Jordan (2001) | Korea, North (2004) | |
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Administrative divisions | 12 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Ajlun, Al 'Aqabah, Al Balqa', Al Karak, Al Mafraq, 'Amman, At Tafilah, Az Zarqa', Irbid, Jarash, Ma'an, Madaba | 9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and 4 municipalities (si, singular and plural)
provinces: Chagang-do (Chagang), Hamgyong-bukto (North Hamgyong), Hamgyong-namdo (South Hamgyong), Hwanghae-bukto (North Hwanghae), Hwanghae-namdo (South Hwanghae), Kangwon-do (Kangwon), P'yongan-bukto (North P'yongan), P'yongan-namdo (South P'yongan), Yanggang-do (Yanggang) municipalites: Kaesong-si (Kaesong), Najin Sonbong-si (Najin), Namp'o-si (Namp'o), P'yongyang-si (Pyongyang) |
Age structure | 0-14 years:
37.23% (male 980,345; female 938,081) 15-64 years: 59.44% (male 1,633,579; female 1,429,631) 65 years and over: 3.33% (male 84,815; female 86,927) (2001 est.) |
0-14 years: 24.6% (male 2,836,991; female 2,755,127)
15-64 years: 67.8% (male 7,575,590; female 7,812,878) 65 years and over: 7.6% (male 583,463; female 1,133,504) (2004 est.) |
Agriculture - products | wheat, barley, citrus, tomatoes, melons, olives; sheep, goats, poultry | rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs |
Airports | 18 (2000 est.) | 78 (2003 est.) |
Airports - with paved runways | total:
15 over 3,047 m: 7 2,438 to 3,047 m: 6 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2000 est.) |
total: 35
over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 23 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 3 (2003 est.) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
3 under 914 m: 3 (2000 est.) |
total: 43
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 20 914 to 1,523 m: 14 under 914 m: 8 (2003 est.) |
Area | total:
92,300 sq km land: 91,971 sq km water: 329 sq km |
total: 120,540 sq km
land: 120,410 sq km water: 130 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Indiana | slightly smaller than Mississippi |
Background | For most of its history since independence from British administration in 1946, Jordan was ruled by King HUSSEIN (1953-1999). A pragmatic ruler, he successfully navigated competing pressures from the major powers (US, USSR, and UK), various Arab states, Israel, and a large internal Palestinian population, through several wars and coup attempts. In 1989 he resumed parliamentary elections and gradually permitted political liberalization; in 1994 a formal peace treaty was signed with Israel. King ABDALLAH II - the eldest son of King HUSSEIN and Princess MUNA - assumed the throne following his father's death in February 1999. Since then, he has consolidated his power and established his domestic priorities. | An independent kingdom under Chinese suzerainty for most of the past millennium, Korea was occupied by Japan in 1905 following the Russo-Japanese War; five years later, Japan formally annexed the entire peninsula. Following World War II, Korea was split, with the northern half coming under Soviet-sponsored Communist domination. After failing in the Korean War (1950-53) to conquer the US-backed republic in the southern portion by force, North Korea under its founder President KIM Il Sung adopted a policy of ostensible diplomatic and economic "self-reliance" as a check against excessive Soviet or Communist Chinese influence and molded political, economic, and military policies around the core ideological objective of eventual unification of Korea under Pyongyang's control. KIM's son, the current ruler KIM Jong Il, was officially designated as KIM's future successor in 1980 and assumed a growing political and managerial role until his father's death in 1994, when he assumed full power without opposition. After decades of economic mismanagement and resource misallocation, the North since the mid-1990s has relied heavily on international food aid to feed its population while continuing to expend resources to maintain an army of about 1 million. North Korea's long-range missile development and research into nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and massive conventional armed forces are of major concern to the international community. In December 2002, following revelations it was pursuing a nuclear weapons program based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement with the United States to freeze and ultimately dismantle its existing plutonium-based program, North Korea expelled monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and in January 2003 declared its withdrawal from the international Non-Proliferation Treaty. In mid-2003 Pyongyang announced it had completed the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods (to extract weapons-grade plutonium) and was developing a "nuclear deterrent." Since August 2003 North Korea has participated in six-party talks with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia to resolve the stalemate over its nuclear programs. |
Birth rate | 25.44 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 16.77 births/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Budget | revenues:
$2.8 billion expenditures: $3.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.) |
revenues: NA
expenditures: NA, including capital expenditures of NA |
Capital | Amman | Pyongyang |
Climate | mostly arid desert; rainy season in west (November to April) | temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer |
