A press release issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
On the Occasion of “Palestinian Children’s Day”
April 5, 2008
Within the framework of its proactive dissemination policy ,PCBS issued a press release on the 0ccasion of Palestinian children’s day
About 1.9 million children under the age of 18 in the Palestinian Territory for 2007
· Based on the preliminary results of the Population, Housing and Establishment Census,2007, the number of children in Palestine constitute one million and nine hundred thousand of the total population (3,761,646) living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The statistics showed that there was a rise in the proportion of individuals under the age of fifteen (45%), while the proportion of elderly individuals is decreasing, these percentages indicates to the high fertility rates and the fact that Palestinian society is a young society with a broad young pyramid base.
· The trend of demographic statistics in the Palestinian community, showed that children will constitute the majority in the community for coming years, where high fertility rate of Palestinian women and low rates of infant mortality are major reason beyond children being the majority in the community. It is worth mentioning that life expectancy in Palestine in 2007 was 73 years for women and 72 years for men.
· According to data of the Palestinian family health 2006, the Palestinian household is formed at early ages, with a rate of the female age at first marriage 19 years, and 25 years for males.
More than half of our children are students
· Preliminary data for the year 2007 / 2008 showed that the number of school students in the Palestinian Territory amounted to a total of 1,103,801 students, female rate 50.0% The data indicated that there is a steady rise in the number of students enrolled in schools significantly during 1994/1995-2007/2008 period, increased by 78.6% in primary and secondary stages. And the significant increase of the share of Gaza Strip, hitting 90.1%, while in the West Bank amounted to increase during the same period, 56.5%
· In the scholastic year 2007/2008, 59.4% of the students are enrolled in basic schools in the West Bank compared with 40.6% in Gaza Strip. In the secondary stage, 58.9% of our children are enrolled in schools in the West Bank and 41.1% in schools in Gaza Strip.
· Data indicate that the average number of students per teacher in all stages is 23.7 students per teacher in the scholastic year 2007/2008 at 23.7 students per teacher at governmental schools, 28.9 students per teacher at UNRWA schools and 13.8 students per teacher at private schools.
· The number of teachers in the academic year 2006/2007 totaled 42,306 male and female teachers, by 45.1% of males and 54.9% of females.
Majority of poor families have at least one child in the West Bank
· The statistics of poverty in 2006, revealed that despite the high rates of poverty in Gaza Strip, not less than 63.6% of the total poor families have at least one child in the West Bank, compared to 36.4% in Gaza Strip, due to the continuous deteriorated economic conditions in the Palestinian community additional segments of the children will be below the poverty line.
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