RAMA LLAH (AFP) - The global Palestinian population reached 10.9 million in 2009 with more than half living outside the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority said Tuesday. The survey by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics found some 1.5 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip and about 2.5 million are in the occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem. Another 1.25m reside inside Israel and are the descendants of those Palestinians who did not flee or were not driven out during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed the creation of the Jewish state. Some 3.24m Palestinians live in Jordan, another 1.78m are in other Arab countries and around 618,000 Palestinians in other countries. From 1997 to 2007, the total fertility rate in the Palestinian territories declined from 6.0 to 4.6, the report said. Israels total population is nearing 7.5m of which 5.5m are Jewish, according to government figures released in September.