Demographics of Palestine

For a historical overview, see Demographic history of Palestine (region).

Demographic features of the population of the area commonly described as the Palestinian territories includes information on ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of that population.

Demographics of the State of Palestine
Population pyramid of the State of Palestine in 2020
Population	1,997,328 (Gaza Strip – 2022 est.) 3,000,021 (West Bank – 2022 est.)
Growth rate	2.02% (Gaza Strip – 2022 est.) 1.69% (West Bank – 2022 est.)
Birth rate	27.67 births/1,000 population (Gaza Strip – 2022 est.) 24.42 births/1,000 population (West Bank – 2022 est.)
Death rate	2.91 deaths/1,000 population (Gaza Strip – 2022 est.) 3.4 deaths/1,000 population (West Bank – 2022 est.)
Language
Spoken	Arabic, Hebrew (by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians)

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,^[1] the United Nations General Assembly,^[2] the European Union,^[3] the International Court of Justice,^[4] and the International Committee of the Red Cross^[5] 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).^[6]

Overview

Demographics of the State of Palestine

Region & Status	By nationality				Total Population	Year Source	By ethnoreligious group		Area (km2)
	Israelis	Year Source	Palestinians	Year			Jewish	Arab
West Bank Areas A & B (under Palestinian civil administration)	0		2,464,566	2023 [7]	2,464,566	2023 [7]	0	2,464,566	2,808 [8]
Gaza Strip (under Palestinian civil administration)	0		2,226,544	mid- 2023 [7]	2,226,544	mid- 2023 [7]	0	2,226,544	365
West Bank Area C (under full Israeli control)	517,407	1/2024 [9][10]	300,000	2019 [11][12]	817,407	2019/ 1/1/24 [13]	517,407	300,000	3,378 [14]
East Jerusalem (Annexed by Israel) [15][16][17]	259,814 of which Israeli Arab~18,982	2021 [18]	351,570	2021 [18]	611,384	2021 [18]	240,832	370,552	336 [14]
Total State of Palestine	6,119,901					Sum	758,239 (12.39%)	5,361,662 (87.61%)	6,887

Demographic map of Gaza, West Bank, Israel proper and the Golan Heights

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.^[19] Approximately 214,600 Jews live in East Jerusalem.^[20] East Jerusalem, once administered by Jordan, came under Israeli occupation after the 1967 Six-Day War.^[21] 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%).^[19]

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:^[22]

• 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.^[23] In the mid-2009, the share of population less than 15 years was 41.9% and above 65 years 3%.^[23]

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.^[24] 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.

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.^[25] 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).^[19][26][27]

Population (mid-year, millions)[28][29][30]
Year	West Bank	Gaza	Total
1970	0.69	0.34	1.03
1980	0.90	0.46	1.36
1990	1.25	0.65	1.90
2000	1.98	1.13	3.11
2010	2.52	1.60	4.12
2014	2.73	1.82	4.55
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
2006	2.5	1.5	4.0
2009	2.48	1.45	3.94
Source: Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics

Name	Area in km2	Pop.[31] Census 1 Dec 2017	Pop.[7] Estimate mid 2023	Pop. density mid 2023 (per km2)
West Bank [26]	5,655	2,881,954	3,256,906	576
Gaza Strip [19]	365	1,899,291	2,226,544	6,100
Total	6,020	4,781,245	5,483,450	911

Palestinian territories^[32]

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1997	2,783,084	—
1998	2,871,568	+3.18%
1999	2,962,226	+3.16%
2000	3,053,335	+3.08%
2001	3,138,471	+2.79%
2002	3,225,214	+2.76%
2003	3,314,509	+2.77%
2004	3,407,417	+2.80%
2005	3,508,126	+2.96%
2006	3,611,198	+2.94%
2007	3,719,189	+2.99%
2008	3,825,512	+2.86%
2009	3,935,249	+2.87%
2010	4,048,403	+2.88%
2011	4,168,860	+2.98%
2012	4,293,313	+2.99%
2013	4,420,549	+2.96%
2014	4,550,368	+2.94%
2015	4,682,467	+2.90%
2016	4,816,503	+2.86%
2017	4,952,168	+2.82%
2021	5,227,193	+1.36%

