Jordan is emerging as a rising star in the Middle East due to its political stability and economic reforms. It has transformed from an agrarian society to an urbanized one through investments in education and developing a skilled workforce. Jordan is also becoming a medical tourism and startup hub, with the government supporting entrepreneurship. However, Jordan faces challenges like high youth unemployment and difficulties in the business environment that it must continue working to address. With further development of its human capital and knowledge-based industries, Jordan has potential to become a regional leader in trade, innovation, and economic prosperity.

1. 2012
Jordan: Rising star of the Middle
East
Paritosh Kashyap
Jordan: Rising star of the Middle East
01-Jan-12

2. Jordan: Rising star of the Middle East
Jordan is a small Arab state, located on the cross roads of the famous holy land. Politically stable
& peaceful, it has somehow maintained a low profile in a region- marked with geopolitical
significance as well as political turmoil. It does not reflect the extravagance like UAE nor does it
try yield political influence like Qatar. It’s neither the “Blue Eyed Boy” of the West like Egypt,
nor can it exert economic influence like Saudi Arabia. Notwithstanding the low profile Jordan
maintains, the Levant state has been upfront in introduction of political, social & economical
reforms coupled with encouragement of an entrepreneurial culture. Slowly but certainly Jordan
is getting transformed as a champion of new Middle East. The given “Report” is focused on
Jordan & will analyze it with various socio-economic dimensions, its current transformations &
the wide future implications it holds for itself & the region.
Economical & Demographical parameters
10
8
6
4 Jordan
World
2 MENA
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
-2
-4
Fig 1: Jordan’s gdp growth rate Vis- a- vis world & mena gdp growth rate. Source: World Bank
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3. Jordan: Rising star of the Middle East
Gdp (us $ billions) 27.57
Population (million) 6.05
GNI per capita ($) 4,340
Life Expectancy 73
Literacy Rate (%) 92
Mobile Usage (per 100) 101.1
Internet Usage (per 100) 38.9
Motor Vehicles (per 102
1000)
Table 1: shows key economical & demographic parameters for Jordan. Source: World Bank
Jordan: Tourism Statistics
Tourism is one of the key constituent of Jordan’s economy. Jordan has an arsenal of marvelous
tourist sites to visit – some of the spellbinding archaeological & historical sites from Babylonian,
Greek, Roman & Medieval Era; pristine ecotourism sites & exotic natural landscapes. The
biggest attraction is Petra, one of the seven wonders of the world- a city carved out of
mountains.
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4. Jordan: Rising star of the Middle East
5 4.0
4.5
3.5
4
3.0
3.5
2.5
3
2.5 2.0 Tourists Arrival
2 Annual Receipt
1.5
1.5
1.0
1
0.5
0.5
0 0.0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Fig 2: annual international tourist arrival in millions & tourist receipts in Billions for Jordan,
between 2004 & 2010. Source: Nation masters, Jordan Times & UNWTO
A bridgehead between the West & the East, Jordan is also emerging fast as a medical tourism
destination. In 2008, 250,000 foreigners from 84 countries have been treated in Jordan. Major
arrival comes from Iraq, Palestine, Sudan followed USA, UK & Canada. Jordan’s strength
primarily lies in well trained English speaking medical staffs, better health facilities & cost
effectiveness. It is estimated to be 25 percent of the cost of comparable treatments in USA, which
includes airlines, lodging & sightseeing.
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5. Jordan: Rising star of the Middle East
35
30
25
20
Jordan
15 Middle East
World
10
5
0
Doctors Nurses Dentists Pharmacist
Fig 3: compares number of doctors, nurses, dentists & pharmacists per 10,000 people for-
Jordan, Middle East & World. Source: Medical Tourism Magazine
Jordan: Education System
Unlike its neighbors in the Gulf, Jordan is not blessed with oil reserves. Hence, education &
human resource development has been the sole criteria to attain wide scale prosperity, social
welfare & higher standard of living. In alignment with above sated facts, education has always
been high up on agenda. The education system in Jordan aims at providing high standard of
learning, based on - universal access, equality & modern information technologies.
Strong steps have also been taken to consolidate Jordan’s excellence in the field of secondary &
higher education as well. Some of the key salient features related to Jordan’s education system
are as follows (Source: UNICEF):
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6. Jordan: Rising star of the Middle East
.Good education facilities have helped Jordan, conclusively transform from an agrarian
society to an industrial & urbanized one.
Enormous strides have been taken in every level of education- primary, secondary as
well as higher. 20.6% of govt. spending goes to education. This had paid off in terms of
high school as well as college enrollments.
Jordan has 2000 researchers per million, highest among the 57 OIC (Organization for
Islamic Cooperation) countries. The average figure for OIC stands at 500 per million.
In higher education females outnumber their male counterparts. 42 % of the populations
in tertiary age are in tertiary college.
2,500 45.0%
40.0%
2,000 35.0%
30.0%
1,500
25.0%
20.0%
1,000 R/ M
15.0%
%f
500 10.0%
5.0%
0 0.0%
Fig 4: shows R/M (researchers per million) & percentage of female in research for
selected countries. Source: UNICEF
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7. Jordan: Rising star of the Middle East
40 30
35
25
30
20
25
20 15
Universities
15 population
10
10
5
5
0 0
Jordan Syria UAE Greece Saudi Israel
Arabia
Fig 5: shows number of universities against population in millions for some of the
selected Middle East & Mediterranean countries.
Jordan: Silicon Valley of Middle East?
