Background: From the early 16th century through 1917 the area now known as the West Bank fell under Ottoman rule. Following World War I the Allied powers (France UK Russia) allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine. After World War II the UN passed a resolution to establish two states within the Mandate and designated a territory including what is now known as the West Bank as part of the proposed Arab state. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the area was captured by Transjordan (later renamed Jordan). Jordan annexed the West Bank in 1950. In June 1967 Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli-Jordanian border zone the West Bank has remained under Israeli military control. Under a series of agreements signed between 1994 and 1999 Israel transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA) security and civilian responsibility for many Palestinian-populated areas of the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip. Negotiations to determine the permanent status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip stalled after the outbreak of an intifada in mid- 2000. In early 2003 the 'Quartet' of the US EU UN and Russia presented a roadmap to a final peace settlement by 2005 calling for two states - Israel and a democratic Palestine. Following Palestinian leader Yasir ARAFAT's death in late 2004 and the subsequent election of Mahmud ABBAS (head of the Fatah political party) as the PA president Israel and the PA agreed to move the peace process forward. Israel in late 2005 unilaterally withdrew all of its settlers and soldiers and dismantled its military facilities in the Gaza Strip and redeployed its military from several West Bank settlements but continues to control maritime airspace and other access. In early 2006 the Islamic Resistance Movement HAMAS won the Palestinian Legislative Council election and took control of the PA government. Attempts to form a unity government failed and violent clashes between Fatah and HAMAS supporters ensued culminating in HAMAS's violent seizure of all military and governmental institutions in the Gaza Strip. Fatah and HAMAS in early 2011 agreed to reunify the Gaza Strip and West Bank but the factions have struggled to implement details on governance and security. The status quo remains with HAMAS in control of the Gaza Strip and the PA governing the West Bank. Since the collapse of direct talks between the Israelis and Palestinians in late 2010 President ABBAS has reaffirmed that he will not resume negotiations until Israel halts all settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Geographic coordinates: 32 00 N 35 15 E

Area
Rank: 172
Land: 5,640 km²
Water: 220 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than Delaware

Land boundaries
Border countries: (2) Israel 307 km; Jordan 97 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

Climate: temperate; temperature and precipitation vary with altitude warm to hot summers cool to mild winters

Terrain: mostly rugged dissected upland some vegetation in west but barren in east

Elevation
Extremes highest point: Tall Asur 1022 m

Natural resources: arable land

Land use
Permanent crops: 10.96%
Other: 81.64% (2011)

Irrigated land: 240 km²; note - includes Gaza Strip (2003)

Natural hazards: droughts

Geography
Note: landlocked; highlands are main recharge area for Israel's coastal aquifers; there are about 355 Israeli civilian sites including about 145 small outpost communities in the West Bank and 32 sites in East Jerusalem (2010 est.)

Population: 2,676,740 (July 2013 est.)
Rank: 142
Growth rate: 2.03% (2013 est.)
Growth rate rank: 51
Below poverty line: 18.3% (2010 est.)

Nationality
Adjective: NA

Ethnic groups: Palestinian Arab and other 83% Jewish 17%

Languages: Arabic Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians) English (widely understood)

Religions: Muslim 75% (predominantly Sunni) Jewish 17% Christian and other 8%

Age structure
15-24 years: 21.8% (male 298,875/female 284,545)
25-54 years: 35.9% (male 494,253/female 466,660)
55-64 years: 4.2% (male 55,785/female 55,872)
65 years and over: 3.8% (male 42,119/female 58,705) (2013 est.)

Dependency ratios
Youth dependency ratio: 70.4 %
Elderly dependency ratio: 5.2 %
Potential support ratio: 19.2

Median age
Male: 21.8 years
Female: 22.1 years (2013 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.03% (2013 est.)
Rank: 51

Birth rate: 23.81 births/1000 population (2013 est.)
Rank: 66

Death rate: 3.53 deaths/1000 population (2013 est.)
Rank: 214

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1000 population (2013 est.)
Rank: 107

Urbanization
Rate of urbanization: 3.1% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

Environment
Current issues: adequacy of freshwater supply; sewage treatment

Sex ratio
0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female
Total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2013 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Rank: 120
Male: 15.71 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 12.15 deaths/1000 live births (2013 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Rank: 92
Male: 73.38 years
Female: 77.67 years (2013 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.91 children born/woman (2013 est.)
Rank: 64

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: NA
People living with hivaids: NA
Deaths: NA

Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 2.2% (2007)
Rank: 115

Education expenditures: NA

Literacy
Total population: 95.3%
Male: 97.9%
Female: 92.6%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education
Male: 13 years
Female: 14 years (2006)

Country name
Conventional short form: West Bank

Economy overview: The West Bank - the larger of the two areas comprising the Palestinian territories - has sustained a moderate rate of economic growth since 2008. Inflows of donor aid and government spending have driven most of the gains however. Private sector development has been weak. After a multiyear downturn following the start of the second intifada in 2000 overall standard-of-living measures have recovered and now exceed levels seen in the late 1990s. Despite the Palestinian Authority's (PA) successful implementation of economic and security reforms and the easing of some movement and access restrictions by the Israeli Government Israeli closure policies continue to disrupt labor and trade flows industrial capacity and basic commerce eroding the productive capacity of the West Bank economy. The biggest impediments to economic improvements in the West Bank remain Palestinians' inability to access land and resources in Israeli-controlled areas import and export restrictions and a high-cost capital structure. The PA for the foreseeable future will continue to rely heavily on donor aid for its budgetary needs and West Bank economic activity will depend largely on the PA''s ability to attract such aid.

