Children make up more than half the Syrian refugees in camps in Jordan, according to statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), while the total number of Syrians registered in the agency’s lists in Jordan reached 657,000.

The official spokesman for the UNHCR in Jordan, Ali Bibi, said that 51.5 percent of Syrian refugees registered with the agency of both genders were under the age of 17.

The refugees, whose ages range between 18 and 59 years old, make up 44.8 percent of the total number of Syrian refugees in Jordan, for a total of 294,548 refugees.

About 21.5 percent of the refugees registered with the agency live in camps, with the Zaatari camp hosting about 79,000 refugees.

Bibi said that about 215,000 refugees needed special treatment, including 49,000 children, and 5,800 elderly in critical condition, while about 5,000 refugee children live without their families.

Syrian refugees in Jordan suffer from difficult living conditions because of the lack of available aid and the difficulty of obtaining official papers, which limits their ability to work.

Jordan’s monarch King Abdullah II said last month that his country was no longer able to bear the consequences of the crisis, especially given that many Jordanians were suffering from the continuing flow of refugees.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.