عربي
H.E. Dr. Ola Awad, President of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) presents a brief on the status of the Palestinian people at the end of 2024
More than 45,000 martyrs in Palestine since October 7, 2023, 98% of them in Gaza Strip, which has the largest martyrs toll in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict
Gaza Strip population declined by 6% by the end of 2024
On October 7th, 2023, the Israeli occupation raged a brutal aggression against Gaza Strip targeting all kinds of life there; humans, buildings and vital infrastructure. Cities became rubble and bombs branded the houses, walls, memory and pages of history with destruction, as entire neighborhoods became history, entire families were erased from the civil register. There are catastrophic human and material losses, yet this aggressive, brutal Israeli aggression against all of Gaza Strip continues. The West Bank wasn’t spared from this brutal Israeli aggression, where it suffered from the continuous Israeli arrests, raids, closures and movement constraints.
According to figures released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 45,484 Palestinians in Gaza Strip were martyred, about 17,581 of them were children and 12,048 women, in addition to about 11,000 missing persons. About 100,000 Palestinians have left Gaza Strip since the beginning of the aggression, and about 106,962 other citizens were injured until end-December 2024 as a result of the ongoing brutal Israeli aggression. In the West Bank, the Israeli occupation continued its aggression, as 835 citizens were martyred and 6,450 others were injured as a result of the attacks by the Israeli occupation forces and settlers.
Based on the above data, the estimated population of the State of Palestine at the end of 2024 is 5.5 million Palestinians (3.4 million in the West Bank, while the estimated population of Gaza Strip for 2024, which was estimated by about 160 thousand Palestinians before the aggression, decreased to 2.1 million (a decrease of 6% from the population estimates for Gaza Strip for 2023), including more than one million children under the age of eighteen, constituting 47% of the population of Gaza Strip.
About 15 million Palestinians live around the world at the end of 2024
The estimated number of Palestinians at the end of 2024 is about 14.9 million, of whom 5.5 million live in the State of Palestine, half of whom live outside historical Palestine, as their number reached about 5.5 million Palestinians in the State of Palestine: 2.8 million males and 2.7 million females, and 1.80 million in the 1948 territories. It is also estimated that the number of Palestinians in the diaspora has reached about 7.6 million; 6.4 million of them live in Arab countries.
Estimated Palestinian population by Country of Residence, at the End of 2024
65% of individuals in the State of Palestine are under 30 years old
By the end of 2024, the percentage of individuals (0-4) reached 14% of the total population in Palestine, with 13% in the West Bank and 15% in Gaza Strip, while the percentage of individuals under 15 years old reached 37%, with 35% in the West Bank and 40% in Gaza Strip. The percentage of individuals under 30 years old in Palestine reached 65% of the total population in Palestine; 63% in the West Bank and 68% in Gaza Strip. The percentage of individuals aged (65 years and above) reached 4%.
Approximately 60,000 pregnant women are at risk due to the lack of health care in Gaza Strip
According to figures released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Approximately 60,000 pregnant women are at risk due to the lack of health care in Gaza Strip, and 13,649 pregnant women are expected to give birth during the next month, 5,522 women in the Gaza Strip and 8,127 women in the West Bank, 155,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women face difficult challenges in accessing pre- and post-natal health care services.
In addition there are about 96% of the population in Gaza Strip (2.1 million people) face high levels of acute food insecurity as of September 2024, including approximately 49,300 pregnant women, and more than 495,000 people (22% of the population) face catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity (stage 5), including 11,000 pregnant women, And about 3,500 children are at risk of death due to malnutrition and lack of food. 36 children were martyred as a result of famine and malnutrition.
Due to the aggression, the right to education is still difficult to achieve, in light of the genocide that Gaza Strip is being subjected to
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, until the end of September 2024, more than 77 public schools have been completely destroyed since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip, while 191 schools have been bombed and vandalized, including 126 public schools and 65 UNRWA schools. While 98 schools in the West Bank have been vandalized since the beginning of the Israeli aggression.
More than 51 university buildings in Gaza Strip have been completely destroyed, while 57 university buildings have been partially destroyed and more than 20 universities in Gaza Strip have been severely damaged since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, 7 universities in the West Bank have been subjected to repeated raids, vandalism and tampering with their contents.
The number of martyrs among students enrolled in schools in Palestine has reached 11,796 martyrs, including more than 11,714 martyrs in Gaza Strip and 82 martyrs in the West Bank. While the number of martyrs since the beginning of the Israeli occupation aggression on Gaza Strip among students enrolled in higher education institutions in Palestine has reached 796 students, 761 students in Gaza Strip and 35 students in the West Bank.
The number of martyrs among teachers and administrators in schools in Palestine has reached 466 martyrs, 463 of whom were martyred amid the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza Strip, and 3 martyrs in the West Bank. While 121 employees in higher education institutions in Gaza Strip have been killed as a result of the ongoing Israeli air strikes.
The economic system in Gaza Strip collapsed, along with a sharp contraction in the West Bank's productivity base, and an unprecedented increase in the unemployment rate
Palestine is suffering from a socio-economic, humanitarian, and environmental catastrophe that led to the contraction of the production base and distorted Palestine's economic structure. Gaza Strip’s contribution to the overall Palestinian economy decreased to less than 5% from about 17% before October 7th, 2023. One year after the Israeli occupation aggression against Gaza Strip since it first started on October 7th, 2023, and its repercussions on the West Bank, preliminary estimates show that GDP contracted by more than 85% in Gaza Strip and about 22% in the West Bank, and the Palestinian economy decreased by one third compared to times before October 7th, 2023. Also, the unemployment rate increased to 80% in Gaza Strip and 35% in the West Bank, bringing Palestine's unemployment rate to 51%.