Fafo-report 237:
Summary

The results of the Jordan Living Conditions Survey show that the population of Palestinians who have come to Jordan as refugees or are displaced due to the Arab-Israeli wars seems to be divided into two very different groups: The 13 percent living in the UNRWA refugee camps, and the remaining 87 percent who have settled elsewhere in Jordan.

While the refugees and the displaced who are settled outside the camps live in conditions not very different from those of other households in Jordan, the camp dwellers are worse off with regard to almost all aspects of what are considered relevant indicators of a good life. They have poorer housing conditions, more physical and mental health problems, higher unemployment levels, and lower income.

While 18 percent of male refugees and displaced who live in the camps complain about bad health, only 3-4 percent of other males consider their health as bad. While the male unemployment rate in Jordan is 16 percent, it is 25 percent in the refugee camps. Concerning household income, twenty-seven percent of camp households have an annual income below Jordanian Dinars (JD) 900, while this applies to 11 percent of other households of refugees and displaced, and to 8 percent of the households who are not refugees or displaced.

Access to infrastructure, such as safe water, electricity and garbage disposal, along with children's health, are indicators where camp refugees and the displaced are equally well off, or even better off, than other individuals in Jordan. Also, school enrolment among the youngest children in the camps is nearly as high as that of other children. The main reason behind this is that development of infrastructure has been of high priority in the camps, and that most camp dwellers are provided education and health services from UNRWA. However, UNRWA is not the sole supplier of these services, as the camp dwellers just as often use private or government health services, and almost 10 percent of the camp children who attend basic school go to government schools.

The results presented here cannot explain why we observe a clustering of bad living conditions in the camps. Camp attachment per se could be a reason: For example camp dwellers may be discriminated in the labour market, or the camps may be located in general low-income areas. However, it is more likely that the bad conditions in camps is a result of selection processes, first with regard to who the original camp settlers were, and secondly with regard to those who left the camps were as opposed to those who stayed.

It could be that the families who settled in the camps were mostly rural people with low income and no education, while well-educated refugees and displaced from urban areas used their social network to settle elsewhere. Secondly, the housing shortage and higher dwelling prices in the camps made families move out when they could afford a larger house outside the camp, leaving the poorest families behind.

The fact that refugees came to Jordan in such large numbers, is most likely the reason why they in general have an effective social network. Although refugees have slightly fewer close relatives living nearby, and more relatives living abroad than non-refugees, the refugees seem to have just as much daily contact with relatives as others. In addition, the Jordanian authorities adopted a policy of easing refugee integration into Jordanian society by providing access to public services, work and citizenship. This strategy, together with the high number of families settling together, and the support provided by UNRWA, are probably the main factors that explain why the living conditions among the large majority of Palestinian refugees and displaced in Jordan are not much different from those of the rest of the Jordanian population. Although income from remittances from relatives is more important to refugees and displaced than to other households, the difference is not very large, and remittances are therefore not considered as a very important factor in explaining the small differences between the two groups.