The Central Bureau of Statistics said that illiteracy rates in Palestine are among the lowest in the world (2.2% among individuals 15 years and over) for the year 2022.

The Census indicated in a press release today, Thursday, on the occasion of International Literacy Day, that the illiteracy rate among Palestinian individuals aged 15 years and over in the 1948 lands reached 3.6% in 2017, according to the data of the Galilee Association (Rikaz).

The United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization "UNESCO" defines an illiterate person as a person who cannot read and write a simple sentence about his daily life.

While the illiteracy rate among individuals 15 years and over in the countries of West Asia and North Africa reached 19.5% in 2020, according to the data of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, at a rate of 25.1% among females compared to 14.2% among males. In the same year, the global illiteracy rate among individuals reached 15 13.3% years and over, with a rate of 16.7% among females, while the illiteracy rate among males (15 years and over) in the world reached 9.9%.

The data indicated a significant decrease in the illiteracy rate since 1997, as the illiteracy rate among Palestinians aged 15 years and over decreased from 13.9% in 1997 to 2.2% in 2022, and this trend of decline applies to both sexes, as the rate among males decreased from 7.8% in 1997 to 1.1% in 2022, while among females it decreased from 20.3% to 3.3% in the same period.

At the regional level, the rate decreased in the West Bank from 14.1% in 1997 to 4.2% in 2022, while it decreased in the Gaza Strip from 13.7% to 1.8% in the same period.

The distribution of illiterates varies according to age groups, as the age group 65 years and over recorded the highest rate of illiteracy, while the age group (30-44 years) recorded the lowest rate, and the illiteracy rate among the elderly 65 years and over reached 21.5% (about 39 thousand illiterate men and women ) in 2022, reaching 2.4% for the age group (45-64 years) (about 17 thousand illiterate men and women), and 0.7% for the age group (30-44 years) (about 7 thousand illiterate men and women), while this rate reached among young people (15-29 years) 0.6% (about 9 thousand illiterate men and women) in the same year.

The illiteracy rate in rural communities was 2.9% (about 15,000 illiterate men and women), 2.3% in camps (about 6,000 illiterate men and women), and 2.0% in urban communities (about 51,000 illiterate men and women) in 2022.