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Rank: 155

Real gdp growth rate:
Rank: 47

Real gdp per capita: $2,900 (2008 est.)
Rank: 176

Gdp composition by end use
Government consumption: 30.3%
Investment in fixed capital: 17.9%
Investment in inventories: -4.2%
Exports of goods and services: 16.3%
Imports of goods and services: -63.1%: (2012 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Industry: 17.9%
Services: 77.9%

Agriculture products: olives citrus fruit vegetables; beef dairy products

Industries: small-scale manufacturing quarrying textiles soap olive-wood carvings and mother-of-pearl souvenirs

Industrial production growth rate: 5.7%
Rank: 47

Labor force: 982,300 (2012 est.)
Rank: 144
By occupation industry: 28.4%
By occupation services: 55.5%

Unemployment rate: 20.9% (2011 est.)
Rank: 169

Population below poverty line: 18.3% (2010 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Highest 10: 28.2% (2009 est.)

Budget
Expenditures: $3.2 billion
Surplus or deficit: -16.6% of GDP (2011 est.)
Surplus or deficit rank: 214

Taxes and other revenues: 31.6% of GDP (2011 est.)
Rank: 88

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 2.9% (2011 est.)
Rank: 87

Commercial bank prime lending rate: 6.79% (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 131

Stock of narrow money: $136.6 million (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 179

Stock of broad money: $6.674 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
Rank: 118

Stock of domestic credit: $851.1 million (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 151

Market value of publicly traded shares:
Rank: 95

Current account balance: $-690.7 million (2010 est.)
Rank: 144

Exports: $846.1 million (2011 est.)
Rank: 168
Commodities: stone olives fruit vegetables limestone

Imports: $4.319 billion (2010 est.)
Rank: 125
Commodities: food consumer goods construction materials petroleum chemicals

Debt external: $1.3 billion (2007 est.)
Rank: 161

Exchange rates:

Electricity
Production: 445 million kWh (2010 est.)
Production rank: 165
Consumption: 4.573 billion kWh (2010 est.)
Consumption rank: 119
Exports: 0 kWh (2012)
Exports rank: 147
Imports: 550 million kWh (2011 est.)
Imports rank: 76
Installed generating capacity: 140,000 kW
Installed generating capacity rank: 164
Generation sources fossil fuels: 100% of total installed capacity (2010 est.)
Generation sources fossil fuels rank: 41
Generation sources nuclear: 0% of total installed capacity (2010 est.)
Generation sources nuclear rank: 203
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 0% of total installed capacity (2010 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity rank: 207
Generation sources other renewable sources: 0% of total installed capacity (2010 est.)
Generation sources other renewable sources rank: 140

Petroleum
Petroleum total petroleum production: 0 bbl/day (2012 est.)
Petroleum total petroleum production rank: 144
Crude oil exports: 0 bbl/day (2010 est.)
Crude oil exports rank: 205
Crude oil imports: 0 bbl/day (2010 est.)
Crude oil imports rank: 141
Crude oil proven reserves: 0 bbl (1 January 2009 es)
Crude oil proven reserves rank: 203

Refined petroleum
Products production: 0 bbl/day (2010 est.)
Products production rank: 143
Products consumption: 29,310 bbl/day (2011 est.)
Products consumption rank: 116
Products exports: 514.8 bbl/day (2010 est.)
Products exports rank: 112
Products imports: 16,330 bbl/day (2010 est.)
Products imports rank: 112

Natural gas
Production: 0 m³ (2011 est.)
Production rank: 208
Consumption: 0 m³ (2010 est.)
Consumption rank: 208
Exports: 0 m³ (2011 est.)
Exports rank: 206
Imports: 0 m³ (2011 est.)
Imports rank: 148
Proven reserves: 0 m³ (1 January 2013 es)
Proven reserves rank: 205

Carbon dioxide emissions
From consumption of energy: 2.502 million Mt (2011 est.)
From consumption of energy rank: 143

Telephones
Main lines in use: 406,000 (includes Gaza Strip) (2012)
Main lines in use rank: 104
Mobile cellular: 3.041 million (includes Gaza Strip) (2012)
Mobile cellular rank: 132

Telephone system
Domestic: Israeli company BEZEK and the Palestinian company PALTEL are responsible for fixed line services; PALTEL plans to establish a fiber-optic connection to Jordan to route domestic mobile calls; the Palestinian JAWWAL company and WATANIYA PALESTINE provide cellular services
International: country code - 970; 1 international switch in Ramallah (2009)

Broadcast media: the Palestinian Authority operates 1 TV and 1 radio station; about 30 independent TV and 25 radio stations; both Jordanian TV and satellite TV are accessible (2008)

Internet
Country code: .ps; note - same as Gaza Strip
Users: 1.379 million (includes Gaza Strip) (2009)
Users rank: 88

Military expenditures: NA

Airports: 2 (2013)
Rank: 208
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 1
With paved runways under 914 m: 1 (2013)

Heliports: 1 (2013)

Roadways
Rank: 153
Paved: 4,686 km

Disputes international: the current status of the West Bank is subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; Israel continues construction of a 'seam line' separation barrier along parts of the Green Line and within the West Bank; Israel withdrew from four settlements in the northern West Bank in August 2005; since 1948 about 350 peacekeepers from the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) headquartered in Jerusalem monitor ceasefires supervise armistice agreements prevent isolated incidents from escalating and assist other UN personnel in the region

Refugees and internally displaced persons
IDPs: 160,000 (persons displaced within both the Gaza strip and the West Bank since 1967; as estimated by unofficial sources) (2011)