Despite its status as an upper-middle-income country, Jordan remains beset by an array of development challenges. Against the backdrop of high population growth, Jordan’s youth unemployment rate stands at 30 percent, more than double the national rate. A country that has virtually no natural resources of its own, Jordan also continues to struggle with severe water and energy scarcity. More recently, the crisis in neighboring Syria has led to an influx of refugees into Jordan, further straining the country’s resources.
The United States considers Jordan a critical ally in the Middle East, and provides assistance across a wide range of sectors, including health, education, agriculture, energy, resource management and governance. The United States also channels assistance to the Jordanian military in support of the country’s national defense, as well as of wider regional stability.
In its 2013-2017 country development cooperation strategy for Jordan, the U.S. Agency for International Development affirms its commitment to achieving the following development objectives in the country: