Demographics of Palestine

According to a commonly used definition as relating to an application of the 1949 Armistice Agreement green line, the Palestinian territories have contributory parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem).

The Palestinian National Authority, the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the European Union, the International Court of Justice, and the International Committee of the Red Cross use the terminology "Palestinian territories" or "occupied Palestinian territories". Israel refers to the administrative division encompassing Israeli-controlled Jewish-majority civilian areas of Area C of the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, as the Judea and Samaria Area (Hebrew: אֵזוֹר יְהוּדָה וְשׁוֹמְרוֹן, Ezor Yehuda VeShomron).

Overview

Population size and structure

Israeli estimates

The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics estimated (2017) that the collective population in the Palestinian territories amounted to 4,543,126 people in 2017. Thereof, 2,155,743 Arabs live in the West Bank, 1,795,183 Arabs live in the Gaza Strip, and 391,000 Jews live in the West Bank outside of East Jerusalem. Approximately 214,600 Jews live in East Jerusalem. East Jerusalem, once administered by Jordan, came under Israeli occupation after the 1967 Six-Day War. In the Palestinian territories, c. 86% of the population is Arab (predominantly Sunni), c. 13% is Jewish, other <1% (cf. Israel: Jewish 74%, Arab 21%, other 5%).

US CIA estimates

The demographic statistics of The World Factbook the 2023 estimated population of Israel including the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem is 9,043,387 (2023 est.). Of this population:

• Approximately 236,600 Israeli settlers lived in East Jerusalem (2021)
• The split by ethnoreligious groups was Jewish 73.5% (of which Israel-born 79.7%, Europe/America/Oceania-born 14.3%, Africa-born 3.9%, Asia-born 2.1%), Palestinian and other Arab non-Jews 21.1%, other 5.4% (2022 est.)
• By religion, the split was Jewish 73.5%, Muslim 18.1%, Christian 1.9%, Druze 1.6%, other 4.9% (2022 est.)

Palestinian estimates

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the number of Palestinians in the Palestinian Territories was 3,935,249 in 2009, resulting in a calculated population density of 654 capita per km², of which 433 capita/km² in the West Bank including Jerusalem and 4,073 capita/km² in Gaza Strip. In the mid-2009, the share of population less than 15 years was 41.9% and above 65 years 3%.

UN estimates

According to the UN, the population in the State of Palestine was c. 4.9 million in 2017, resulting in an estimated population density of 817 capita per km². However, a Census held on 1 December 2017 resulted in a total of 4,781.245. The estimate of the Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics for mid 2023 showed a population total of 5,483,450.

Reliability of data

West Bank and Gaza population numbers appear to be unreliable, with estimates varying by a million.

Key derived statistics

Out of 224 listed countries and territories, in 2018, the West Bank ranked 48th with a total fertility rate (TFR) of 3.2, and the Gaza Strip ranked 31st with a TFR of 3.97 according to The World Factbook. In 2018, the West Bank had an estimated population growth rate of 1.81% (country comparison to the world: 56th) and the Gaza Strip had a population growth rate of 2.25% (35th).

Age structure

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