Migrants constitute nearly one-third of Jordan’s population — HPC

AMMAN — Jordan houses more than 57 nationalities, Secretary General of the Higher Population Council (HPC) Abla Amawi said on Thursday on the occasion of International Migrants Day, which is annually marked on December 18.

“Waves of migration” and refugee influxes put immense pressure on Jordan’s limited water resources, public services, economic growth, jobs and the growing budget deficit and public debt, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted Amawi as saying.

Syrians top the number of foreign nationals in the Kingdom with 1,265,514, followed by Egyptians at 636,270 people, Palestinians numbering about 634,182 and Iraqis at 130,911, Amawi noted.

She added that migrants in Jordan constitute 31 per cent of the population, and the UNHCR said that Jordan hosts the second highest share of refugees per capita in the world.

The HPC secretary general said that 55 per cent of the non-Jordanians residents came to the Kingdom due to lack of security in their home countries, 18 per cent for work and 2 per cent for study, while 85 per cent of non-Jordanians in the Kingdom are refugees who mainly live in Amman, Irbid, Zarqa and Mafraq.

Citing the 2015 census for housing and population, Amawi said that 17 per cent of the refugee families are headed by women, and that illiteracy rate among refugees stands at 13.6 per cent.

As for Jordanians abroad, she said that estimates show that there are one million Jordanians out of the Kingdom mainly for reasons related to study and work, particularly in the Gulf countries, with their annual remittances nearing JD2.5 billion.

Data also show that 34 per cent of the annual income of Jordanian households relies on expatriates’ remittances, she added.