Growing needs and limited means warrant continued support to Jordan: what UNHCR’s 2026 Socio-Economic Survey and annual 2025 Basic Needs Cash Assistance Programme Assessment reveal about the lives of refugees in Jordan

Refugees in Jordan continue facing sustained and widening pressures across economic, social and everyday realities, with rising debt, deepening food insecurity and growing reliance on harmful coping strategies as shown in UNHCR’s new Socio-Economic Survey on Refugees in Jordan 2026. Together with the 2025 Basic Needs Cash Assistance Programme Assessment, these reports offer a comprehensive overview of refugees’ socio-economic situation and the role of UNHCR in helping households meet essential needs.

Mounting debts and persistent poverty push more families into food insecurity, despite willingness to work

Two out of three refugees still live below the poverty line, and economic pressure has intensified for refugees. Household incomes remain insufficient to cover essential expenses. As a result, refugee families spend more than they earn each month, relying heavily on borrowing to survive. Debt levels have risen sharply by 27 per cent compared to two years ago. Today, 93 per cent of refugee households are in debt, often at levels far exceeding their monthly income. Food insecurity remains one of the most pressing concerns. More than three out of four refugees are now food insecure, an increase from the 2024 report, with the situation particularly severe among families living in host communities. As refugees increasingly struggle to prioritize and afford essential needs, their spending patterns have shifted. Refugees living outside of the camps now allocate more to food expenditure than to rent. To cope, refugees accumulate rental arrears with landlords, exposing themselves to threats of eviction and legal disputes. Diets remain poor and refugee families rely on cheaper, less nutritious food and reduce their food consumption.

The survey also shows an increased desire among refugees to rely on themselves, despite limited access to work opportunities, as more refugees look for work. 34 per cent of working-age refugees are employed, mostly in low-skilled sectors such as construction and agriculture. The unemployment rate among those who wish to work stands at 38 per cent, particularly affecting refugees living in camps, where the competition for limited opportunities is high. Legal and structural barriers, particularly for non-Syrian refugees, continue to limit access to formal employment opportunities.

Cash assistance as a crucial safety net

In this context of growing hardship among refugee households, estimates from the World Bank based on the socio-economic survey show that poverty rates among refugees living outside the camps would increase to 77 per cent without cash assistance, while in the camps, removal of both cash assistance and in-kind support, such as shelter, electricity and water, would increase the proportion of refugees below the poverty line to 92%.

Meanwhile, UNHCR’s Basic Needs Cash Assistance Assessment shows that cash assistance remains essential, reaching more than 214,000 refugees in 2025. Nearly all recipients say they rely on the assistance to cover essential expenses such as rent, food and healthcare and over 90 per cent report improvements in living conditions or reduced stress. However, despite this positive impact, significant gaps remain. 98 per cent of cash recipients still cannot fully meet their most basic needs and only six per cent say that they can cover more than half. A majority continue to rely on debt even while receiving support. This underscores that cash assistance remains essential to refugees’ survival and prevents deeper deprivation, even as poverty remains widespread.

Signs of stability persist in some sectors

Beyond income and food security, the findings in the socio-economic survey highlight pressures across several essential sectors, while simultaneously showing positive aspects. 84 per cent of refugees report feeling safe or very safe in their neighbourhoods after dark. This could suggest that, even amid growing financial strain, many refugees continue to experience a high sense of general safety in their surroundings. Access to education, health care and water, sanitation and basic services remain relatively high even though some barriers and challenges exist.

Economic factors continue to influence return

These dynamics are also reflected in refugees’ perspectives on return. According to the latest regional survey on Syrian refugees’ perceptions and intentions to return (2026), economic vulnerability remains widespread among refugees in host countries, including Jordan, and can also act as a barrier to return, as households lack the financial resources and stability needed to consider moving back to Syria.