On the occasion of International Literacy Day, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) published a report saying Palestine has one of the world's highest literacy rates.
Illiteracy rates among Palestinian population aged 15 years and above in Palestine fell in the period from 13.9% in 1997 to 2.8% in 2018, said the PCBS report.
For males, the rate fell from 7.8% in 1997 to 1.3% in 2018, while for females it fell from 20.3% to 4.3% over the same period.
By region, the rate fell from 14.1% in 1997 to 3.0% in 2018 in the West Bank while the rate fell in the Gaza Strip from 13.7% in 1997 to 2.4% over the same period.
The illiteracy rate varies considerably between age groups, where the age group 65 years and above got the highest rate, while the lowest rate was among the age groups 30-44 years and 15-29 years.
In 2018, the illiteracy rate among rural locales reached 3.7% (18,000 illiterate persons), while scored 2.8% in the refugee camps (7,100 illiterate persons) and 2.6% (57,700 illiterate persons) in urban areas. In 2018, the female illiteracy rate was the highest in rural localities, followed by refugee camps and urban areas respectively. Male illiteracy rate did not vary by type of locality.
In 2018, the highest illiteracy rate among persons aged 15 years and above was in the Salfit governorate with 5.4%, followed by Jericho and Al Aghwar with 3.9%. The lowest rate was in Gaza governorate with 2%.
By gender, the highest illiteracy rate among males aged 15 years and above was in Jerusalem governorate with 2.9% while the highest illiteracy rate among females for the same age group was in Salfit with 9.2%.
