t mortality rate: 21.24 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: 74.29 years (2002 est.) male: Total fertility
rate: 4.77 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 83%, Jewish 17%

Religions: Muslim 75% (predominantly Sunni), Jewish 17%, Christian and
other 8%

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

Literacy: definition: NA total population: NA% male: NA% female: NA%

Government West Bank

Country name: conventional long form: none conventional short form:
West Bank

Economy West Bank

Economy - overview: Economic output in the West Bank is governed
by the Paris Economic Protocol of April 1994 between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority. Real per capita GDP for the West Bank and
Gaza Strip (WBGS) declined by about one-third between 1992 and 1996
due to the combined effect of falling aggregate incomes and rapid
population growth. The downturn in economic activity was largely the
result of Israeli closure policies - the imposition of border closures
in response to security incidents in Israel - which disrupted labor
and commodity market relationships between Israel and the WBGS. The
most serious social effect of this downturn was rising 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
during the next five years decreased 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,
which triggered tight Israeli closures of Palestinian self-rule areas
and severely disrupted trade and labor movements. In 2001, and even
more severely in 2002, internal turmoil and Israeli military measures
in Palestinian Authority areas have resulted in the destruction of much
capital plant and administrative structure, widespread business closures,
and a sharp drop in GDP. Another major loss has been the decline in
earnin