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In Arabic On the eve of the International day of the Refugee, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) released a statistical review on the status of Palestinian Refugees. The main findings are summarised as follows: - According to UNRWA records, Palestinian registered refugees totalled 4.56 million at end of 2007, of whom 41.7 per cent were in Jordan, 23.0 per cent in Gaza Strip, 16.3 per cent in the West Bank, 9.9 per cent in Syria and 9.1 per cent in Lebanon. About 1.5 million Palestinians refugee are estimated to be non-registered refugees. Therefore the total Palestinian refugee is more than six million. The percentage of Palestinian refugees in the Palestinian Territory 2006, represents 44.6 per cent of the total Palestinian Territory population, of which 19.4 per cent in the West Bank and 25.2 per cent in Gaza Strip Refugees in the Palestinian Territory are characterised as a young population, 45.8 per cent of them are under the age of 15 years compared to 45.3 per cent for non-refugees. On the other hand, 2.8 per cent of refugees are aged 65 years and over, compared to 3.1 per cent for the non refugees in the Palestinian Territory for the year 2006. The percentage of Palestinian refugees aged less than 15 years of the total refugee population in Jordan in 2000 reached 41.7 per cent, 33.1 per cent in Syria in 2003, and 33.0 per cent in Lebanon in 2006. Sex ratio of the refugee population in the Palestinian Territory is almost the same as of the non-refugees at 101.8 and 102.0 males per one-hundred females respectively compared to 102.3 for Palestinian refugees in Syria, and 98.5 for the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Total Fertility Rate for refugees in the Palestinian Territory was 4.9 birth per women for 2006, on the other hand the total fertility rate of the Palestinian refugee women in 2000 in Jordan was 4.6 children compared to 2.4 in Syria and 2.3 in Lebanon in 2006. The average household size for refugees in the Palestinian Territory for 2006 was 6.3 person. Whereas in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon are 5.4, 4.1, and 3.8 respectively. 2.6 of the Palestinian refugees are disabled compared to 2.4 per cent for the non-refugees. 9.8 per cent of Palestinian refugees suffer chronic diseases and receive medication which is higher than the national percentage of 9.6 per cent and the non-refugees percentage of 9.4 per cent. Percentage of poor households headed by Palestinian refugee is 43.1 per cent of the total poor households in the Palestinian Territory. Unemployment Rate of Palestinian refugees 15 years and over in the Palestinian Territory during the first quarter 2008, was 26.1 per cent compared with 20.0 per cent for non-refugee. Approximately 62.5 per cent of the employed persons are wage employees (67.7 per cent for refugees and 58.9 per cent for non-refugees). The percentage of those who own their business is 24.3 per cent (21.0 per cent for refugees and 26.5 per cent for non-refugees). Illiteracy rate of Palestinian refugees 15 years and over in the Palestinian Territory during the first quarter 2007, was 5.7 per cent compared with 6.5 per cent for non refugee. Illiteracy rate among Palestinian refugees in Jordan refugee camps in 2000 was approximately 17.6 per cent, in Syria the rate in 2006 was 16.5 per cent, and in Lebanon the rate in 2006 was almost 25.5 per cent. Dropout rate for refugees aged 6 years and above at schools in the Palestinian Territory in 2006 reached 22.6 per cent, of which 23.4 per cent for males and 21.8 per cent for females compared to 27.2 per cent for the non-refugees, of which 28.6 per cent for males and 25.7 per cent for females. More information:
pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/Palestinian_refugees_eng.doc