UNRWA records indicated that the number of registered Palestinian refugees in 2018 amounted up to about 6 million and those figures represented the minimum number of Palestinian refugees, where they constitute almost half of the Palestinians in the world (about 13 million), said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statics (PCBS) on the occasion of the International Day of Refugees.
PCBS said Palestinian refugees in the West Bank who are registered with UNRWA as in 2018 accounted up to 17% of the total refugees registered with UNRWA against 25% in Gaza Strip.
At the level of the Arab countries, the percentage of Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA in Jordan, amounted up to about 39% of the total Palestinian refugees while the percentage of Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA in Lebanon and Syria reached about 9% and 11% respectively.
PCBS noted that there were no significant differences between the demographic and social characteristics of refugees and non-refugees in general, except for poverty and unemployment indicators due to regional/area reasons, where about two-thirds of the population of Gaza Strip are refugees.
It said the percentage of the population of refugees in State of Palestine at the end of 2018 reached about 41% of the total Palestinian population residing in State of Palestine, and data indicated that 26% of the population in the West Bank is refugees, while the percentage of refugees in Gaza Strip is 64%.
The percentage of persons aged less than 15 years in State of Palestine reached 39% (refugees and non-refugees) at the end of 2018, while the percentage of elderly people aged 60 years and above (refugees and non-refugees) was about 5%.
It said records showed no significant difference in the average number of children born to refugee and non-refugee women
The mean number of children ever born to women ever married in State of Palestine 2017 is 4.4 births, 4.5 for refugee women compared with 4.3 for non-refugee women.
Source: WAFA
