Total Palestinian Population Worldwide
(2021)
More than three-fourths of all Palestinians live in the area of Palestine as it was known in 1920. The entire area was allocated for a Jewish national home at the San Remo Conference in 1920. The British subsequently carved out roughly four-fifths of Palestine in 1921 to create Transjordan. The remaining area was divided into Jewish and Arab states in the UN partition plan. The Arab invasion in 1948 prevented the implementation of partition with Israel claiming most of the territory from the British mandate and Transjordan occupying what is now referred to as the West Bank. Israel captured those areas in the 1967 War and they are now disputed.
The majority of the population of Jordan today is Palestinian. Approximately 21% of the Israeli population is Arab, most of whom identify as Palestinians. Nearly five million Palestinians live in the disputed territories.
% of Total | ||
Total | 13,400,000 | |
Jordan | 3,240,000 | 24% |
West Bank | 2,949,246 | 22% |
Gaza Strip | 1,957,062 | 15% |
Total in disputed territories | 4,906,308 | 37% |
Israel | 1,982,0008 | 15% |
Total in historic Palestine | 10,128,308 | 76% |
Total outside historic Palestine | 5,253,692 | 39% |
Sources: Qais Abu Samra, “Palestinian population double ninefold since Nakba,” Anadolu, (May 13, 2020).
Palestine in Figures 2020, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, (March 2021).
The World Fact Book, CIA, (2021).
Ofer Aderet, “On Jewish New Year’s Eve, Israel's Population Reaches 9.4 Million,” Haaretz, (September 5, 2021).
“Palestinian diaspora,” Wikipedia.