.

    Jordan, DoS, Vital Statistics [http://web.dos.gov.jo/sectors/social/vital-statistics].

  56. 56.

    PRB, 2017 World Population Data Sheet (New York, 2017), p. 11.

  57. 57.

    Zawya, 5 December 2016.

  58. 58.

    Al-Monitor, 22 August 2016.

  59. 59.

    Jordan Times, 4 July 2017; The Guardian, 27 February 2017.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Onn Winckler

Authors
  1. Onn Winckler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Onn Winckler .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of International Studies, CWAS, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

    P. R. Kumaraswamy

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Winckler, O. (2019). From Small Sheikhdom to Over-Population. In: Kumaraswamy, P.R. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9166-8_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9166-8_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-9165-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-9166-8

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation