Two thirds of Palestinian refugees in West Bank, Gaza unemployed

 Around two thirds of the Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are unemployed, an official Palestinian statistical report published on Monday said.

The report issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistic (PCBS) to mark the International day of refugees which coincided on Monday showed the rates of unemployment among Palestinian refugees reached 32.3 percent in 2015.

It said the percentage of labor power participation of refugees aged 15 years old and up living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip had reached 46.1 percent and 45.6 percent for non-refugees.

The PCBS report also said according to the records of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) issued in January 2015, the number of Palestinian refugees reached 5.6 million.

Palestinian refugees in the West Bank represent 16.9 percent and the refugees in Gaza represent 24.1 percent. Palestinian refugees in Jordan represent 39.6 percent, 8.8 percent in Lebanon and 10.6 percent in Syria.

The PCBS report said 41.6 percent of the Palestinian refugees live in the Palestinian territories, where 26.3 percent of the West Bank populations are refugees and 67.7 of the Gaza Strip populations are refugees.

On June 20, the world marks the day of refugees and devotes the day for previewing the hardships and problems that refugees allover the world pass through.