Jordan

Country name: Conventional long form: Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
conventional short form: Jordan
local long form: Al Mamlakah al Urduniyah al Hashimiyah
local short form: Al Urdun
former: Transjordan

Capital::           Amman
geographic coordinates: 31 57 N, 35 56 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins first Friday in April; ends last Friday in October
note: Jordan remains on DST following a decision by the government to cancel a change back to Standard Time in October 2012

Government type: constitutional monarchy

Location	Middle East, northwest of Saudi Arabia, between Israel (to the west) and Iraq
Geographic coordinates	31 00 N, 36 00 E
Map references	Middle East
Area	total: 89,342 sq km land: 88,802 sq km water: 540 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly smaller than Indiana
Land boundaries	total: 1,635 km border countries: Iraq 181 km, Israel 238 km, Saudi Arabia 744 km, Syria 375 km, West Bank 97 km
Coastline	26 km
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 3 nm
Climate	mostly arid desert; rainy season in west (November to April)
Terrain	mostly desert plateau in east, highland area in west; Great Rift Valley separates East and West Banks of the Jordan River
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m highest point: Jabal Umm ad Dami 1,854 m
Natural resources	phosphates, potash, shale oil
Land use	arable land: 3.32% permanent crops: 1.18% other: 95.5% (2005)
Irrigated land	820 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources	0.9 cu km (1997)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)	total: 1.01 cu km/yr (21%/4%/75%) per capita: 177 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards	droughts; periodic earthquakes
Environment - current issues	limited natural freshwater resources; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
Environment - international agreements	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography – note	strategic location at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba and as the Arab country that shares the longest border with Israel and the occupied West Bank