Overview

Jordan is a kingdom near the Mediterranean Sea in the Southwest Asia area known as the Middle East or Near East. Its neighbors are Israel to the west, with which it shares the Dead Sea; Syria to the north; Iraq to the northeast; and Saudi Arabia to the east and south. Amman, the largest city, is the capital. Jordan is the site of the city of Petra, an archeological treasure that was the religious center for the nomadic Arab people called the Nabateans. Jordan's land area is about 35,000 square miles (almost 92,000 square kilometers).

Accurate demographic figures have been difficult to compile because of the substantial number of Jordanians living and working abroad and the continuous flow of West Bank Palestinians using Jordanian passports to travel back and forth between the East and West Banks of the Jordan River. Jordan's 1994 census estimated its population to be...