Family Structure in the West Bank : Analytical Study of the Population Census Data for the Year 2007

Abstract

This paper studies the compositional structure of the family in the West

Bank depending of the population census data for the year 2007. This study

has tackled a number of variants that form the elements of this research. The

following results were concluded.

1. The average family size has dropped from 6.1 members in 1997 to 5.5

members in 2007.

2. The average family size in the various governorates was very close to that

of the West Bank.

3. The average family size in the rural area was a bit higher than that in the

cities or refugee camps (5.7 members in the rural area against 5.4 in the

city and 5.5 in the refugee camps).

4. Families that consist of 4-6 members formed the highest number among

other families. It was 41.7%.

5. Nuclear families were most common and formed 81.7% from the total

number of family.

6. At the educational level, parents of children in the two stages preparatory

(25.4%) and elementary (21.1%) were the majority among other

families.

7. The average number of young members in each family dropped from 2.75

to 2.22 in 2007.

8. The study revealed that 79.8% of the families in West Bank have no

members above 60 years of age.

9. The study also revealed that 11% of the families have no economically

active members, and these families depend on other income resources.