RAMALLAH, May 16, 2010 (WAFA)-  he Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said Sunday that percentages of access and use of Information Technology (IT) among the Palestinians was doubled during the past five years

PCBS issued a press release on the occasion of the Information Society Day, May 17. The main features of the knowledge- based economy in the Palestinian Territory are as follows:

Infrastructure and access to certain tools of information and communications technology

 The percentage of households that have a computer in the Palestinian Territory is 49.2%, of which 51.1% in the West Bank and 45.6% in Gaza Strip, compared with 26.4% in 2004. As for Internet connection, the results showed that 28.5% of households in the Palestinian Territory have an Internet connection, of which 27.2% in the West Bank and 30.9% in Gaza Strip, compared with 9.2% in 2004. The percentage of households that have TV dish in the Palestinian Territory is 92.0%, of which 92.4% in the West Bank and 91.2% in Gaza Strip, compared with 74.4% in 2004. The results also indicated that 47.5% of households in the Palestinian Territory have a phone line, of which 51.4% in the West Bank and 40.0% in Gaza Strip, compared with 40.8% in 2004. Data showed that 92.4% of households have a mobile phone in the Palestinian Territory, of which 91.9% in the West Bank and 93.2% in Gaza Strip, compared with 72.8% in 2004.

Computer and the Internet

 The results indicated that 57.1% of persons (10 years and over) in the Palestinian Territory use computer, of whom 57.3% in the West Bank and 56.8% in Gaza Strip. The results also showed that 62.9% of males and 51.3% of females use computers. In comparison with the year 2004, the percentage of persons who use computer was 35.7%. The results indicated that 32.3% of persons (10 years and over) use Internet in the Palestinian Territory of whom 32.7% in the West Bank and 31.5% in Gaza Strip. The findings showed variations in the use of Internet among males and females where 38.2% of males use the internet compared to 26.2% for females. The percentage of persons (10 years and over) who were using Internet in the Palestinian Territory in 2004 was 11.9% .

The percentage of households in the Palestinian Territory that at least one of its members owns a Web site is 9.1%, of which 10.6% in the West Bank and 6.2% in Gaza Strip, compared with 5.1% in 2004 . While the percentage of persons (10 years and over) who have e-mail is 21.3% in the Palestinian Territory, compared with 5.1% in 2004.

 Access and use of ICT in economic enterprises

According to the business ICT survey in 2007, the results indicated that 21.3% of the total enterprises in the Palestinian Territory used computers in 2007, of which 23.3% were in the West Bank compared with 16.2% in Gaza Strip. The percentage of enterprises that use the Internet reached 12.7% of the total enterprises; while67.8% of enterprises that use computers do use internet as well, distributed as 68.0% in the West Bank and 67.3% in Gaza Strip. The percentage of enterprises that conduct electronic commercial transactions via the Internet or networks was 2.3% of the total enterprises.

Research and development

Statistics showed that the number of researchers in research and development in the West Bank was 992, of whom 765 were males and 227 were females

 The number of researchers in the year 2008 according to the definition of Full-Time Equivalent (90.0% of the total number of working hours in the year on research and development) reached 363.