West Bank^[32]

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
2012	2,649,020	—
2013	2,719,112	+2.65%
2014	2,790,331	+2.62%
2015	2,862,485	+2.59%
2016	2,935,368	+2.55%
2017	3,008,770	+2.50%
2021	3,120,448	+0.92%

Gaza Strip^[32]

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
2012	1,644,293	—
2013	1,701,437	+3.48%
2014	1,760,037	+3.44%
2015	1,819,982	+3.41%
2016	1,881,135	+3.36%
2017	1,943,398	+3.31%
2021	2,106,745	+2.04%

Age structure

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	1 747 284	1 696 544	3 443 828	100
0–4	266 052	253 883	519 935	15.10
5–9	239 156	227 724	466 880	13.56
10–14	238 306	227 967	466 273	13.54
15–19	211 464	202 975	414 439	12.03
20–24	158 374	151 561	309 935	9.00
25–29	128 068	124 159	252 227	7.32
30–34	108 945	106 343	215 288	6.25
35–39	90 155	86 905	177 060	5.14
40–44	81 186	75 328	156 514	4.54
45–49	60 832	56 748	117 580	3.41
50–54	41 606	41 695	83 301	2.42
55–59	32 011	30 999	63 010	1.83
60–64	22 060	25 769	47 829	1.39
65–69	13 853	19 844	33 697	0.98
70–74	12 689	16 627	29 316	0.85
75–79	8 599	12 536	21 135	0.61
80–84	4 861	6 888	11 749	0.34
85–89	2 318	3 026	5 344	0.16
90–94	871	1 133	2 004	0.06
95+	464	597	1 061	0.03
unknown	25 414	23 837	49 251	0.14

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	743 514	709 574	1 453 088	42.19
15–64	934 701	902 482	1 837 183	53.35
65+	43 655	60 651	104 306	3.03

Population by Sex and Age Group (Census 01.XII.2007) (Data have not been adjusted for underenumeration. Excluding data from the parts of Jerusalem which were annexed by Israel in 1967.):

Census (01/12/2007) :

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	2 245 400	2 175 149	4 420 549	100
0–4	333 246	319 213	652 459	14.76
5–9	295 678	283 886	579 564	13.11
10–14	275 428	263 679	539 107	12.20
15–19	262 267	251 710	513 977	11.63
20–24	230 888	221 790	452 678	10.24
25–29	182 448	174 730	357 178	8.08
30–34	144 721	138 652	283 373	6.41
35–39	122 846	119 333	242 179	5.48
40–44	103 233	100 276	203 509	4.60
45–49	87 969	82 580	170 549	3.86
50–54	70 535	65 239	135 774	3.07
55–59	48 912	46 910	95 822	2.17
60–64	32 353	33 581	65 934	1.49
65–69	21 985	26 414	48 399	1.09
70–74	14 201	19 831	34 032	0.77
75–79	9 344	13 728	23 072	0.52
80+	9 346	13 597	22 943	0.52

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	904 352	866 778	1 771 130	40.07
15–64	1 286 172	1 234 801	2 520 973	57.03
65+	54 876	73 570	128 446	2.91

Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2013):

Source:^[33]

Vital statistics

UN estimates

^[34]

