1.9m Palestinian children under 18

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said on Saturday that 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.

In a press release on the occasion of Children's Day, PCBS said that 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.

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%, according to PCBS.

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 indicated 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.

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.

The results of work conditions survey 2007 showed the percentage of employed children, whether paid or unpaid and (unpaid family employee) amounted to 4.6% of the total number of children, at 6.5% in the West Bank and 1.7% in Gaza Strip. (74.0%) of the employed children were classified as family workers (96.0% females, 70.7% males), compared to 20.9% working as paid working for others (1.6% females and 23.5% males).

About work sector, where employed children data showed that 41.8% of employed children are working in the agriculture sector by (46.7% in the West Bank and 12.0% in Gaza Strip), and 34.0% in Trade, restaurants and hotels, at 27.8% in the West Bank and 71.8% in Gaza Strip.

According to the findings of the Palestinian family health survey 2006, the percentage of births given at health facilities in the Palestinian Territory was 96.6% The percentage of births delivered at home or on the way to hospitals or at military checkpoints was 3.4%, and was notably higher in the West Bank (4.8%) as compared to (1.1%) in Gaza Strip.

34.1% of Palestinian women in the Palestinian Territory received at least one immunization dose against Titanus during their last pregnancy, at the rate of 27.8% in the West Bank and 44.6% in Gaza Strip.

The findings of the Palestinian Family Health Survey indicated that two thirds of the children below five years of age have vaccination record cards (66.7%), where the percentage in the West Bank is higher (69.4%) than in Gaza Strip (62.8%), and is slightly higher among males 67.6% than females 65.6%

. 10.2% of children under five years suffered from stunting, 2.9% of children suffered from underweight, and 1.4% of children suffered from wasting in 2006.

Adolescents (15-19 years) constitute 12.4% of the total population at 12.0% in the West Bank and 13.2% in Gaza Strip.

PCBS revealed that the Palestinian Family Health Survey 2006, showed that 80.3% of adolescents (15-19) years watch television daily in the Palestinian Territory and 44.6% listen to the radio versus only 9.4% of them read newspapers daily.

On the other hand, 76.6% of adolescents in the Palestinian Territory reported that poverty is one of the most important factors that reduce willingness to pursue education; 81.8% in Gaza Strip and 72.8% in the West Bank.

65.7% of adolescents in the Palestinian Territory stated that they resort to the mother in the request for assistance to cope with their problems, a higher percentage in the West Bank than in Gaza Strip. While the father took second place and resort to friends ranks third.

PCBS concluded that between September 2000 and February 29, 2008,, 959 Palestinian children were killed, constituting 18.2% of the total martyrs; 384 children were martyred in the West Bank, 573 in Gaza Strip in addition to two martyrs in occupied territory in 1948.

About 344 Palestinian children are detained in Israeli Jails.