Jordan

Jordan: steady but modest growth, 1980–2025

A resource-poor economy dependent on foreign aid, remittances, and tourism, Jordan has faced repeated strain from absorbing large refugee populations from neighboring conflicts in Iraq and Syria. Between 1980 and 2025, Jordan's GDP per capita grew from $1,750 to $5,348 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 2.5% — steady but modest growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 3.9% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 4.3 points, reflecting considerable volatility and periodic crises. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 7.1% to 5.6% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 62.8% to 56.8% of GDP, a comparatively unusual pattern for this period. On human development, life expectancy rose from 66.5 to 78.0 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 14.5% to 35.9%, while the urban population share grew from 59.8% to 93.2%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions fell from 2.87 to 2.09 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) narrowed from 36.1 to 33.7; the poverty headcount ratio increased from 0.0% to 0.1%.