On the occasion of the International Children’s Day, 20/11/2016: Investing in the children of Palestine is an urgent need for sustainable development to face the Israeli violations against them
About half the population are children
The estimated number of children less than 18 years old mid 2016 is about 2,207,535 children in Palestine, representing about 45.8% of the population, of whom 1,127,283 males and 1,080,252 females, the number of male children in the West Bank totaled 650,709 and the number of female children totaled 624,320 while in Gaza Strip, the number of males totaled about 476,574 while the number of females amounted to 455,932. Where children constituted 49.6% of the population of the Gaza Strip against 43.4% of the total population of the West Bank.
Estimates of the number of children by age groups, region and sex, mid-year, 2016
| Gaza Strip | West Bank | Age Groups | ||
| Females | Males | Females | Males | |
| 154,759 | 161,903 | 196,215 | 205,211 | 4–0 |
| 126,326 | 131,875 | 172,333 | 178,971 | 9–5 |
| 112,215 | 117,537 | 161,417 | 167,974 | 14-10 |
| 62,632 | 65,259 | 94,355 | 98,553 | 17-15 |
400 children are still in Israeli jails
According to  the Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP), data indicated that 2,634 children were arrested
during the year 2015, in addition to 1,260 children were arrested during the first four months of the year 2016, where 400 children are still in prison other than those who entered youth stage during their stay in Israeli jails.
31 children martyrs
According to records of the Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP), there were 31 children martyrs during the 2015 and 32 children martyrs during the first ten months of 2016.
Forced displacement of children
About 2,500 citizens lost their homes as they were subject to the demolition policy of occupation among of them are children. During the first half of the year 2016, where 279 homes were demolished and housing units in addition to the demolition of 341 establishments.
About four thousand orphaned children only are covered by social sponsorship in the West Bank
The number of the sponsored children by the UAE Red Crescent in the West Bank* reached 3,967 children, and the highest number of sponsored children was in the Hebron governorate as it reached 1,095. Â Â In another aspect, the number of children who were referred to behavior control units in the West Bank, totaled 1,481 children, while the number of children who were admitted to the Dar Al-Amal Institution for Rehabilitation and Protection (Ministry of Social Development) was (160) children in 2015.
Children in the labor market
4.5% of the total number of children aged 10-17 years were working with or without pay in 2015; 5.7% in West Bank and 2.8% in Gaza Strip. The number of male children engaged in work was higher than working females as follows: 8.5% of male children compared to 0.4% of female children.
The proportion of children attending school and also engaged in child labor was 2.3% (2.8% in West Bank and 1.4% in Gaza Strip).
In 2015, the average of daily wage for working children aged 10-17 years reached 48.7 NIS and the weekly working hours were 44.4.
Drop-out rate from elementary school higher among males
The number of students for 2015/2016 academic year in Palestine reached to about 1.193 million students, (1.053 million in the elementary level and 140 thousands in the secondary level). Â While the number of children enrolled in kindergarten in the same academic year arrived at about 141 thousands boy and girl.
The drop-out rate from elementary school for the 2014/2015 academic year was 1.5% among male children compared to 1.1% among females. Â In the secondary level, the rate was 2.1% of males compared to 1.8% of females.
Failure rate at elementary schools during 2014/2015 was 1.2% of males and 0.9% of females. At the secondary level, the rate was 0.4% of males and 0.3% of females.