Coastline | 26 km | 2,495 km |
Constitution | 8 January 1952 | adopted 1948, completely revised 27 December 1972, revised again in April 1992 and September 1998 |
Country name | conventional long form:
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan conventional short form: Jordan local long form: Al Mamlakah al Urduniyah al Hashimiyah local short form: Al Urdun former: Transjordan |
conventional long form: Democratic People's Republic of Korea
conventional short form: North Korea local long form: Choson-minjujuui-inmin-konghwaguk local short form: none note: the North Koreans generally use the term "Choson" to refer to their country abbreviation: DPRK |
Currency | Jordanian dinar (JOD) | North Korean won (KPW) |
Death rate | 2.62 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 6.99 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Debt - external | $8 billion (2000 est.) | $12 billion (1996 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador William J. BURNS embassy: Abdoum, Amman mailing address: P. O. Box 354, Amman 11118 Jordan; APO AE 09892-0200 telephone: [962] (6) 5920101 FAX: [962] (6) 5920121 |
none (Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang represents the US as consular protecting power) |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission:
Ambassador Marwan Jamil MUASHER chancery: 3504 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 966-2664 FAX: [1] (202) 966-3110 |
none; North Korea has a Permanent Mission to the UN in New York |
Disputes - international | none | with China, certain islands in Yalu and Tumen rivers are in uncontested dispute; a section of boundary around Paektu-san (mountain) is indefinite; China has been attempting to stop mass illegal migration of North Koreans escaping famine, economic privation, and oppression into northern China; Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953; periodic maritime disputes with South Korea |
Economic aid - recipient | ODA, $850 million (1996 est.) | $NA; note - over $133 million in food aid through the World Food Program in 2003 plus additional aid from bilateral donors and non-governmental organizations |
Economy - overview | Jordan is a small Arab country with inadequate supplies of water and other natural resources such as oil. The Persian Gulf crisis, which began in August 1990, aggravated Jordan's already serious economic problems, forcing the government to stop most debt payments and suspend rescheduling negotiations. Aid from Gulf Arab states, worker remittances, and trade revenues contracted. Refugees flooded the country, producing serious balance-of-payments problems, stunting GDP growth, and straining government resources. The economy rebounded in 1992, largely due to the influx of capital repatriated by workers returning from the Gulf. After averaging 9% in 1992-95, GDP growth averaged only 1.5% during 1996-99. In an attempt to spur growth, King ABDALLAH has undertaken limited economic reform, including partial privatization of some state-owned enterprises and Jordan's entry in January 2000 into the World Trade Organization (WTrO). Debt, poverty, and unemployment are fundamental ongoing economic problems. | North Korea, one of the world's most centrally planned and isolated economies, faces desperate economic conditions. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment and spare parts shortages. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel. The nation has suffered its tenth year of food shortages because of a lack of arable land, collective farming, weather-related problems, and chronic shortages of fertilizer and fuel. Massive international food aid deliveries have allowed the regime to escape mass starvation since 1995-96, but the population remains the victim of prolonged malnutrition and deteriorating living conditions. Large-scale military spending eats up resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. In 2003, heightened political tensions with key donor countries and general donor fatigue threatened the flow of desperately needed food aid and fuel aid as well. Black market prices continued to rise following the increase in official prices and wages in the summer of 2002, leaving some vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and unemployed, less able to buy goods. The regime, however, relaxed restrictions on farmers' market activities in spring 2003, leading to an expansion of market activity. |
Electricity - consumption | 6.594 billion kWh (1999) | 27.91 billion kWh (2001) |
Electricity - exports | 4 million kWh (1999) | 0 kWh (2001) |
Electricity - imports | 407 million kWh (1999) | 0 kWh (2001) |
Electricity - production | 6.657 billion kWh (1999) | 30.01 billion kWh (2001) |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
99.79% hydro: 0.21% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (1999) |
- |
Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Dead Sea -408 m highest point: Jabal Ram 1,734 m |
lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m
highest point: Paektu-san 2,744 m |
Environment - current issues | limited natural fresh water resources; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification | water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; water-borne disease; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation |
Environment - international agreements | party to:
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