	Mid-year population (thousands)	Live births (thousands)	Deaths (thousands)	Natural change (thousands)	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rate (TFR)	Infant mortality (per 1000 live births)	Life expectancy (in years)
1950	945	46	20	26	48.3	21.0	27.3	7.84	142.3	45.79
1951	953	47	20	27	48.5	20.9	27.7	7.84	141.7	45.88
1952	963	47	20	27	48.7	20.6	28.1	7.84	140.5	46.09
1953	973	48	20	28	48.9	20.4	28.5	7.83	139.1	46.33
1954	985	49	20	29	49.2	20.1	29.1	7.83	137.5	46.61
1955	997	50	20	30	49.4	19.8	29.6	7.82	135.8	46.92
1956	1 010	51	20	31	49.7	19.5	30.2	7.82	133.8	47.27
1957	1 025	52	20	32	49.9	19.1	30.8	7.81	131.7	47.66
1958	1 040	53	20	33	50.1	18.7	31.4	7.81	129.4	48.08
1959	1 057	54	19	34	50.3	18.3	32.0	7.81	126.9	48.53
1960	1 074	55	19	35	50.4	17.8	32.6	7.79	124.3	49.01
1961	1 092	56	19	36	50.4	17.3	33.1	7.79	121.4	49.55
1962	1 110	57	19	38	50.5	16.8	33.7	7.79	118.4	50.12
1963	1 128	57	19	39	50.4	16.3	34.2	7.78	115.1	50.75
1964	1 142	58	18	40	50.4	15.7	34.6	7.78	111.7	51.38
1965	1 149	59	18	41	50.3	15.2	35.1	7.78	108.2	52.03
1966	1 148	59	17	42	50.2	14.6	35.5	7.75	104.7	52.69
1967	1 137	58	18	41	50.1	15.2	34.9	7.74	101.1	50.97
1968	1 123	57	16	42	49.9	13.5	36.3	7.71	97.7	54.03
1969	1 115	57	15	42	49.7	13.0	36.6	7.68	94.1	54.70
1970	1 118	56	14	42	49.4	12.5	36.9	7.65	90.6	55.35
1971	1 136	56	14	43	49.2	12.0	37.2	7.61	87.3	55.99
1972	1 167	57	14	44	49.0	11.5	37.5	7.59	84.0	56.65
1973	1 195	59	31	28	49.2	26.0	23.2	7.55	80.8	34.74
1974	1 225	61	13	48	49.3	10.6	38.7	7.52	77.8	57.98
1975	1 264	62	13	49	49.1	10.2	38.9	7.48	74.8	58.64
1976	1 301	64	13	51	48.8	9.7	39.1	7.44	71.6	59.32
1977	1 337	65	13	53	48.4	9.3	39.1	7.38	68.5	60.00
1978	1 374	66	12	54	48.0	8.9	39.1	7.33	65.6	60.66
1979	1 413	68	12	56	47.6	8.4	39.2	7.28	62.4	61.39
1980	1 454	69	12	57	47.3	8.0	39.3	7.23	59.2	62.11
1981	1 498	71	11	59	47.0	7.6	39.4	7.17	56.2	62.79
1982	1 546	73	11	61	46.8	7.2	39.6	7.12	53.4	63.45
1983	1 604	75	11	64	46.6	6.9	39.7	7.07	50.5	64.16
1984	1 674	78	11	67	46.4	6.5	39.9	7.01	47.9	64.80
1985	1 731	81	11	70	46.1	6.2	39.9	6.95	45.6	65.36
1986	1 775	82	11	71	46.0	6.0	40.0	6.91	43.6	65.86
1987	1 863	84	11	74	46.0	5.7	40.2	6.88	41.3	66.42
1988	1 963	90	11	79	45.9	5.5	40.4	6.85	39.2	66.84
1989	2 041	94	11	83	45.9	5.3	40.6	6.81	37.4	67.28
1990	2 125	98	11	87	46.0	5.1	40.9	6.78	35.8	67.93
1991	2 214	102	11	91	45.9	4.9	40.9	6.72	34.7	68.31
1992	2 310	105	11	94	45.6	4.8	40.8	6.63	33.3	68.59
1993	2 411	108	11	97	44.8	4.7	40.1	6.50	32.1	68.85
1994	2 515	110	11	99	43.8	4.4	39.4	6.34	30.7	69.41
1995	2 623	112	11	101	42.8	4.3	38.5	6.18	29.6	69.66
1996	2 734	114	11	102	41.6	4.1	37.5	6.00	28.6	70.06
1997	2 847	115	11	104	40.5	4.0	36.5	5.82	27.6	70.40
1998	2 951	118	12	106	39.8	3.9	35.9	5.70	26.8	70.63
1999	3 044	120	12	108	39.2	3.8	35.3	5.58	26.0	70.86
2000	3 140	121	13	108	38.4	4.0	34.5	5.44	25.3	70.39
2001	3 230	122	13	109	37.7	4.1	33.6	5.32	24.6	69.89
2002	3 309	123	13	111	37.1	3.8	33.2	5.19	24.1	70.97
2003	3 384	123	13	110	36.1	3.8	32.3	5.02	23.2	71.05
2004	3 460	124	13	111	35.7	3.8	31.9	4.94	22.4	71.18
2005	3 541	125	13	112	35.2	3.6	31.6	4.84	21.7	72.07
2006	3 628	125	13	112	34.5	3.6	30.8	4.72	21.0	71.92
2007	3 718	125	13	112	33.6	3.6	30.0	4.61	20.3	72.15
2008	3 809	128	14	114	33.5	3.6	29.9	4.50	19.9	72.41
2009	3 899	131	14	117	33.4	3.6	29.9	4.41	19.3	72.61
2010	3 992	135	14	121	33.7	3.5	30.2	4.38	18.6	73.00
2011	4 088	137	14	123	33.4	3.5	29.9	4.27	18.1	73.24
2012	4 184	138	14	124	32.9	3.4	29.5	4.16	17.6	73.47
2013	4 282	140	14	125	32.5	3.3	29.2	4.08	17.2	74.03
2014	4 380	143	17	126	32.5	3.8	28.6	4.04	17.6	72.62
2015	4 485	147	15	132	32.7	3.3	29.4	4.05	16.4	74.41
2016	4 594	147	15	132	31.9	3.3	28.6	3.94	15.9	74.55
2017	4 701	146	15	131	31.0	3.3	27.7	3.81	15.4	74.83
2018	4 806	145	16	129	30.1	3.3	26.8	3.71	15.0	74.79
2019	4 910	145	16	129	29.5	3.2	26.2	3.64	14.6	75.24
2020	5 019	145	18	127	28.8	3.5	25.3	3.57	14.1	74.40
2021	5 133	145	20	126	28.2	3.8	24.4	3.50	13.8	73.47

