Amman Governorate

Amman concentrates Jordan's economic and administrative functions with the urban primacy characteristic of resource-poor states—the capital hosting government, finance, and services while receiving migrants that peripheral governorates cannot retain. The city's ancient settlement on Philadelphia's seven hills gave way to modern expansion that sprawls across terrain never intended for automobile-dependent development.

Residents of Amman, Irbid, and Zarqa capture three-quarters of Jordan's new job openings, the employment concentration that draws internal migration from southern governorates where opportunities remain scarce. Syrian refugees added population pressure beginning in 2011, with 435,578 Syrians residing in Amman governorate as of recent counts—the largest absolute number though not the highest per capita burden.

The governorate's economic dominance reflects Jordan's position as service economy (67.8% of GDP) in a region where larger neighbors possess the energy resources and industrial capacity that Jordan lacks. Whether Amman can continue absorbing growth—or whether infrastructure constraints eventually redirect development toward secondary cities—tests the sustainability of urban primacy in a water-scarce kingdom.