Ethnic groups | Arab 98%, Circassian 1%, Armenian 1% | racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese |
Exchange rates | Jordanian dinars per US dollar - 0.7090 (1996-present )
note: since May 1989, the Jordanian dinar has been pegged to a group of currencies |
official: North Korean won per US dollar - 150 (December 2002), 2.15 (December 2001), 2.15 (May 1994), 2.13 (May 1992), 2.14 (September 1991), 2.1 (January 1990); market: North Korean won per US dollar - 300-600 (December 2002), 200 (December 2001) |
Executive branch | chief of state:
King ABDALLAH II (since 7 February 1999); Crown Prince HAMZAH (half brother of the monarch, born 29 March 1980) head of government: Prime Minister Ali Abul RAGHEB (since 19 June 2000) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the prime minister in consultation with the monarch elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; prime minister appointed by the monarch |
chief of state: KIM Jong Il (since July 1994); note - on 3 September 2003, rubberstamp Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) reelected KIM Jong Il Chairman of the National Defense Commission, a position accorded nation's "highest administrative authority"; SPA reelected KIM Yong Nam President of its Presidium also with responsibility of representing state and receiving diplomatic credentials; SPA appointed PAK Pong Ju Premier
head of government: Premier PAK Pong Ju (since 3 September 2003); Vice Premiers KWAK Pom Gi (since 5 September 1998), JON Sung Hun (since 3 September 2003), RO Tu Chol (since 3 September 2003) cabinet: Cabinet (Naegak), members, except for the Minister of People's Armed Forces, are appointed by the SPA elections: election last held in September 2003 (next to be held in September 2008) election results: KIM Jong Il and KIM Yong Nam were only nominees for positions and ran unopposed |
Exports | $2 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) | NA (2001) |
Exports - commodities | phosphates, fertilizers, potash, agricultural products, manufactures | minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments); textiles and fishery products |
Exports - partners | India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, EU, Indonesia, UAE, Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Ethiopia | South Korea 28.5%, China 28.4%, Japan 24.7% (2002) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
Flag description | three equal horizontal bands of black (top, the Abbassid Caliphate of Islam), white (the Ummayyad Caliphate of Islam), and green (the Fatimid Caliphate of Islam) with a red isosceles triangle (representing the Great Arab Revolt of 1916) based on the hoist side bearing a small white seven-pointed star symbolizing the seven verses of the opening Sura (Al-Fatiha) of the Holy Koran; the seven points on the star represent faith in One God, humanity, national spirit, humility, social justice, virtue, and aspirations | three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (triple width), and blue; the red band is edged in white; on the hoist side of the red band is a white disk with a red five-pointed star |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $17.3 billion (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $29.58 billion (2003 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture:
3% industry: 25% services: 72% (1998 est.) |
agriculture: 30.2%
industry: 33.8% services: 36% (2002 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $3,500 (2000 est.) | purchasing power parity - $1,300 (2003 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 2% (2000 est.) | 1% (2003 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 31 00 N, 36 00 E | 40 00 N, 127 00 E |
Geography - note | - | strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated and sparsely populated |
Heliports | 1 (2000 est.) | 19 (2003 est.) |
Highways | total:
8,000 km paved: 8,000 km unpaved: 0 km (2000 est.) |
total: 31,200 km
paved: 1,997 km unpaved: 29,203 km (1999 est.) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
2.4% highest 10%: 34.7% (1991) |
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA |
Illicit drugs | - | for years, from the 1970's into the 2000's, citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea (DPRK), many of them diplomatic employees of the government, were apprehended abroad while trafficking in narcotics, including two in Turkey in December 2004; in recent years, police investigations in Taiwan and Japan have linked North Korea to large illicit shipments of heroin and methamphetamine, including an attempt by the North Korean merchant ship Pong Su to deliver 150 kg of heroin to Australia in April 2003; all indications point to North Korea emerging as an important regional source of illicit drugs targeting markets in Japan, Taiwan, the Russian Far East, and China |
Imports | $4 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.) | NA (2001) |
Imports - commodities | crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, food, live animals, manufactured goods | petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment; textiles, grain |
Imports - partners | Iraq, Germany, US, Japan, UK, Italy, Turkey, Malaysia, Syria, China | China 39.7%, Thailand 14.6%, Japan 11.2%, Germany 7.6%, South Korea 6.2% (2002) |
Independence | 25 May 1946 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration) | 15 August 1945 (from Japan) |
