Jordan and the world are celebrating World Habitat Day on Monday, which falls on the first Monday of October every year. this day was first announced in 1986. World Habitat Day aims to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, reflect on the right of everyone to have adequate shelter, and raise awareness of urbanization trends and existing challenges.

 This year's World Habitat Day theme is "Beware the gap"... Leave no one and no place behind), to draw attention to the problem of growing inequality and challenges in cities and human settlements, within the framework of strengthening global efforts in achieving the eleventh Sustainable Development Goal on "sustainable cities and communities".

The interest of the Higher Population Council in the eleventh Sustainable Development Goal comes within the framework of the council's interest in creating an environment of policies and programs to address population trends in the context of sustainable development in light of many challenges, the most prominent of which are the imbalance in population distribution, continuous urbanization in Jordan and the continuous flow of refugees.

The urban population in Jordan has reached almost 10 million people, and according to UN estimates, it is expected to reach 12 million by mid-2040.our cities and other urban agglomerations will then be a witness to the extent of realizing and investing the demographic opportunity, which requires honing national efforts to promote investment in reproductive regulation, reforming the education and training system, promoting economic reforms, investments in education and healthcare, in addition to strengthening governance and efficiency in the use of public resources, and meeting the needs and aspirations of all, including the provision of Housing and infrastructure such as clean water and sanitation.

The percentage of the urban population in Jordan out of the total population reached 90.3% in 2021 compared to 59% in 1979 and 78% in 2004, and this percentage exceeded 90% in both the capital, Zarqa and Irbid governorates, and the lowest were in Maan and Karak governorates (54% and 59%) respectively, due to changes in population growth rates, and to the expansion of the boundaries of urban agglomerations and centers due to the increasing population growth, most of which came at the expense of in addition, urban areas are attractive to the population by nature, which means a significant waste of the human element in rural areas and a waste of agricultural land, which is supposed to be one of the components The main objectives of food security and economic and social development.

The internal life migration statistics for 2015 indicate that there is a reverse migration from the governorate centers to other urban agglomerations and the countryside.net migration to other urban agglomerations (13.3%) and the countryside (4.4%) reached, while the governorate centers were the loser. net migration reached 14.9% of their total population. at the governorate level, the governorates were the most attractive according to net migration rates (Aqaba, followed by Al – Balqa, Capital, and Al-Mafraq).

The large influx of migrants has led to an increase in the concentration of the population in the main urban areas, where 96.4% of them reside in urban areas, and their residence was followed by the most densely populated governorates, the Capital Governorate received 35.2% of them, followed by Irbid governorate 21.8%, Zarqa Governorate 17.6% and Al-Mafraq governorate 15.2%, while the southern governorates received the least number of refugees 2.5%, and this imposed a wide range of challenges in providing basic services and employment opportunities in the main urban agglomerations.

The Higher Population Council recognizes that calling for equality in development is a basic requirement for achieving spatial, social and economic equality, including equal opportunities to acquire adequate housing, and access to urban basic services, infrastructure, in addition to social, educational and health services, for the benefit of all community groups, especially women, youth, people with disabilities and marginalized groups, and that disparities in the provision of these needs represent a strong threat to development results and the potential to achieve sustainability, and undermine the balance in population distribution between geographical regions in the kingdom.

• Historically, rural-urban inequality has played a major role in severe urbanization in Jordan. the average annual income of a Jordanian family in urban areas has exceeded the average annual income of a family in rural areas by an increase of 15.3%, and urban families are more likely than rural families to fall into the upper strata of well-being, as 43.8% of the urban population falls into the top fifty of well-being, compared to 9.3% of the rural population.
• There are differences in the level of income and well-being clearly between the governorates; the average annual income of the Jordanian family in the governorates of the capital, Balqa, and Karak exceeded the national average of (11,512) dinars, while the average annual income in the rest of the governorates was lower than the national average of the income of the Jordanian family, as clearly shows a significant disparity in the distribution of the population of the governorates according to the welfare index, while more than half of the family members in the Capital Governorate fall either on the fourth Thursday or higher, more than half of the population in the governorates of Mafraq, Madaba, Maan and Jerash Ajalon and Tafileh fall on the first and second Thursdays.

• The weak purchasing power of the low-income segment of owning or renting a suitable house is considered a challenge for the housing sector in meeting the housing need of young people who are about to get married, because of the youth of the Jordanian population (3.8 million under the age of 15), it is expected that there will be a significant increase in the coming years in the number of new families that will be formed and thus the demand for housing. a study entitled review of the housing sector in Jordan issued in 2018 indicated that only 30% of families in major cities in the kingdom can buy a house of more than 100 m2 without spending more than 30% of their monthly income according to the prevailing conditions of housing finance loans. This percentage drops to 10% in the city of Amman, and the study also indicated that 30-40% of families on the lowest income ladder can afford rent only below the market average, and this percentage rises to more than 60% in the capital and Aqaba governorates.
• Jordan has achieved almost universal coverage and good availability of water services without distinction between the place of residence; 98% of households use an improved source of drinking water and improved sanitation facilities without a significant urban-rural disparity, but there is a clear discrepancy in the proportion of housing connected to the public sewer network (75% for urban versus 28.5% for rural).
• There is a gap in equal economic opportunities between males and females, despite the Equal Opportunities in educational achievement between males and females, but this did not translate into fair and equal access to economic opportunities, while the percentage of Jordanian workers out of the total male workforce reached 41.9%, Jordanian female workers accounted for 9.7%, and despite the high unemployment rates between males and females, it was the highest among females at 30.7% compared to 22.4% among males, and in general there is a clear gap between males and females in terms of the revised economic participation rate it was 14% for females compared to 54% for males.
• There is a gender gap in asset ownership that indicates a gap in economic equality between the sexes, in terms of land and its area (25.6%, 52.3%) in favor of males, while in terms of apartments and their area, it reached (28.1%, 37.9%) respectively in favor of males.
• There is a gap in the income level between a family headed by a man and a family headed by a woman, the average income of a Jordanian family headed by a man exceeded the average income of a family headed by a woman by 25%.

With the Higher Population Council convinced that there is no country in the world where all its citizens enjoy full equality and achieve full equality in all its residential communities, we in Jordan must respond to aspects of inequality by developing economic incentives to transfer urbanization trends and investments to the less densely populated governorates; this will contribute to addressing the imbalance in the population distribution in Jordan and promoting equality between the governorates, in addition to enhancing women's participation in the workforce and economic empowerment, providing job opportunities for highly educated young men and women, and facilitating their access to housing, which helps them to form their families.