Jordan lies in West Asia, roughly between latitudes 29 and 33 degrees north and longitudes 34 and 39 degrees east, on the eastern bank of the Jordan River. The country covers about 89,342 square kilometres and is divided into four main natural regions: the eastern highlands of the East Bank, the Rift Valley with the Jordan River, the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, the eastern Badia desert plateau, and the Wadi Araba lowland in the south.
The western highlands run from north to south and rise to more than 1,500 metres in places; the highest point is Jabal Umm ad-Dami at 1,854 metres in the south, while the lowest point on Earth, the surface of the Dead Sea, lies roughly 430 metres below sea level along Jordan's western border. Most of the population lives in the highlands, especially around Amman, Zarqa and Irbid.
To the east and south, the Badia desert covers about 80 per cent of the country, part of the larger Arabian Desert. Jordan's only sea access is a short coastline of about 26 kilometres on the Gulf of Aqaba, an arm of the Red Sea, shared with Israel and Egypt across the water. This compact geography lets travellers move from Mediterranean highlands to desert dunes and warm Red Sea water within a single day.