t.) male: Total fertility
rate: 6.29 children born/woman (2002 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: NA total population: NA% male: NA% female: NA%

Government Gaza Strip

Country name: conventional long form: none conventional short form:
Gaza Strip local long form: none local short form: Qita Ghazzah

Economy Gaza Strip

Economy - overview: Economic output in the Gaza Strip - under the
responsibility of the Palestinian Authority since the Cairo Agreement of
May 1994 - declined by about one-third between 1992 and 1996. The downturn
was largely the result of Israeli closure policies - the imposition
of generalized border closures in response to security incidents in
Israel - which disrupted previously established labor and commodity
market relationships between Israel and the WBGS (West Bank and Gaza
Strip). The most serious negative social effect of this downturn was
the emergence of high unemployment; unemployment in the WBGS during the
1980s was generally under 5%; by 1995 it had risen to over 20%. Israel's
use of comprehensive closures decreased during the next few years and,
in 1998, Israel implemented new policies to reduce the impact of closures
and other security procedures on the movement of Palestinian goods and
labor. These changes fueled an almost three-year-long economic recovery
in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; real GDP grew by 5% in 1998 and 6%
in 1999. Recovery was upended in the last quarter of 2000 with the
outbreak of Palestinian violence, triggering tight Israeli closures of
Palestinian self-rule areas and a severe disruption of trade and labor
movements. In 2001, and even more severely in early 2002, internal turmoil
and Israeli military measures in Palestinian Authority areas resulted in
the destruction of capital plant and administrative structure, widespread
business closures, and a sharp drop in GDP. Another major loss has been
the decline in income earned by Palestinian workers in Israel.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $750 million (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: -35% (2001 est.)

GDP