Figure 1 Household size in households comprising mother and/or father and children under 15 only. By ex-Gaza status. Percentage (n=15,378). 100 % 8+ members 80 % 6-7 members 60 % 2-5 members 40 % 20 % 0% Ex-Gazans, Jerash camp Other ex-Gazans Other Palestinian refugees Child dependency ratio The above hints at the higher support burden amongst ex-Gazans in Jerash camp, something which is confirmed by the dependency ratio 48 in the camp (Table 3). A high dependency ratio indicates a high economic burden on households of (assumed) economically unproductive children and elderly people. The dependency ratio is generally quite high in Jordan’s in-camp refugee households (0.796) compared to non-camp refugee households (0.681) but has dropped since the 1990s (Tiltnes and Zhang, 2013, p. 45). This is even higher for ex-Gazans in Jerash, at 0.956, compared to 0.893 and 0.778 for ex-Gazans not in Jerash and non-ex-Gazans respectively. Child dependants, rather than the elderly, contribute most significantly to the population dependency ratios: amongst ex-Gazans in Jerash camp, 870 of the 956 dependants per 1000 adults are children under 15. Table 3 Population and child dependency ratio by ex-Gaza status. Population dependency ratio Child dependency ratio Ex-Gazans in Jerash camp 0.956 0.870 Other ex-Gazans 0.893 0.830 Other Palestinian refugees 0.778 0.700 Marriage Despite the high child dependency ratio in Jerash, the marriage age for women tends to be higher and the proportion of ever-married young women is lower, as is clearly visible in Figure 2. The dependency ratio measures the number of children and elderly per adult of working age. It is calculated by dividing the total number of children under the age of 15 plus the elderly aged 65 and above by the number of adults aged 15 to 64. 48 ‘Just getting by’ Ex-Gazans in Jerash and other refugee camps in Jordan 29