Australia
Jordan Travel and Destination Guide
BACKGROUND INFO
Full Name
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Capital City
Amman
Area
89,206 sq km
Population
5,460,000
Time Zone
GMT/UTC +2
Daylight Saving Start
late March
Daylight Saving End
late October
Weights Measures System
Metric
Geography
Jordan is bounded to the north by Syria, to the northeast by Iraq, to the east and south by Saudi Arabia and to the west by Israel. It has three distinct geographic zones: the fertile Jordan Valley, which runs down the western side of the country; the East Bank plateau, where most of the main towns are; and the East Bank, a desert which stretches east into Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Jordan is a smallish country shaped like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. An apocryphal story holds that the lumpy eastern border was created by Winston Churchill after a very liquid lunch.
Languages
• Arabic (official)
• English (other)
People
98% Arab (60% Palestinian, many refugees), Circassians, Chechens, Armenians, Bedouins
Religion
92% Sunni Muslim, 4% Shiite Muslim, 4% Christian
Government Type
Constitutional Monarchy
Government Leaders
Abdullah bin Al-Hussein (Abdullah II)
King (head of state)
Adnan Badran
Prime Minister (head of government)
Country Dialing Code
962
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