RAMALLAH, November 2, 2011 (WAFA) – Palestinian population in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip is expected to reach 4.2 million, out of 11 million Palestinians worldwide, as world population hit the 7 billion mark, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said on Tuesday.

It said that while Palestinians who remained in the West Bank and Gaza following the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war and the resulting Israeli occupation of these territories was only one million, this figure increased to 2.9 million in 1997 and 3.8 million in 2007 at a growth rate of 2.8%.

The PCBS expected population figures to reach 5.4 million by 2020 and then 6.1 million in 2025.

Of the 4.2 million, 1.6 million live in the Gaza Strip on an area that does not exceed 365 square kilometers.

“The high population density in the Gaza Strip is an impediment to development,” said PCBS director Ola Awad in a press conference.

She said 693 people live on one square kilometer of area in the Palestinian Territory, divided into 456 people per square kilometer in the West Bank and 4353 people per square kilometer in the Gaza Strip.

More than 45% of West Bank area and 24% of the Gaza Strip is under Israeli military control deeming them off limits to Palestinians.

About 41% of the Palestinian population is under the age of 15 years, but this rate is going to drop to 39% in 2015 and 35% in 2025, predicted the PCBS.

Palestinians between the age of 15 and 29 years make up 30% of the overall population, or 1.2 million, and is expected to remain the same in percentage but will increase in number as population figures rise in the next decade.

M.S.