237 Marie Arneberg

Living Conditions Among Palestinian Refugees and Displaced in Jordan

Web edition (pdf 644k)
Summary

ISBN 82-7422-203-2 1997 68 p NOK 180,-

As a result of the war of 1948, Jordan was the country receiving the largest number of Palestinian refugees originating from the area that today is the State of Israel. The Palestinian refugees, together with the Palestinians displaced from the West Bank who fled to Jordan after the 1967 occupation, today make up 44 percent of the total population in Jordan. This study concludes that the vast majority of refugee households in Jordan have material and social conditions quite similar to other Jordanian households. The social network provided by the high number of refugees, and the fact that the refugees speak the same language as the inhabitants of the host country, have combined to produce this effect.

In addition, the Jordanian authorities have played an important role by providing refugees with Jordanian citizenship and other rights. Nevertheless, refugees who live in UNRWA refugee camps are characterised by the clustering of poor living conditions.

The study is based on results from the Jordan Living Condition Survey, which was conducted in Jordan in 1996, as a co-operation between Department of Statistics in Amman, and Fafo

Contents

1 Definitions and Analytical Approach

2 Population, Household Composition and Social Network

3 Housing Conditions

4 Health
4.1 Health conditions
4.2 Health insurance and use of health services
4.3 Children’s health

5 Education
5.1 Education level
5.2 Current enrolment and drop-out
5.3 Suppliers of educational services

6 Economic Activity and Poverty
6.1 Labour force participation and unemployment
6.2 Employment structure
6.4 Income and poverty

7 Attitudes and Political Participation