Khaberni - Since the dawn of the modern Jordanian state on a land geographically limited but humanely expansive, Jordan has stood since its founding as a safe haven in times of storms. Seeking refuge was not a contingency for its political or social conscience, but a recurring fate that tests its patience and capacity for inclusion.
Over the decades, Jordan has borne the brunt of repeated displacements, without ever closing its doors to the desperate or expelled. The equation has always been moral and humanitarian before being political and economic.
Today, Jordan stands at a perplexing crossroad between its humanity and national responsibilities. Jordan, with a population of 11.913 million, includes 3.5 million refugees from 43 countries (according to statements by the Minister of Interior (21/10/2025)), which is about 30% of the total population, in addition to residents and newcomers who make up about 10% of the population. This ratio has made Jordan one of the countries in the world that host the most refugees in comparison to its population size, leaving deep marks on its demographic, social, economic, and political fabric.
The refugee saga began with the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, then in 1967, when Jordan received hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in camps, which soon transformed into vibrant towns, becoming part of the state’s fabric. The scene was repeated in the 1970s with the Lebanese Civil War, in the 1990s with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait followed by the influx of Iraqis in 2003, and then came the Syrian tragedy in 2011, opening the door to the largest wave of refugees in Jordan's history (exceeding 1.3 million registered refugees, plus the unregistered).
Thus, seeking refuge has become not a temporary condition but a permanent component of the Jordanian demographic and social landscape, altering the country's demographic, political, and economic shape.
This diversity has enhanced Jordan's image as a humanitarian, peace-promoting country, but at the same time, it caused deep changes in the population structure, creating a new reality where identities and affiliations overlap, complicating the citizenship equation between Jordanians, residents, and refugees. It also put pressure on social cohesion, where unemployment rose, quality education opportunities declined, and pressure on health services, water, and infrastructure increased, leading to social frictions caused by overlapping opportunities and identities, necessitating astute management to face this sensitive task of maintaining civil peace and balanced relations between the host and refugee communities.
The impact on infrastructure was significant, as the northern and central cities bore burdens beyond their capacities, increasing pressures on electricity, schools, hospitals, transportation, and sanitation, with some provinces experiencing pressures exceeding 40%. The government estimated the cost of hosting refugees at more than 15 billion dollars since 2011, while international aid covered only about 30% of the actual cost, forcing Jordan to bear the bigger part of these expenses from its budget.
In the water sector, the crisis is particularly severe. Jordan is one of the world's poorest countries in terms of water, with available water quantities amounting to 1,093 million cubic meters annually (including 519 million for domestic purposes), making the per capita share about 91.5 cubic meters, much lower than the global water poverty line (500 cubic meters per capita), while the actual share for domestic uses is 43 cubic meters annually. If Jordan's population were only about 7.5 million, the per capita water share would be about 146 cubic meters annually, an increase of 60%, and for domestic uses, it would be about 69.5 cubic meters (an increase of approximately 62% compared to today). These figures reveal that the water crisis has become a sovereign and security issue affecting national stability.
Economically, the influx of refugees has stimulated specific sectors like housing and small trade, but it deepened the fiscal deficit and raised unemployment rates and government spending. The state annually bears over 3 billion dollars for basic services, leading to inflation in public debt which reached 119% of the GDP (as published on 24/10/2025). Thus, the economic and social crisis feeds off each other in a cycle that threatens growth and stability.
Security-wise, the influx of refugees posed a complex challenge. Jordan faced attempts at infiltration, organized crime, and extremism risks, but the security services managed the situation professionally, preventing the camps from becoming hubs for smuggling or extremism, at a time when the region experienced major security collapses. However, the threats remain, especially with some regional powers trying to employ the refugee issue politically to serve their agendas.
Politically, hosting refugees was not just a humanitarian issue, but a sensitive political card in regional equations. Jordan faced covert pressures from international powers seeking to settle Palestinian refugees or reduce the burdens of Syrian refugees, and in the absence of comprehensive political solutions, Jordan finds itself in a position of trying to protect its state from becoming a large camp or temporary waiting area for others' crises, in light of some parties attempting to redraw the identity and return equation at Jordan’s expense.
Jordan recognizes that the file cannot remain open indefinitely without a comprehensive political solution that guarantees the return of refugees, especially as international support declines and regional crises increase.
Since the onset of regional crises, King Abdullah II has led a policy balanced on humanity and political realism; he transformed the file from a human burden to a global political issue, and called on the international community to fulfill its commitments towards Jordan as the front line in defending regional stability. He also maintained the national identity and refused the concept of an alternative homeland. His vision was clear, "Jordan is not an alternative for anyone, nor a temporary homeland for anyone."
Alongside official efforts, the civil society has contributed in a limited way to supporting refugees through non-formal education and psychological and social aids, while political parties' stances varied between humanitarian dimensions and calls to protect national resources. However, a comprehensive national vision is still needed to organize the relationship between the state, civil society, and refugees, and to balance human dignity with national interest.
Jordanians realize that their small homeland now stands between internal pressures and regional risks, and between limited resources and expansive duties. Therefore, Jordan needs a comprehensive strategy to manage the refugee issue beyond emergency logic. The issue is no longer just a humanitarian one, but an existential matter affecting the future of the state and its identity.
The future is not built on aid alone, but on restructuring the economy, enhancing social justice and national identity, and broadening the concept of national security to include social, economic, and water dimensions. Jordan has the opportunity to turn the crisis into a platform for rebuilding its national system on the bases of justice and sustainability.
Today, three and a half million refugees are not just numbers in the United Nations’ records but are faces, dreams, and generations living or born under the Jordanian flag. These large numbers exceed Jordan’s capabilities, imposing unprecedented pressures on national security and social and economic stability.
From this perspective, and since Jordan was not the cause of any of the refugee situations but has borne their consequences on behalf of the world, Azm Party believes that these burdens exceed Jordan’s capacity, putting its security and stability at risk, requiring countries of the world and the region to take shared responsibilities through sustainable financial and developmental support, funding infrastructure, water, education, and health projects, and participating in managing host communities. Continuously burdening Jordan not only threatens the well-being of refugees but directly threatens the stability of the kingdom and the region as a whole.
The question circulating today in the corridors of Azm Party is not what Jordan has given to the world, but what the world will give to Jordan? From here, the issue of international support must transform from a moral choice to a strategic global duty that contributes to preserving regional peace and security.
Here, we in Azm Party have the right to pose another question, what next? To ensure Jordan's stability, make the most of its people's competencies and skills in national development, and prevent the transformation of the refugee crisis from a human issue to a persistent structural burden, we hope that the answer will not be through opening the door for the migration of Jordanian competencies (so it is not understood that we are seeking to replace them with settlements and newcomers), and to make sure we do not become a country that others migrate from, but to keep Jordan a sacred homeland for its people.
Jordan wrote its history with wisdom and patience, not with wealth or power. Today, between its painful economic reality, its water and social crises, it remains betting on its ability to turn misfortunes into opportunities, to remain a homeland not just a refuge, and to prevent the future of its children from turning into a search for another homeland, in a country that has always been a loyal heart.
