Palestinians to Outnumber Jews in Israel and Palestine in 2 Years

By the end of the decade, there are projected to be 7.13 million Palestinians, compared to 6.96 million Jews, in Israel and Palestine.

New estimates show that high Palestinian birth rates, are set to equal the number of Jews in Israel and Palestine by late 2017, Haaretz daily reported.

According to a recent report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, currently, the number of Palestinian residents of Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is about 6.22 million.

Palestinians worldwide are estimated to number some 12.37 million, with 5.46 million living in Arab countries, 2.9 million in the West Bank, 1.85 in the Gaza Strip, 1.47 million in Israel proper, and approximately 685,000 in non-Arab countries.

With a birth rate of 4.1 among Palestinian women in Palestine (in years 2011-2013) and 3.2 in Israel (in 2014), parity with the Jewish population is projected to be reached by the end of 2017. By 2020, Palestinians are to outnumber Jews by some 170,000, the report indicated.

The report reveals that the Palestinian population in Israel is significantly youthful, with over one third below 15 years of age and less than five percent above 65 (for 2014).

The size of Palestinian households in Gaza and the West Bank was 5.7 and 4.9 people respectively (also in 2014), according to the report, compared to 3.6 people for Israeli Jews on average (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics data).