Jordan is a country of strategic and political importance, being bordered by Israel, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Palestine that has acted as a buffer, while many of its neighbours have been tangled in seemingly never ending conflicts.
Due to its geographical position in the Middle East, Jordan has been a magnet for refugees displaced by war in neighbouring countries. Currently 30% of the total 10,026,478 (based on last UN estimate) population are refugees and displaced people. Since independence in 1946 as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, it has been a country of remarkable acceptance and integration. In 1947 the population stood at only 400,000 people spread inconsistently across the country with the majority residing in Amman, together with a few towns in the surrounding desert. Following the Arab Israeli war in 1948 the first influx of 500,000 Palestinians took refuge in Jordan, many of whom moved to Irbid Camp, Zarqa Camp, Jabal El-Hussein Camp and Al-Wehdat on the outskirts of Amman set up by the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). Almost all of these refugees were granted Jordanian citizenship.
A second surge of Palestinian refugees followed in 1967 after the Six Day War with 390,000 refugees and displaced people from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. A further six camps near Amman were created by UNRWA to cope with this influx of people including Al-Baqaa, still the largest camp in Jordan. 1991 and 2003 saw two waves of Iraqi refugees come to Jordan following the Gulf War and the Iraq War.