Palestinian

: The term "Palestinian" has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian.

Palestinian demographics

While the largest single population of Palestinians is found in the lands which constituted British Mandate of Palestine, over half of Palestinians live elsewhere as refugees and emigrants. In the absence of actual censuses, counting large populations is very difficult. However, the world-wide distribution of Palestinians in 2001, according to estimates collated by the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, were as follows.

Related Topics:
British Mandate of Palestine - Refugees - Emigrant - Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs

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Country or Region Population

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West Bank and Gaza Strip 3,700,000

Related Topics:
West Bank - Gaza Strip

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Israel (see note below)1,213,000

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Jordan2,598,000

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Lebanon388,000

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Syria395,000

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Saudi Arabia287,000

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Gulf states152,000

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Egypt58,000

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Other Arab states113,000

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The Americas216,000

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Other countries275,000

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TOTAL9,395,000

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• Note: The Palestinian population in East Jerusalem, numbering around 200,000, may have been counted as part of "West Bank and Gaza Strip" as well as "Israel", thus creating a duplication.

In Jordan today, there is no official census data about how many of the inhabitants of Jordan are Palestinians; estimates range from 50% to 80%. Some political researchers attribute this to the Jordanian policy of not further widening the gap between the two main population groups in Jordan: its original Bedouin population that holds most of the administrative posts and the Palestinians who are predominant in the economy.

Related Topics:
Jordan - Bedouin

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The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics announced on October 20, 2004 that the number of Palestinians worldwide at the end of 2003 is 9.6 million, an increase of 800,000 since 2001. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1098331917664&p=1078397702269

Related Topics:
October 20 - 2004 - 2003 - 2001

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Refugees

See Palestinian refugees for more detail.

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4,255,120 Palestinians are registered as refugees with UNRWA; this number includes the descendants of refugees from the 1948 war, but excludes those who have emigrated to areas outside of the UNRWA's remit http://www.un.org/unrwa/publications/pdf/rr_countryandarea.pdf. Thus, if the estimates above are correct, almost half of all Palestinians are registered refugees.

Related Topics:
Refugees - UNRWA

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Religions

The British census of 1922 counted 752,048 in the British Mandate of Palestine, comprising 589,177 Muslims, 83,790 Jews, 71,464 Christians and 7,617 persons belonging to other groups. If we exclude the Jewish population (although at the time a significant proportion of them would have been considered Palestinian), this implies 88% Muslim, 11% Christian, and 1% other. However, the British censuses are believed by some to have significantly undercounted the Bedouin.

Related Topics:
British Mandate of Palestine - Muslim - Jew - Christian - Bedouin

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Currently, no reliable data is available for the worldwide Palestinian population; Bernard Sabella of Bethlehem University estimates it as 6% Christianhttp://www.al-bushra.org/holyland/sabella.htm. However, within the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, the Palestinian population is 97% Muslim and 3% Christian; there are also about 300 Samaritans and a few thousand Jews from the Neturei Karta group who consider themselves Palestinian. Within Israel, 68% of the non-Jewish population is Muslim, 9% Christian, 7% Druze, and 15% "other".

Related Topics:
Bethlehem - Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs - Muslim - Samaritan - Neturei Karta - Druze

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