The economy of Jordan is classified by the World Food Programme as an upper-middle income mixed economy, as well as being poor in resources with limited land for agriculture. Since the 1990s, Jordan has had high unemployment, poverty, and inequality. As of 2023, Jordan has a GDP of US$50.85 billion, ranking it 89th worldwide.
Jordan has free trade agreements with the United States, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, the European Union, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Turkey and Syria. More free trade agreements were planned with Iraq, the Palestinian Authority, the GCC, Lebanon, and Pakistan. Jordan is a member of the Greater Arab Free Trade Agreement, the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area, the Agadir Agreement, and also enjoys advanced status with the EU.
Jordan's economic resource base centers on phosphates, potash, and their fertilizer derivatives; tourism; overseas remittances; and foreign aid. These are its principal sources of hard currency earnings. Lacking coal reserves, hydroelectric power, large tracts of forest or commercially viable oil deposits, Jordan relies on natural gas for 93% of its domestic energy needs. Jordan used to depend on Iraq for oil until the American-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Jordan has industrial zones producing goods in the textile, aerospace, defense, ICT, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic sectors.
The main obstacles to Jordan's economy are scarce water supplies, complete reliance on oil imports for energy, regional instability, and the authoritarian regime. Just over 10% of its land is arable and the water supply is limited. Rainfall is low and highly variable, and much of Jordan's available ground water is not renewable. After King Abdullah II's accession to the throne in 1999, liberal economic policies were introduced.
Jordan's total foreign debt in 2011 was $19 billion, representing 60% of its GDP. In 2016, the debt reached $35.1 billion representing 93.4% of its GDP. This was attributed to regional instability, causing a decrease in tourist activity and foreign investments along with increased military expenditure. Other factors were attacks on the Egyptian pipeline supplying the Kingdom with gas, the collapse of trade with Iraq and Syria; expenses from hosting Syrian refugees and accumulated interest from loans. According to the World Bank, Syrian refugees cost Jordan more than $2.5 billion a year, amounting to 6% of the GDP and 25% of the government's annual revenue.
Wage growth declined due to competition for jobs between refugees and Jordan citizens. The downturn that began in 2011 continued until 2018. The country's top five contributing sectors to its GDP, government services, finance, manufacturing, transport, and tourism and hospitality were badly impacted by the Syrian civil war. Foreign aid covered only a small part of these costs. 63% of the total costs were covered by Jordan. An austerity programme was adopted by the government to reduce Jordan's debt-to-GDP ratio to 77% by 2021. The programme succeeded in preventing the debt from rising above 95% of the GDP in 2018. The yearly growth rate of the economy was 2% from 2016 to 2019, compared to 6.4% from 2000 to 2009.
On 15 May 2025 Jordan and the UAE activated their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), marking a significant step in strengthening bilateral economic ties. Signed in 2023 under the leadership of King Abdullah II and President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the agreement aims to boost trade, reduce tariffs, and enhance investment across key sectors such as industry, renewable energy, and tourism. It establishes frameworks for cooperation, including a joint investment council, and targets increasing non-oil trade to over $8 billion by 2032. As the UAE's first CEPA with an Arab country, the deal underscores a shared commitment to regional integration, SME empowerment, and long-term economic partnership.
History Following independence in 1946, Jordan was a predominantly agrarian society. The economy faced a massive structural shock following the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The occupation of the West Bank by Israel resulted in the loss of 40% of the country's farming income, 80% of its tourism revenue, and forced roughly 360,000 refugees into the East Bank, which increased the population by a third almost overnight.
Jordan's economy grew rapidly with a growth rate averaging 9% annually between 1975 and 1980 that was fueled by remittances from Jordanians working in Gulf states and direct financial grants from oil-rich Arab nations. In the late 1980s, falling oil prices led to a reduction in Gulf aid. This caused a recession in Jordan, a sharp rise in government debt, and led to structural adjustment programs and economic riots.
The 1991 Gulf War led to the return of hundreds of thousands of Jordanians, which stimulated a short-term GDP growth spurt of 11.1% in 1992. Throughout the late 1990s, under guidance from the IMF, Jordan began phasing out food and fuel subsidies to reduce massive budget deficits. In the early 2000s and mid-2000s, Jordan experienced impressive growth, peaking near 6.8% annually, heavily driven by foreign direct investment from Gulf countries and the development of major real estate and tourism projects.
The 2008 global financial crisis and the outbreak of the Syrian civil war significantly slowed Jordan's economic momentum. The influx of over 650,000 Syrian refugees placed a heavy burden on public services and infrastructure.
Currency The Central Bank of Jordan commenced operations in 1964 and is the sole issuer of Jordanian currency, the Jordanian dinar, which is pegged to the US dollar. The following chart of the trend of gross domestic product of Jordan at market prices by the International Monetary Fund with figures in millions of Jordanian dinars.
