Arab, Jordanian

East Bank Jordanians are the families whose roots lie east of the Jordan River before 1948, the highland villagers and townspeople and the Bedouin tribes, now nearly all settled, around whom the Hashemite kingdom was built; they number about 4.9 million, beside some 3 million Jordanians of Palestinian origin. Clan loyalty still shapes marriage, elections and even justice, with tribal truces and blood-money settlements running alongside the courts, and East Bankers fill most posts in the army, security services and civil service. Life revolves around the clan guest hall, where mansaf, lamb in dried yoghurt sauce over rice, is served to guests at every wedding and funeral. Most are Sunni Muslims, but the group also includes some of the world's oldest Arab Christian communities, in towns such as Karak, Madaba, Salt and Fuheis.

East Bank Jordanians in Kuwait are a modest professional community of teachers, doctors, engineers and accountants, part of the 33,000 to 40,000 Jordanian passport holders in the country, many of whom are of Palestinian origin. Jordanians once formed, together with Palestinians, one of Kuwait's largest communities, some 500,000 people in the late 1980s, until Jordan's sympathy for Iraq in 1990 led to mass departures and a long freeze. Relations recovered, and Kuwait began hiring Jordanian teachers again around 2010. They speak Jordanian Levantine Arabic, are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim with a small Christian minority, and keep strong clan ties to towns such as Irbid, Salt and Karak. Like other expatriates they live in rented apartments and depend on employer sponsorship.

Jordanians in Oman are a small, settled community of about 12,000 people, half of them working professionals and the rest their families. They are teachers and university lecturers, about a thousand of them, engineers, trainers, accountants, bankers and managers in Omani companies, banks and factories, and many have spent decades in the sultanate. Jordan and Oman have been close since the 1970s, when Jordanian troops helped Sultan Qaboos end the Dhofar rebellion, and Jordanian doctors, dentists and teachers remain familiar figures in Muscat. Their Levantine Arabic, mansaf on family occasions and strong ties to hometowns such as Irbid, Salt and Karak set them apart from the Gulf Arabs around them; many Jordanian passport holders are of Palestinian origin.

Jordanians are one of Qatar's fastest-growing Arab communities: about 75,000 Jordanian workers lived in the country in 2024, up from some 40,000 Jordanians a decade earlier, after Qatar pledged 20,000 jobs for young Jordanians when the two countries restored full relations in 2019. Roughly half are East Bank Jordanians, perhaps 45,000 people with their families, the rest being Jordanians of Palestinian origin. Most work as teachers, doctors and nurses in government and private schools and hospitals, or in banking, construction, hospitality and IT, and they keep close clan ties to towns such as Irbid, Salt and Karak, where mansaf still marks every family occasion. They are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims with a small Orthodox and Catholic Christian minority.

East Bank Jordanians in Saudi Arabia number about 100,000, half of the roughly 200,000 Jordanian passport holders in the kingdom, the rest being Jordanians of Palestinian origin. Saudi Arabia has long been the first destination of Jordanians working abroad: since the oil boom of the 1970s Jordanian teachers, doctors, engineers, accountants and military advisers have staffed its schools, hospitals and ministries, and their remittances keep many families in Irbid, Salt, Karak and Ma'an. Tribes such as the Howeitat, Shammar, Anizzah and Sirhan live on both sides of the border, so some Jordanians in Tabuk and al-Jawf visit cousins rather than strangers. The community has shrunk since monthly fees on expatriates' dependants began in 2017, which sent thousands of families home. They speak Jordanian Levantine Arabic, are Sunni Muslims with a small Orthodox and Catholic minority, and gather over mansaf, lamb in dried-yoghurt sauce on rice, at weddings and family gatherings.

Jordanians in Türkiye number roughly 23,000, most of them in Istanbul, with smaller groups in Ankara and the Mediterranean resort town of Alanya. Many arrived in the 2010s, leaving behind high prices and taxes at home or rising residence fees in Saudi Arabia, and some bought property worth enough to qualify for Turkish citizenship; in 2020 Jordanians were the fourth-largest group of foreign home buyers. About 5,000 are university students, which puts Jordan among the leading countries sending students to Turkish universities, and many families place their children in Arabic-language schools in Istanbul. They speak Levantine Arabic and are almost all Sunni Muslims, with a small Christian minority.

Jordanians have helped run the United Arab Emirates since its founding in 1971, when Jordanian and Palestinian teachers, doctors, engineers and officials staffed the new federation's schools, hospitals and ministries. Today more than 200,000 Jordanian passport holders live in the country, about half of them East Bank Jordanians with roots in towns such as Irbid, Salt and Karak, the rest Jordanians of Palestinian origin. They are among the best-educated Arab communities in the Emirates, working as professors, bankers, doctors, engineers and managers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and the Emirates is now the largest source of the money Jordanians abroad send home. Jordanian social clubs in Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah gather families for Independence Day on 25 May, where mansaf, lamb cooked in dried yoghurt and served over rice, is the centrepiece. Most are Sunni Muslims, with a small Orthodox and Catholic Christian minority.