Jordan is fast emerging as an entrepreneurial hub in the Middle East. Some of the major
entrepreneurial success sagas from the region- Maktoob, Jeeran, and and Al Bawa etc-all have
its origin in Jordan. Touted as “Silicon Valley” of Middle East, Jordan’s emergence as a start-up
hub could be attributed to multitudinous factors- vast data & IT infrastructure, skilled &
economical work force, open source communities, Govt. initiatives & support and decent
internet & high mobile penetration etc. (With negligible natural resources in its disposal, an
entrepreneurial culture was also some sort of a necessity in the Levant state.)
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8. Jordan: Rising star of the Middle East
Jordan 61
Lebanon 54
Syria 35
UAE 28
Egypt 24
Saudi Arabia 23
Morocco 5
Tunisia 3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Fig 5: country wise number of start- ups registered with yalla start-ups- most comprehensive
data base for start-ups in the region.
Maktoob: Founded in Jordan in 1998, it was the 1st Arabic E-mail service provider in the
region. Acquired by Yahoo in 2009 at US $ 80 millions, it’s presently the official arm of
Yahoo in the Middle East region.
Jeeran: An internet service company founded in 2000. Commands 650,000 websites,
120,000 blogs & 6 million monthly visitors.
Al- Bawaba: Is a news & media website focused on Middle East.
Edufina: A website dedicated to provide updates on universities in Middle East. The
website aims at becoming a one- stop shop for all the university related information in
the region.
Istikana: launched in March 2011, it is an on demand video site. Within 135 days of its
inception, it racked up a million visits. Its core competence lies in provision of some old
Arab classic videos.
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9. Jordan: Rising star of the Middle East
MarkaVip: is an upcoming e-commerce website focused on luxury products. The start-
up has successfully pulled in an investment of US $ 2 millions in recently concluded
Oasis 500 (a start-up accelerator based in Jordan) angel investments event.
Successful start-ups also require successful incubators to provide investment & consultation
support. Jordan has been upfront in taking initiatives in the given direction as well. One such
attempt is Oasis 500 aimed at bringing start-ups & investors on the same platform. Another is
Queen Raina Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE). Established in 2004, so far has incubated
more than 25 technology start-ups in Jordan & benefitted around 25,000 people with- boot
camps, workshops & networking activities.
Other than being a pioneer in digital start-ups, Jordan also has vast potential to morph into an
outsourcing hub par excellence. It has a vast pool of English speaking work force salaried 75 %
lower than UAE & just little bit higher than India- the global outsourcing giant.
Indonesia 6.9
Russia 5
Brazil 3.6
Egypt 5.8
India 7.1
Jordan 6.2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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10. Jordan: Rising star of the Middle East
Fig 6: Shows Jordan’s outsourcing index Vis a vis, some of the major outsourcing destinations
across the world. Source: Sourcingline.com
Export
In the recent pass Jordan’s trade sector has experienced a substantial uplift. In 2011, its overall
export is estimated at US $ 8.067 billion with major export partners’ being- USA, Iraq, India,
Saudi Arabia etc. Major area of export includes- clothing, fertilizers, chemicals etc. According to
“Economy Watch”, an independent think tank, Jordan has signed highest number of free trade
agreements across entire Arab world. It has put in place “free trade zones” in partnership with
USA & Israel. Qualified Industrial Zones or QIC, as they are known as are aimed to take
advantage of free trade agreements between Israel & USA. Produce from these QICs have direct
access to American markets subject to the adherence to certain predefined conditions. In 2010,
the total textile export to USA from these free trade zones, jumped to US $ 1.01 billion from a
humble US $ 447 million in 2009.
Challenges & the way ahead
Jordan has come a long way from a country once dependent on foreign aids & tourism to an
emerging centre for technology & trade in the region. But it is not devoid of challenges. One of
them is high rates of unemployment among youths. Jordan has a very young demographic. It
has made commendable progress in higher education, but is running short of jobs to
accommodate its college pass outs. Its problems are very much in line with the problems faced
by Eastern Europe in the 90s. The anticipated economical & social problems which may stem
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11. Jordan: Rising star of the Middle East
out of high rate of unemployment- calls upon Jordan to hasten up employment opportunities
for youth.
There are other challenges as well. Its neo liberal policies have so far been counterproductive in
bridging up the gap between rich & poor. The manifestations of such policies have clashed with
the interests of Trans Jordanian- tribes living in the rural parts of the country & often employed
in the public sectors. Its policy frameworks though a step forward is still not very impressive. In
most of the “Ease of doing business” parameters, it refelcts a very sub-standard performance.
Getting Credit 150
protecting investors 122
resolving insolvency 104
Registering Propery 101
Starting a business 95
Construction Permits 93
Electricity 36
taxes 21
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Fig 7: shows Jordan’s rank in various “ease of doing business parameters” for 2012. Source:
doingbusiness.com
Jordan is nation deprived of natural resources. But this has been a blessing in disguise. With
lesser natural wealth at its disposable, its focus has been more on intellectual wealth. So far it
has made rapid progress in this direction. But the story is still in its making as lot more needs to
be done. Jordan needs to uplift its intellectual wealth to unprecedented heights to transform
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12. Jordan: Rising star of the Middle East
into a technology, trade & innovation hub of international repute. It should look beyond the
obvious- observe some of the biggest success sagas from the East- Singapore, Hong-Kong, Japan
etc. Jordan shares a lot of similarities with them- small population, lesser natural resources,
political stability & big dreams. Seeking inspiration from them may be helpful.
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