Gaza population boom looms large
Number of people set to more than double in 30 years
GAZA // Gaza’s population will more than double in about 30 years, signalling more serious economic problems ahead for Palestinians in the small enclave if the conflict with Israel is not resolved, a United Nations official said yesterday.
Andres Thomsen of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said that without easing Israel’s Gaza blockade, “it will be very hard to imagine that you can create the right conditions for economic growth that can accommodate this dramatic population increase”. He was commenting on a UNFPA report examining demographic changes and opportunities for development in the Gaza Strip and Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The report forecast an increase in Gaza’s population from 2 million to 4.8 million in 2050, outpacing that of the West Bank, where the number of people is predicted to rise from the current 2.9 million to 4.7 million.
Mr Thomsen said that by 2030, there would be 1.3 million addi- tional people in Gaza and that meeting their needs would be challenging.
Gaza, where Israel and Hamas last fought a war in 2014, needs thousands of homes and hundreds of schools and medical centres, aid officials said.
But without a peace agreement with Israel, “political instability and the occupation will remain the primary obstacles to making development gains”, the report said. Peace talks broke down in 2014.
The World Bank has also cited a nearly 50 per cent decrease in foreign support for the Palestin- ian Authority in the past three years as a factor in what it has described as a worrying Palestinian economic outlook.
Overall, the Palestinian economy is expected to grow at about 3.5 per cent in the coming years. Mr Thomsen, UNFPA’s representative in the Palestinian territories, said that with unemployment in Gaza at 43 per cent and 18 per cent in the West Bank, a million jobs must be created in both areas by 2030 to prevent those figures from worsening as populations grow.
“To do that, you need to have targeted investments in young people, in women who will enter the labour market,” he said, calling for a “serious dialogue with Israel and others about how the Israeli blockade can slowly and gradually be lifted”.
Israel said it has eased restrictions on overland movement of goods into Gaza but a naval blockade must remain to prevent weapons-smuggling.
Egypt, which is at odds with Hamas, keeps its Gaza border largely closed.
Gaza will have 1.3 million more residents by the year 2030