Previously a British mandate territory following the First World War, Jordan obtained independence on 22 March 1946 (going under the name of Transjordan) and assumed the name of Jordan in 1949, after the annexation of the West Bank (occupied by Israel in 1967). In 1994, King Ḥusayn and the Israeli premier, Y. Rabin, signed a treaty to determine the borders and the division of the water resources of the Yarmouk and Jordan rivers. In order to encourage the formation of a Palestinian political authority, Jordan had already cut all administrative links with the West Bank in 1988.
On the basis of the Constitution of 1 January 1952, the sovereign appoints the prime minister, but the government has to be approved by the National Assembly, which is made up of the Chamber of Representatives (130 members elected, 15 seats are reserved for women, nine for Christians, nine for Bedouins, three for Jordanians of Circassian and Chechen descent) and the Senate (65 members appointed by the king), each of which has a four-year term.

Defence and justice.
The legal system is based on Islamic (Quranic) law, with influences from European continental civil law.

Population by age and gender (% - 2020)
	75+ 60-74 45-59 30-44 15-29 0-14
MALE	AGE	FEMALE

Approximately half the population is made up of refugees from the Arab-Israeli wars (1948-49, 1967) and their descendants. About 750 000 refugees are currently in Jordan, primarily Syrians who are escaping civil war (since 2011).

Economic situation.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic worsened a scenario of low growth, high unemployment and high public debt, increasing social tensions.
In 2021, the country came out of the recession, starting a slow recovery.

Primary and secondary sector.

Agriculture, limited to irrigated areas, produces fruit and vegetables for export; vines are cultivated in the hilly areas, producing fine wine, and olives are grown in the north. Livestock farming is traditionally carried out by Bedouin tribes.
The country possesses large deposits of phosphates (at Wādī al-Ḥasā, Wādī al-Abyaḍ, Ar-Ruṣayfah) and potassium salts (in the Dead Sea, near Aṣ-Ṣāfī). Oil production (Hamzah, near Azraq) is limited, but there are sizeable oil shale reserves. There are copper deposits at Wādī al-‘Arabah. The main industries are food, chemicals (fertilizers at ‘Ammān and Aqaba), cement (at Al-Fuḥaiṣ, Al-Mafraq, Al-Qaṭrānah, ‘Ammān, Aṭ-Ṭafīlah, Az-Zarqā’), tobacco (at ‘Ammān); at Az-Zarqā’ there is an oil refinery; at ‘Ammān an industry and Information Technology (IT) park has been opened; since 2017, there has been a particle accelerator in the vicinity of As-Salṭ that is contributing to scientific research. An increasingly important problem is the difficulty of water supply.

Tertiary sector.
The Jordan Central Bank controls approximately thirty authorized banks. A stock exchange has its headquarters in ‘Ammān. Free trade zones have been set up (at Aqaba and Az-Zarqā’, near the Syrian border, and near ‘Ammān airport).

Main exports
(M US$ - 2017) 
apparel and accessories 1 563, pharmaceuticals 668, fertilizers 657, fruit and vegetables 531, chemicals 473, phosphates 376, electrical and electronic equipment 361, plastics 260, parts of aircraft 253, home appliances and machinery 223, jewels and precious stones 189, live animals 167, paper 142, aluminium 139, iron and steel 110, vehicles and parts thereof 105, soap and detergents 101