Registered births and deaths

^[35][36]

	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rate
2007		122,593	10,782	111,811
2008		126,323	11,337	114,986				4.4
2009		129,648	11,907	117,741
2010	4,048,403	138,809	10,810	127,999	34.3	2.7	31.6
2011	4,168,801	133,326	11,397	121,929	32.0	2.7	29.2	4.1
2012	4,293,313	131,632	11,782	119,850	30.7	2.7	27.9
2013	4,420,549	127,454	11,188	116,266	28.8	2.5	26.3
2014	4,550,368	128,073	13,390	114,683	28.1	2.9	25.2
2015	4,530,416	132,995	11,908	121,087	29.4	2.6	26.7
2016	4,632,025	138,238	12,202	126,036	29.8	2.6	27.2
2017	4,733,357	140,441	11,778	128,663	29.7	2.5	27.2	3.8
2018	4,854,013	143,334	12,452	130,882	29.5	2.6	27.0
2019	4,976,684	139,246	12,847	126,399	28.0	2.6	25.4
2020	5,101,152	132,291	14,106	118,185	25.9	2.8	23.2
2021	5,227,193	141,092	16,755	124,337	27.0	3.2	23.8
2022	5,354,656	141,457	14,450	127,007	26.4	2.7	23.7

Gaza

Gaza

	fertility rate	birth rate	death rate	natural change
1997		45.4	4.7	40.7
2000		44.5	4.3	40.2
2005		42.2	3.9	39.3
2009		36.9	4.1	32.8
2010	4.9	37.1	4.0	33.1
2011		37.2	3.9	34.3
2013		37.1	3.7	34.4