Industrial production growth rate | 3.8% (2000 est.) | NA |
Industries | phosphate mining, petroleum refining, cement, potash, light manufacturing, tourism | military products; machine building, electric power, chemicals; mining (coal, iron ore, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals), metallurgy; textiles, food processing; tourism |
Infant mortality rate | 20.36 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) | total: 24.84 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 26.59 deaths/1,000 live births female: 23 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 0.7% (2000 est.) | NA (2003 est.) |
International organization participation | ABEDA, ACC, AFESD, AL, AMF, CAEU, CCC, ESCWA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM, OIC, OPCW, OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UNMOT, UNOMIG, UNRWA, UNTAET, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO | ARF, FAO, G-77, ICAO, ICRM, IFAD, IFRCS, IHO, IMO, IOC, ISO, ITU, NAM, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 5 (2000) | - |
Irrigated land | 630 sq km (1993 est.) | 14,600 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Court of Cassation; Supreme Court (court of final appeal) | Central Court (judges are elected by the Supreme People's Assembly) |
Labor force | 1.15 million
note: in addition, at least 300,000 workers are employed abroad (1997 est.) |
9.6 million |
Labor force - by occupation | industry 11.4%, commerce, restaurants, and hotels 10.5%, construction 10%, transport and communications 8.7%, agriculture 7.4%, other services 52% (1992) | agricultural 36%, nonagricultural 64% |
Land boundaries | total:
1,619 km border countries: Iraq 181 km, Israel 238 km, Saudi Arabia 728 km, Syria 375 km, West Bank 97 km |
total: 1,673 km
border countries: China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km |
Land use | arable land:
4% permanent crops: 1% permanent pastures: 9% forests and woodland: 1% other: 85% (1993 est.) |
arable land: 20.76%
permanent crops: 2.49% other: 76.75% (2001) |
Languages | Arabic (official), English widely understood among upper and middle classes | Korean |
Legal system | based on Islamic law and French codes; judicial review of legislative acts in a specially provided High Tribunal; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | based on German civil law system with Japanese influences and Communist legal theory; no judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Legislative branch | bicameral National Assembly or Majlis al-'Umma consists of the Senate (a 40-member body appointed by the monarch from designated categories of public figures; members serve four-year terms) and the House of Representatives (80 seats; members elected by popular vote on the basis of proportional representation to serve four-year terms)
elections: House of Representatives - last held 4 November 1997 (next to be held NA November 2001) election results: House of Representatives - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - National Constitutional Party 2, Arab Land Party 1, independents 75, other 2 note: the House of Representatives has been convened and dissolved by the monarch several times since 1974; in November 1989 the first parliamentary elections in 22 years were held |
unicameral Supreme People's Assembly or Ch'oego Inmin Hoeui (687 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 3 August 2003 (next to be held in August 2008) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; the KWP approves a list of candidates who are elected without opposition; some seats are held by minor parties |
Life expectancy at birth | total population:
77.53 years male: 75.1 years female: 80.12 years (2001 est.) |
total population: 71.08 years
male: 68.38 years female: 73.92 years (2004 est.) |
Literacy | definition:
age 15 and over can read and write total population: 86.6% male: 93.4% female: 79.4% (1995 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99% |
Location | Middle East, northwest of Saudi Arabia | Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea |
Map references | Middle East | Asia |
Maritime claims | territorial sea:
3 NM |
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm note: military boundary line 50 nm in the Sea of Japan and the exclusive economic zone limit in the Yellow Sea where all foreign vessels and aircraft without permission are banned |
Merchant marine | total:
6 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 40,919 GRT/57,777 DWT ships by type: bulk 1, cargo 3, container 1, roll on/roll off 1 (2000 est.) |
total: 203 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 921,577 GRT/1,339,929 DWT
by type: bulk 6, cargo 166, combination bulk 2, container 3, liquefied gas 1, livestock carrier 3, multi-functional large load carrier 1, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 11, refrigerated cargo 6, roll on/roll off 2, short-sea/passenger 1 foreign-owned: Albania 1, Belize 1, Bolivia 1, Cambodia 3, Cyprus 1, Egypt 3, Germany 1, Greece 4, Italy 1, Lebanon 2, Marshall Islands 1, Pakistan 1, Portugal 1, Romania 8, Saint Kitts and Nevis 1, Syria 9, Tanzania 1, Tunisia 1, Turkey 5, Ukraine 2, United States 3 registered in other countries: 4 (2004 est.) |
