Agencies-Gaza post
PCBS explains Palestinian children’s situation on Palestinian Child Day
PCBS, President of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, H.E. Dr. Ola Awad, emphasized the Palestinian children’s situation on the Occasion of Palestinian Child Day marking Tuesday 05/04/2022:
Almost half of the Palestinian society are children
The estimated number of children (under 18 years) is expected to be 2.35 million in Palestine by mid-2022, with 1.20 million males and 1.15 million females. Children in Palestine represent 43.9% of the total population (41.7% in the West Bank, and 47.3% in the Gaza Strip).
Significant progress in completing the process of birth registration
Birth registration is an important step toward protecting individual rights and providing access to justice and social services for every person. Data showed that the percentage of births under 5 years of age registered in Palestine reached 99.2% in the civil registry in 2019, where it was 98.9% in the West Bank and 99.5% in Gaza Strip.
12 % of marriage contracts were for females under 18 years old
Data showed that there is a decline in the percentage of early marriage (for those under the age of 18) for both sexes, where it reached 11.9% of the total number of registered marriages among females in 2020 (4.3% in the West Bank and 19.3% in Gaza Strip) compared with 24% in 2010. Whereas, the percentage of early marriage among males under 18 years old reached 0.5% of the total number of registered marriages in 2020 compared to 2% in 2010.
Child labor in the age group (10-17 years) in the West Bank is higher than in Gaza Strip
Data showed that the percentage of employed children (paid or unpaid) reached about 2.5% of the total number of children (10-17 years) in 2021: 3.8% in the West Bank and 0.9% in the Gaza Strip (4.8% male children and 0.2% female children).
Moreover, the percentage of children enrolled in schools and engaged in the labor market reached 0.9% (1.5% in the West Bank and 0.2% in Gaza Strip). As for gender distribution, the percentage was 1.7% for male children and 0.1% for female children in 2021.
41.6% of children aged (10-17 years) working in Palestine are wage employees, and the percentage of those working as unpaid family members reached 47.2%.
About a quarter of the population in Palestine are school students
The number of school students for the scholastic year 2020/2021 in Palestine reached about 1.34 million students, out of which 1.078 million were students in the elementary stage (50.8% males and 49.2% females), 260 thousand students in the secondary stage (45.0% males and 55.0% females).
The percentage of literate females is significantly higher than males
52.7% of children aged (7-14) years demonstrate basic reading skills[1]; of which 47.8% for males while it was 57.3% for females during 2019/2020. In the West Bank, 57.6% of the children were successful in obtaining basic reading skills while this percentage declined to 47.0% in Gaza Strip.
The percentage of children with basic numeracy skills in the West Bank is higher than in Gaza Strip
45.8% of children aged 7-14 years have basic numeracy skills in 2019/2020 with no difference between males and females. While 53.7% of the children in the West Bank were successful in obtaining basic numeracy skills compared to 36.6% in Gaza Strip.
The majority of children were exposed to physical and/or psychological punishment
Nine out of ten (90.1%) children aged (1-14 years) were exposed to physical and/or psychological punishment in 2019/2020 from caregivers (father, mother, other caregivers), of which 92.3% among males and 87.9% among females;92.3% in Gaza Strip and 88.3% in the West Bank.
78 martyrs were children in 2021
According to the records of the Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP), 78 children (under 18 years) were martyred in 2021, 17 child martyrs in the West Bank, and 61 child martyrs in the Gaza Strip. When distributed according to age groups there are 26 children aged (0-8 years), 17 children aged (9-12 years), 20 children aged (13-15 years), and 15 children aged (16-17 years).
160 children are detained in the Israeli prisons
Data from the Palestinian Prisoners Society indicated that the number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the Israeli occupation prisons reached about 4,400 prisoners by the end of February 2022, including 160 children, representing 3.6% of the total number of prisoners. As they are still in detention, they are deprived of their childhood, including continuing their studies, in addition to being subjected to violations during arrest, which violates the regulations and conducts of the International Law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Source: Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