West Bank

West Bank

	fertility rate	birth rate	death rate	natural change
1997		41.2	5.1	36.1
2000		38.8	4.6	34.2
2005		34.5	4.1	30.4
2009		30.1	4.4	25.7
2010	3.8	30.1	4.2	25.9
2011		30.1	4.1	26.0
2013		29.7	4.0	25.7

Source:^[37]

Life expectancy

Average life expectancy at age 0 of the total population.^[38]

Life expectancy at birth in Palestine

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	46.6	1985–1990	67.1
1955–1960	48.2	1990–1995	68.9
1960–1965	50.8	1995–2000	70.3
1965–1970	54.1	2000–2005	71.2
1970–1975	57.5	2005–2010	72.0
1975–1980	61.0	2010–2015	72.9
1980–1985	64.4

Demographics of the Gaza Strip

The following demographic statistics are from The World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population

Current: 2,098,389 (2023 est.)^[26]

In 2023 approximately 2.1 million Palestinians lived in the Gaza Strip,^[26] around 1.6 million of them UN-registered refugees.^[39]

The Strip's population has continued to increase since that time, one of the main reasons being a total fertility rate of 3.38 children per woman (2023 est). In a ranking by total fertility rate, this places Gaza 42nd of 224 regions.^[26]

Age structure

0–14 years: 44.1% (male 415,746/female 394,195)
15–24 years: 21.3% (male 197,797/female 194,112)
25–54 years: 28.5% (male 256,103/female 267,285)
55–64 years: 3.5% (male 33,413/female 30,592)
65 years and over: 2.6% (male 24,863/female 22,607) (2018 est.)

Ethnic groups

Palestinian/Arab 98.7%

Religions

Sunni Muslim 98–99%, Arab Christians 0.2% (2,000 to 3,000 est.), other, unaffiliated, unspecified <1.0% (2012 est.).^[40][26]

Languages

Arabic (Palestinian Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic), Hebrew (spoken by many older Gaza Palestinians), English (widely understood)

Demographics of the West Bank

Population pyramid Gaza Strip 2016

Population pyramid West Bank 2016

The following demographic statistics are from The World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population

Total 2,939,418 (July 2018 est.); 71.72% of the population is Arab (predominantly Sunni), 28.28% is Jewish^[19] (cf. Israel: Jewish 74%, Arab 21%, other 5%; and Gaza: Arab 99%)^[41]

• Palestinian Arab 2,155,743 (July 2017 est.), 71.72%^[19]
• Israeli Jew 850,481 (2016, 2020 est.), 28.28%^[19]
  • Approximately 475,481 Israeli Jews thereof live in the West Bank (2020)^[42]
  • Approximately 375,000 Israeli Jews thereof live in East Jerusalem (2016)^[43]
• Around 380 Samaritans^[a][44]

Ethnic groups

Palestinian Arab: 83%
Israeli Jewish and other: 17%

Religions

Muslim 80%–85% (predominantly Sunni)
Jewish 12%–14%
Christian 1.0%–2.5%, (mainly Greek Orthodox)^[19]
Other religious minorities include Palestinian Metawalis, Palestinian Druze, and Palestinian Baha'is.

Languages

Arabic (Palestinian Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic), English (compulsory in schools, widely^[quantify] spoken by Palestinians), and Hebrew (spoken by Israeli Jews in the West Bank, and spoken by many^[quantify] Palestinians) are commonly known.

See also

• Demographic history of Palestine (region)
• Demographics of Israel
• Demographics of the Middle East
• Economy of the State of Palestine
• Genetic history of the Middle East
• Palestinian National Authority (PNA)
• Politics of the Palestinian National Authority
• Population statistics for Israeli settlements in the West Bank

Notes

1. Samaritans in the West Bank have Palestinian citizenship. (Sabella 2011, p. 75, n.4).