Gaza _ Palestine News Network
The widening social and economic gap between the Palestinian families between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on the one hand, and between the cities and the countryside in the West Bank on the other hand, is the most striking result of the most recent surveys of the Central Statistical Agency.
According to the results of the survey of the social and economic conditions and food security of the family of 2018, announced by the Central Statistics Authority, on Monday, at a press conference in the city of Ramallah, in a local and international presence, 31% of the families have received assistance, local or foreign, during the 12 months , the percentage in the Gaza Strip rises to 69%, compared to 10% in the West Bank.
Food accounted for the largest share of aid, with 55% of total aid, compared to 26% in cash assistance, and the agency´s first source of aid was 35%, compared to 25% for the Ministry of Social Development and 4% from other ministries.
The large gap between the West Bank and Gaza has appeared in all other social and economic indicators, with the survey showing that one third of Palestinian households received some type of loan and banking facilities, most of which were used for consumer purposes, with 21% of households in the West Bank and 53% of Families in the Gaza Strip.
The survey showed that 54% of households in the Gaza Strip suffer from disruption of water service, 51% of households are unable to pay for treatment, compared to 10% in the West Bank, and 31% of households in the Gaza Strip are unable to receive health care due to lack of supplies, equipment and equipments, compared to 7% in the West Bank.
In terms of income, the survey results show that 64% of households in Palestine have income from salaries and wages, compared to 9% for non-farm family projects, agricultural plant activities, 6% of animal farming activity, and 8% of households have worked on special economic projects, while 36% of households in the Gaza Strip lost Its income, wholly or partly, during the past 12 months, compared to 6% in the West Bank.
"The gap in social and economic indicators and food security is not limited to the difference between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but there is a clear gap between the cities and the countryside in the West Bank itself," said the head of the Central Bureau of Statistics Ola Awad.
She added: Compared to the results of the 2017 survey, there is progress in the social and economic indicators and food security of families in the cities of the West Bank, which has been further degraded in the Gaza Strip as well as in the rural areas of the bank itself, especially the designated areas (c) ".
"This calls for interventions to improve these indicators on the one hand and bridge the regional divide on the other, whether by the Government, civil society institutions, the private sector or international institutions," she said.
Awad said that this year´s survey targeted, for the first time, the same target in the previous two survey cycles of 2013 and 2015, which contributed to providing a comprehensive database on the reality of targeted Palestinian families for three consecutive sessions, allowing researchers and stakeholders to analyze the indicators in a detailed manner. To monitor the extent of changes in target families for all indicators covered by the survey.
She explained that the survey aims to provide detailed data on some indicators, most notably: The household consumption pattern, the methods used by families to withstand and adapt to their economic conditions, including the assistance they receive, the reality of the suffering of the Palestinian individual, as well as the indicators related to the objectives Sustainable development, the most important of which is the prevalence of food insecurity, which will help to provide the Government, its various institutions, United Nations agencies and other local, regional and international institutions with the data needed to guide plans, programmes, interventions and policies, serving The interest of Palestinian families, in addition to contributing to the updating of the database of indicators of sustainable development and the statistical control system to respond to the
