RAMALLAH, September 8, 2011 (WAFA) - On International Literacy Day, September 8, illiteracy rates among individuals aged 15 years and over in the Palestinian Territory fell from 13.9% to 5.1% between 1997 - 2010, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on Thursday.

It said that the illiteracy rate varied considerably between the sexes: 2.4% for males compared to 7.8% for females. For males, it decreased from 7.8% in 1997 to 2.4% in 2010, while for females it decreased from 20.3% to 7.8% over the same period.

The report said that illiteracy rates varied according to locality. Illiteracy rates in urban localities decreased from 12.4% in 1997 to 4.8% in 2010; in rural localities, from 16.9% to 6.1%; and in refugee camps, from 13.5% to 5.4% over the same period.

In 2010, the lowest illiteracy rate among males was in rural localities at 2.2%, followed by males in urban localities at 2.4% and in refugee camps at 2.9%. Female illiteracy rates were highest in rural localities at 10.1%, followed by refugee camps at 7.8% and urban localities at 7.3%, it said.

The highest illiteracy rate of 54.4% was among individuals aged 65 years and over compared with other age groups, while it was 0.8% among individuals aged 15 - 24 years. The highest illiteracy rate in 2010 among individuals aged 15 years and over was in Tubas governorate, where illiteracy rate reached 7.5%, followed by Jericho and the Jordan valley governorate at 7.0%. The lowest rate was in Gaza governorate at 3.4%.

In the Palestinian Territory, there were 120,402 illiterate individuals aged 15 years and over in 2010: 79,548 of them in the West Bank and 40,854 in the Gaza Strip. They comprised 28,478 males and 91,924 females and were distributed as follows: 81,984 in urban localities, 26,149 in rural localities and 12,269 in refugee camps.

M.H./F.J.