2015 census to record all data related to Syrian guests — official

AMMAN — The national population and housing census of 2015 will include Syrian refugees in the Kingdom and will be conducted electronically for the first time, an official said.

Abdullah Zu’bi, the executive director for the national population and housing census at the Department of Statistics and in charge for the census, said the process involving the count of Syrians will include collection of data about all Syrians, either the registered refugees or their compatriots who have been in Jordan for a long time.

He explained that the data will also include socio-economic characteristics, which will be the basis of policies to address and safeguard the rights of Syrians.

According to official figures, there are around 1.4 million Syrians in Jordan, with 620,000 of them registered as refugees.

At a meeting held recently and organised by the United Nations Population Fund to address population issues in Jordan, Zu’bi said the census this year will be conducted electronically.

One of the issues that will be addressed is the age at the time of marriage to shed light on the early marriage issue.

According to the 2012 amendments to the 1950 General Statistics Law, a population and housing census is to be conducted every 10 years, the statement noted, adding that the last census was carried out in 2004 putting the total number of the Kingdom’s population at 5.1 million.

According to the Interior Ministry, Jordan’s population is estimated to have reached around 8 million by 2015, but other unofficial figures indicate that the population of Jordan stands at nearly 9 million, including 2.5 million non-Jordanians.