General Information


Governance system of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Representative, royal, hereditary and constitutional governance, as the King is the head of the State, the commander in chief of the armed forces and the guardian of the constitution. His political system is based on the separation of the three authorities; legislative, executive and judicial, represented in the government appointed by the King, which practice its power through the Cabinet and the employees of the State. The legislative authority is represented in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and it is responsible for the legislation and hold government and the legislative authority to account. It is an independent authority distinctive for its impartial judiciary, achieving justice between citizens and maintenance of their rights.

Society

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a civilized state, with a culture consisting of a unique combination of modernity and tradition. It is an Islamic state, but freedom of religions is totally maintained there, so there are a combination of modern and tradition clothes on the streets and different places. Mostly, Muslim women wear the traditional clothes, but there are other women who wear the latest models of the modern clothes, in a context of the personal liberty which cannot be prejudiced. The Jordanian society is a diverse and multi-ethnic society, as part of people there are descended from different nationals mainly Chechens, Circassians, Armenians, Syrians..etc, and collectively form 6% of the population.

Location

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is located at Asia South-West, at the northwest of Saudi Arabia. There are no coasts or maritime outlets but at Aqaba City, located at the far South of the Kingdom, as Aqaba Coast extends for 26 KM along Gulf of Aqaba, connected to the Red Sea.

Space

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is 89,287 km2 (34474 Sq mi).

Population

Population of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has notably increased within the last years due to political circumstances surrounding the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, as the population reached 9.6 million according to the last population census in 2015.

Capital

Amman

Language

Arabic is the official language of the Jordanian State, while the second common language is English especially in cities, otherwise there are quite a few Jordanians traveled or studied abroad, so they are speaking several languages as French, Italian, Spanish, Russian..etc.

Religion

Islam is the official religion of the State, as Muslims form the majority of population, while 6% of population are Christians.

Climate

Climate in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a combination of the climate in the Mediterranean Basin (on the highlands, as summer is moderate and winter is cold), the sub-tropical climate (at Al-Aghwar region, as summer is hot and winter is warm) and desert climate (in the Jordanian Badia, as summer is hot and winter is cold).

The monthly temperature average during December in Amman, Irbid, Aqba is 7, 8, 16 C respectively. Such average increases also respectively to 25, 31, 25 C in July, while the hottest month in the year is August as the monthly temperature average for the aforesaid cities is 25, 25, 36 C respectively.

While the average rainfall is above 290 mm in Amman and Irbid, but it falls to 15 mm at Aqaba.

The Most Important Cities

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is divided into 12 governorates. Each governorate includes some districts and sub-districts; as for the districts, there are 48 districts, while the sub-districts are 38 sub-districts. The most important city is Amman (The Capital), Irbid, Zarqa, Mafraq, Ajloun, Al-Salt, Al-Karak, Tafilah, Ma’an and Aqbaa.

Currency

The Jordanian dinar, which is divided into 1000 fils, and 00.71 JOD equals USD one.

The National Day

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has become independent on 25/05/1946 AD.

Flag of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Implications of Flag Symbols

Colors of the Jordanian flag are: Red, Black, White and Green, in addition to the heptagram. Such colors are originally colors of the raised flag during the Great Arab Revolt in 1917, each color of them has a national historical root:

  • The Red color is the color of the Hashemites flag since era of El-Sherif Abu Numayy who witnessed the era of the Ottoman Sultan Selim. The red flag was at the head of all activities of Al-Ashraf, especially during the Great Arab Revolt.
  • The black color: Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258 AD) chose the black so as to be a mourning for the murders of Family of Prophet Mohammed in Karbala Battle. In addition, their allies wore black clothes and turbans.
  • The white color: Umayyad Caliphate (661-750 AD) took from the white a color for their flag in order to commemorate the first foray for Messenger Mohammed, and to be optimistic for their army to achieve the victory as he did.
  • The green color: Fatimid Caliphate (908-1171 AD) took from the green a color for their flag as the Messenger Mohammed covered Master Ali Ibn Abi Talib with his green cloak when heathens came to kill him, so as to mislead the attackers which was a reason for his survival.
  • The heptagram: It is taken from the seven oft-repeated verses in the holy Quran which is number of verses at Surat al-Fatiha.

 

The Official Working Hours

Ministries and Private Authorities

From 8 to 2 PM

From 4 to 8 PM

Saturdays and Fridays are the official weekends.

Local Time

Summer time: (GMT+3)

Winter time: (GMT+2)

Voltage

220 V.