🇯🇴 Jordan

Jordan is a Middle Eastern kingdom of 11 million (including about 1.3 million Syrian refugees) with a GDP of about $50 billion. The country has almost no oil, limited water (one of the most water-scarce countries on earth), and sits in one of the world's most volatile neighborhoods — yet it's remained remarkably stable. King Abdullah II has maintained a pro-Western orientation and peace with Israel since 1994. Petra, the ancient Nabataean city carved into rose-red cliffs, is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The Dead Sea shoreline is the lowest point on earth. Jordan has absorbed more refugees per capita than almost any country — Palestinians, Iraqis, and Syrians together may constitute over half the population.

Phosphate and potash mining, tourism, remittances, and foreign aid are the main revenue sources. The US provides about $1.5 billion in annual aid. Jordan's pharmaceutical industry is the largest in the Middle East by export volume. The country has a free trade agreement with the US and qualifying industrial zones that export to the US duty-free. Unemployment is high at about 22%, and youth unemployment exceeds 45%. Water scarcity is a critical constraint — Jordan is the second most water-scarce country in the world.

Jordan's Wadi Rum desert was used as the filming location for Mars in "The Martian" and Ridley Scott's other films — the landscape genuinely looks extraterrestrial. The country's Baptism Site of Jesus (Al-Maghtas) on the Jordan River is a UNESCO site visited by three popes. Jordan has one of the highest rates of engineering graduates per capita in the world.

Jordan's stability is its greatest asset and its greatest export — the country essentially sells geopolitical reliability to Western donors. But the economic model is aid-dependent and unsustainable without structural reform.