Baqa'a camp was one of six "emergency" camps set up in 1968 to accommodate Palestine refugees and displaced people who left the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a result of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
The camp, which is the largest in Jordan, is about 20km north of Amman.
Between June 1967 and February 1968, the refugees and displaced people were housed in temporary camps in the Jordan valley, but had to be moved when military operations escalated in the area. When Baqa'a was set up it was already a large camp, with 5,000 tents for 26,000 refugees over an area of 1.4 square kilometres.
Between 1969 and 1971, UNRWA replaced the tents with 8,000 prefabricated shelters, to protect people from the harsh winters in Jordan. Most of the camp's inhabitants have since built more durable concrete shelters.
Statistics
- More than 104,000 registered refugees
- One women’s programme centre
- 16 schools
- One food distribution centre
- Two health centres
- One community-based rehabilitation centre
- Demographic profile
Programmes in the camp
Major problems
- Poverty
- Falling education level
- Lack of refuse collection
- Shelters need upgrading
- High unemployment rate
- Marriage between relatives
- Widespread early marriage and divorce
InterTech 
