Gaza Population Reaches 1.4 Million

The census found that as of 2007 the population of the territory had reached 1,416,543 compared to 1,022,207 in 1997, with an estimated annual growth rate of 3.3 percent.

"Assuming a stable growth during the coming years, the Gaza Strip population will double in 21 years," said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which carried out the census.

The average family size across Gaza has declined, however, from 6.9 household members to 6.5, according to the census.

The population of the impoverished coastal territory remains overwhelmingly young, with 48.3 percent of residents under 15 years of age. In 1997 50.2 percent of residents were under 15.

The majority of Gaza residents are UN-registered refugees from what is now Israel, constituting 67.9 percent of the population, a slight increase from 1997 when refugees made up 65.1 percent.

The census found increasing literacy in Gaza, with 5.5 percent of the population over 10 years old listed as illiterate in 2007 compared to 11.3 percent in 1997.

The preliminary results from the census released in February 2008 put the entire Palestinian population in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem at 3,761,646.

Most Palestinians, 2,345,107, live in the West Bank, an increase of 30 percent in 10 years. The statistics bureau has not yet released final results on the West Bank or east Jerusalem.