Gaza Strip: Population explosion

As the world marked the birth of the seven billionth baby on Sunday, Palestinian experts say population in the Gaza Strip is expect to double within 20 years.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said that the number of people on the planet passed the 7 billion sometime on Sunday.

Despite a significant decrease in the birth rate in wealthy countries, the earth’s population has doubled in the past 50 years.

According to UNFPA, the population is expected to continue to rapidly increase during the next 50 years.

Gaza is home to 1.7 million people, three-quarters whom are U.N.-registered refugees crammed into a space measuring 360 square kilometers, or 140 square miles.

"There is no space. We are not living in a good situation. The number of people continues to grow and there is no space," said Gazan Khalil Ahmed, a Gaza resident.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the area’s annual growth rate of 3.3 percent; the world’s average growth rate is 1.4 percent.

Ola Awad, head of the statistics bureau, warns that the population in Gaza will exceed 2 million by 2020.

"Gaza is one of the most densely populated parts of the planet, so a rise in population in such a confined community is going to have an enormous impact. We already have a situation where unemployment is very high, where there is not proper drinking water, where there is a crisis in every part of the population’s life,” said UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness. “So the increase in population in Gaza will be, I think, more acutely felt than in many other parts of the world because it is so densely populated.”
Basma Daka, a 24-year-old Gazan, is due to give birth to her second child in two months.

“Due to the situation we are living in Gaza the future of our children is unclear, and not like other children in the world. He will not have the same right of education if we compare him to children in other countries. He will not get the best education. He will lose his right of play unlike children in other Arab countries," Daka added.

Gaza's United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) reported that the current conflict is preventing women from asserting themselves in regard to their reproductive right.