Year Gross domestic product (JD million) $US exchange Inflation index (2000=100) 1980 1,165 0.29 Jordanian dinars 35 1985 1,971 0.39 Jordanian dinars 45 1990 2,761 0.66 Jordanian dinars 70 1995 4,715 0.70 Jordanian dinars 87 2005 9,118 0.70 Jordanian dinars 112
For purchasing power parity comparisons, the Jordanian dinar is exchanged per US dollar at 0.710.
Jordan's population is 6,342,948CIA World Factbook - People and mean wages were $4.19 per man-hour in 2009.
Economic overview Jordan is classified by the UN as an "Upper-middle-income country." According to the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom, Jordan has the fourth freest economy in the Middle East and North Africa, behind only Israel, Bahrain and Qatar, and the 32nd freest in the world. Jordan ranked as having the 35th best infrastructure in the world, according to the World Economic Forum's Index of Economic Competitiveness. The Kingdom scored higher than many of its peers in the Persian Gulf and Europe like Kuwait, Israel and Ireland. The 2010 AOF Index of Globalization ranked Jordan as the most globalized country in the Middle East and North Africa region. Jordan's banking sector is classified as "highly developed" by the IMF along with the GCC economies and Lebanon.
The official currency in Jordan is the Jordanian dinar and divides into 100 qirsh (also called piastres) or 1000 fils. Since 23 October 1995, the dinar has been officially pegged to the IMF's special drawing rights (SDRs). In practice, it is fixed at 1 US$ = 0.709 dinar, which translates to approximately 1 dinar = 1.41044 dollars. The Central Bank buys US dollars at 0.708 dinar, and sell US dollars at 0.7125 dinar, Exchangers buys US dollars at 0.708 and sell US dollars at 0.709.Report of the Working Party on the Accession of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the World Trade Organization
In 2011, the Jordanian market was considered one of the most developed Arab markets outside the Persian Gulf. Jordan ranked 18th on the 2012 Global Retail Development Index which lists the 30 most attractive retail markets in the world. Jordan was ranked as the 19th most expensive country in the world to live in 2010 and the most expensive Arab country to live in.
Jordan has been a member of the World Trade Organization since 2000. In the 2009 Global Enabling Trade Report, Jordan ranked 4th in the Arab World behind the UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar. The free trade agreement with the United States that went into effect in December 2001 phased out duties on nearly all goods and services by 2010.
Unemployment Jordan has high unemployment rates, 11.9% in the fourth quarter of 2010 but some estimate it to be as high as a quarter of the working-age population. Unemployment reached 25% in 2021, the highest level in more than 25 years, 6% points more than in 2019, and more than double the amount in 2011. Unemployment is a major issue, particularly for young people, women, and those with a university degree, with rates of unemployment exceeding 45%, 30%, and 30%, respectively.
Youth unemployment
Remittances to Jordan The flows of remittance to Jordan experienced rapid growth, particularly in the late 1970s and 1980s, when Jordan started exporting high skilled labour to the Persian Gulf States. The money that migrants send home, remittances, is an important source of external funding for many developing countries, including Jordan. With about US$3000 million in remittances in 2010, Jordan was in 10th place among developing countries according to World Bank data. Jordan has ranked constantly among the top 20 remittances-recipient countries over the last decade. In addition, the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) statistics in 2010 indicate that Jordan was the third biggest recipient of remittances among Arab countries after Egypt and Lebanon. The host countries that have absorbed most of the Jordanian expatriates are Saudi Arabia and the United Arab of Emirates (UAE), where the available recorded number of the Jordanian expatriates, working abroad, indicates that about 90% of these migrants are working in Persian Gulf countries. The proportion of skilled workers in Jordan is among the highest in the region. Many of the world's major software and hardware IT companies are present in Jordan. The presence of such firms underlines Jordan's attractiveness as a stable base with high-calibre human resources from which to serve the wider region. According to a report published in January 2012 by the founder of venture capital firm Finaventures, Rachid Sefraoui, Amman is one of the top 10 best cities in the world to launch a tech start-up.
An estimated 13.3% of citizens live under the poverty line. Since the mid-1970s, migrants' remittances are Jordan's most important source of foreign exchange, and a decisive factor in the country's economic development and the rising standard of living of the population.N. Zaqqa; Economic Development and Export of Human Capital. A Contradiction? The impact of human capital migration on the economy of sending countries. A case study of Jordan; PhD thesis 2006, p. 11
Agriculture in Jordan constituted almost 40% of GNP in the early 1950s; on the eve of the June 1967 War, it was 17%. By the mid-1980s, agriculture's share of GNP in Jordan was only about 6%.
Jordan hosts SOFEX, the world's fastest growing and region's only special operations and homeland security exhibition and conference. Jordan is a regional and international provider of advanced military goods and services. The KADDB Industrial Park, specialized in defense manufacturing, was opened in September 2009 in Mafraq. By 2015, the park is expected to provide around 15,000 job opportunities whereas the investment volume is expected to reach JD500 million. A report by Strategic Foresight Group has calculated the opportunity cost of conflict for the Middle East from 1991 to 2010 at $12 trillion. Jordan's share in this is almost $84 billion.