Illiteracy rates among individuals aged 15 years and over in the Palestinian Territory fell in the period 1997-2010 from 13.9% to 5.1%. The illiteracy rate varies considerably between the sexes: 2.4% for males compared to 7.8% for females. For males, it decreased from 7.8% in 1997 to 2.4% in 2010, while for females it decreased from 20.3% to 7.8% over the same period.
Illiteracy rates vary according to locality. Illiteracy rates in urban localities decreased from 12.4% in 1997 to 4.8% in 2010, from 16.9% to 6.1% in rural localities, and from 13.5% to 5.4% in refugee camps over the same period. In 2010, the lowest illiteracy rate among males was in rural localities (2.2%), followed by males in urban localities (2.4%), and in refugee camps (2.9%). Female illiteracy rates were highest in rural localities (10.1%), followed by refugee camps (7.8%), and urban localities (7.3%).
The highest illiteracy rate of 54.4% was among individuals aged 65 years and over compared with other age groups, while it was 0.8% among individuals aged 15-24 years.
The highest illiteracy rate in 2010 among individuals aged 15 years and over was in
Tubas governorate (7.5%), followed by Jericho and Al-Aghwar governorate at (7.0%). The lowest rate was in Gaza governorate (3.4%).
In the Palestinian Territory, there were 120,402 illiterate individuals aged 15 years and over in 2010: 79,548 of them in the West Bank and 40,854 in the Gaza Strip. They comprise 28,478 males and 91,924 females and were distributed as follows: 81,984 in urban localities, 26,149 in rural localities, and 12,269 in refugee camps.
