RAMALLAH, September 8, 2009 (WAFA)- The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said on the occasion of the International Illiteracy day, there are 126 thousand illiterate adults in the Palestinian Territory, 75.7% of them are females.

 “In 2008, illiteracy rate among individuals 15 years and over in the Palestinian Territory reached 5.9%,” PCBS said. “Illiteracy rate varies considerably between males and females, it is 2.9% for males and 9.1% for females.”

The  findings indicated that the rates in the urban localities, rural localities and refugee camps are 5.2%, %7.5 and 5.9% respectively. Where as the illiteracy rate among males in the urban localities, rural localities and refugee camps was 2.7%, 3.1% and 2.9% respectively, and the rate among females was in the urban localities 7.7%, rural localities 11.9% and refugee camps 8.9%.

Illiteracy rates among individuals 15 years and over in the Palestinian Territory decreased in the period 1997-2008 from 13.9% to 5.9%. However, it decreased among males from 7.8% in 1997 to 2.9% in 2008, and among females it decreased from 20.3% to 9.1% for the same period.

As for type of locality, the illiteracy rate in urban localities decreased from 12.4% in 1997 to 5.2% in 2008, decreased in rural localities from 16.9% to 7.5%, and in the refugee camps it decreased from 13.5% to 5.9% for the same period.

 In 2008, the lowest illiteracy rate among males was in urban localities (2.7%), followed by males in refugee camps (2.9%), and the highest illiteracy rate among males in rural localities was 3.1%. As for illiteracy rate among females, the highest rate 11.9% was in rural localities followed by the refugee camps 8.9%, while the lowest rate 7.7% in urban localities.

The highest illiteracy rate is found among the individuals 65 years and over in comparison with other age groups (59.2%), and it is 0.8% among individuals aged 15-24 years. The highest illiteracy rate among individuals 15 years and over in 2008 was in Jericho and Al-Aghwar governorate (8.3%), followed by Tubas governorates at (7.8%), and the lowest rate was in Gaza governorate (4.4%).

In the Palestinian Territory, There are 125,788 illiterate persons in the age group 15 years and over in 2008, 84,020 of them are in the West Bank and 41,768 in Gaza Strip, They are distributed by sex as follows: 30,574 males and 95,214 females, and by type of locality they are distributed as follows: 58,615 illiterate person in urban localities, 44,173 in rural localities and 23,000 in refugee camps.