ertility rate: 7.46 children born/woman (1999 est.)

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: NA

Government

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

Data code: GZ

Economy

Economy--overview: Economic conditions in the Gaza Strip?under the
responsibility of the Palestinian Authority since the Cairo
Agreement of May 1994--have deteriorated since the early 1990s. Real
per capita GDP for the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS) declined 36%
between 1992 and 1996 owing to the combined effect of falling
aggregate incomes and robust population growth. The downturn in
economic activity 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. The most serious negative social effect of this
downturn has been the emergence of chronic unemployment; average
unemployment rates in the WBGS during the 1980s were generally under
5%, by the mid-1990s this level had risen to over 20%. Since 1997
Israel's use of comprehensive closures has 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 positive changes to the conduct of economic activity,
combined with international donor pledges of over $3 billion made to
the Palestinian Authority in November, may fuel a moderate economic
recovery in 1999.

GDP: purchasing power parity--$1.1 billion (1998 est.)

GDP--real growth rate: 2.2% (1998 est.)

GDP--per capita: purchasing power parity?$1,000 (1998 est.)

GDP--composition by sector:
agriculture: 33%
industry: 25%
services: 42% (1995 est., includes West Bank)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8.8% (1997 est.)

Labor force: NA
note: excluding Israeli settlers

Lab