Military branches | Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF; includes Royal Jordanian Land Force, Royal Naval Force, and Royal Jordanian Air Force); Ministry of the Interior's Public Security Force (falls under JAF only in wartime or crisis situations) | Korean People's Army (includes Army, Navy, Air Force), Civil Security Forces |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $608.9 million (FY98/99) | $5,217.4 million (FY02) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 7.8% (FY98/99) | 22.9% (2003) |
Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49:
1,458,571 (2001 est.) |
males age 15-49: 6,181,038 (2004 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49:
1,034,109 (2001 est.) |
males age 15-49: 3,694,855 (2004 est.) |
Military manpower - military age | 18 years of age | - |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males:
57,131 (2001 est.) |
males: 189,014 (2004 est.) |
National holiday | Independence Day, 25 May (1946) | Founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), 9 September (1948) |
Nationality | noun:
Jordanian(s) adjective: Jordanian |
noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean |
Natural hazards | droughts | late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall |
Natural resources | phosphates, potash, shale oil | coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower |
Net migration rate | 7.18 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
Pipelines | crude oil 209 km; note - may not be in use | oil 154 km (2004) |
Political parties and leaders | Al-Umma (Nation) Party [Ahmad al-HANANDEH, secretary general]; Arab Land Party [Dr. Muhammad al-'ORAN, secretary general]; Jordanian Democratic Popular Unity Party [Sa'eed THIYAB, secretary general]; National Constitutional Party [Abdul Hadi MAJALI, secretary general] | major party - Korean Workers' Party or KWP [KIM Jong Il, general secretary]; minor parties - Chondoist Chongu Party [RYU Mi Yong, chairwoman] (under KWP control); Social Democratic Party [KIM Yong Dae, chairman] (under KWP control) |
Political pressure groups and leaders | Council of Professional Association Presidents [Ahmad al-QADIRI, chairman]; Jordanian Press Association [Sayf al-SHARIF, president]; Muslim Brotherhood [Abd-al-Majid DHUNAYBAT, secretary general] | none |
Population | 5,153,378 (July 2001 est.) | 22,697,553 (July 2004 est.) |
Population below poverty line | 30% (1998 est.) | NA |
Population growth rate | 3% (2001 est.) | 0.98% (2004 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Al 'Aqabah | Ch'ongjin, Haeju, Hungnam (Hamhung), Kimch'aek, Kosong, Najin, Namp'o, Sinuiju, Songnim, Sonbong (formerly Unggi), Ungsang, Wonsan |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 6, FM 5, shortwave 1 (1999) | AM 16, FM 14, shortwave 12 (1999) |
Radios | 1.66 million (1997) | - |
Railways | total:
677 km narrow gauge: 677 km 1.050-m gauge (2000) |
total: 5,214 km
standard gauge: 5,214 km 1.435-m gauge (3,500 km electrified) (2003) |
Religions | Sunni Muslim 92%, Christian 6% (majority Greek Orthodox, but some Greek Catholics, Roman Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Protestant denominations), other 2% (several small Shi'a Muslim and Druze populations) (2000 est.) | traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way)
note: autonomous religious activities now almost nonexistent; government-sponsored religious groups exist to provide illusion of religious freedom |
Sex ratio | at birth:
1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.14 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.98 male(s)/female total population: 1.1 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.52 male(s)/female total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2004 est.) |
Suffrage | 20 years of age; universal | 17 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment:
service has improved recently with the increased use of digital switching equipment, but better access to the telephone system is needed in the rural areas and easier access to pay telephones is needed by the urban public domestic: microwave radio relay transmission and coaxial and fiber-optic cable are employed on trunk lines; considerable use is made of mobile cellular systems; Internet service is available international: satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat, 1 Arabsat, and 29 land and maritime Inmarsat terminals; fiber-optic cable to Saudi Arabia and microwave radio relay link with Egypt and Syria; connection to international submarine cable FLAG (Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe); participant in MEDARABTEL; international links total about 4,000 |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: country code - 850; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Russian (Indian Ocean region); other international connections through Moscow and Beijing |
Telephones - main lines in use | 403,000 (1997) | 1.1 million (2001) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 11,500 (1995) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | 20 (plus 96 repeaters) (1995) | 38 (1999) |
Terrain | mostly desert plateau in east, highland area in west; Great Rift Valley separates East and West Banks of the Jordan River | mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east |
Total fertility rate | 3.29 children born/woman (2001 est.) | 2.2 children born/woman (2004 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 15% official rate; actual rate is 25%-30% (1999 est.) | NA (2003) |
Waterways | none | 2,250 km
note: most navigable only by small craft (2004) |