Jordan has made significant strides in education in recent decades, despite the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees and the very large share of the national budget assigned to the armed forces. The literacy rate in 2005 was 92 per cent. Public education at the primary level is free and compulsory beginning at the age of five. At the secondary level, about 80 per cent of boys and 78 per cent of girls go to school.

In 1998–1999 the annual enrolment was about 706,198 pupils attending primary schools, 579,445 students attending vocational and secondary schools, and 162,688 students enrolled in institutions of higher education. The country has three major universities: the University of Jordan (1962) and Mu’tah University (1981), both in Amman, and Jordan University of Science and Technology (1986), in Irbid. Other facilities for higher education in Jordan include the Statistical Training Centre and institutes for the study of agriculture, banking, social work, and public administration. In 1999–2000, 5.1 per cent of the country’s gross national product (GNP) was spent of education.