ABSTRACT
The world Palestinian population at the end of 1989 was estimated at 5.18m. The rate of natural increase of the Palestinian population at the end of the 1980s was estimated at 32–36 per thousand. Population growth among the Palestinians in the occupied territories and in Israel was at the heart of extensive public debate during the late 1980s. The late 1980s and 1990 were years of economic crisis for major Palestinian communities, primarily those in the territories, but also in Jordan, Kuwait and Israel. The most recent census covering the entire Palestinian population was conducted by the mandatory government in Palestine in 1931. The Palestinian communities in the Arab states apparently did not experience a decline in natural increase rate in the late 1980s.
