The Higher Population Council (HPC) has urged stakeholders to redirect resources toward the Kingdom’s less densely populated governorates and peripheral regions to reverse the current urbanization trends and address development disparities.
On the occasion of World Habitat Day on October 3, the Council released a statement emphasizing the critical need to address the imbalance in Jordan’s population distribution and to promote greater equality among the country’s governorates.
It advocated for creating more opportunities for college-educated young men and women to find work and start families, as well as for making housing more affordable.
Each year, World Habitat Day focuses attention on the state of human settlements. This year’s theme “Mind the Gap. Leave No One and No Place Behind” puts the spotlight on widening inequalities in living conditions across the world.
Achieving spatial, social, and economic equality, including access to affordable housing and basic urban services and infrastructure, was cited by the Council as a condition for making the case for equitable development.
Disparities in meeting these requirements, the Council warned, pose a serious threat to development outcomes and opportunities for its sustainability, and disrupt the equilibrium of population distribution across the Kingdom’s regions.
A recent HPC study puts Jordan’s urban population at nearly 10 million, and the UN predicts that the number will rise to 12 million by mid-2040.
In 2021, 90.3% of Jordan’s population lived in urban areas, up from 59% in 1979 and 78.2% in 2004. The governorates of the capital, Zarqa, and Irbid all had rates above 90%, while Maan and Karak had the lowest (54% and 59%, respectively).
Reverse migration from governorate centers to “other built-up areas and the countryside” is reflected in 2015 internal migration data. Net migration to other built-up areas reached (13.3%) and rural areas reached (4.4%), with governorate centers suffering the greatest loss (14.9%).
The large influx of refugees also increased population density in the major urban areas, with 96.4 percent of them living in urban areas. The Capital Governorate took in 35.2% of these refugees, followed by Irbid (21.8%), Zarqa (17.6%), and Mafraq (15.2%).
Source: Jordan News Agency