temperate, mild winters, dry and warm to hot summers

Terrain:
flat to rolling, sand- and dune-covered coastal plain

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point: Abu 'Awdah (Joz Abu 'Auda) 105 m

Natural resources:
arable land, natural gas

Land use:
arable land: 28.95%
permanent crops: 21.05%
other: 50% (2001)

Irrigated land:
120 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
droughts

Environment - current issues:
desertification; salination of fresh water; sewage treatment;
water-borne disease; soil degradation; depletion and contamination
of underground water resources

Geography - note:
there are 25 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the
Gaza Strip (February 2002 est.)

People Gaza Strip

Population:
1,376,289
note: in addition, there are more than 5,000 Israeli settlers in the
Gaza Strip (July 2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 48.5% (male 342,186/female 325,899)
15-64 years: 48.8% (male 342,927/female 329,354)
65 years and over: 2.6% (male 15,036/female 20,887) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 15.65 years
male: 15.5 years
female: 15.81 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate:
3.77% (2005 est.)

Birth rate:
40.03 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate:
3.87 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate:
1.54 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female
total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 22.93 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 24.05 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 21.76 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.79 years
male: 70.5 years
female: 73.15 years (2005 est.)

Total fertility rate:
5.91 children born/woman (2005 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
NA

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

Nationality:
noun: NA
adjective: NA

Ethnic groups:
Palestinian Arab and other 99.4%, Jewish 0.6%

Religions:
Muslim (predominantly Sunni) 98.7%, Christian 0.7%, Jewish 0.6%

Languages:
Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians),
English (widely understood)

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write