BEIRUT, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon said on Thursday that the number of Palestinian refugees in the country has totalled 174,422 in 2017.

The statistics were revealed by Maral Tutelian Guidanian, director general of the Lebanese Central Administration of Statistics, at a ceremony at the Grand Serail in the presence of Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

The Palestinian refugees live in 12 camps and 156 gatherings across five governorates in the country, Guidanian said.

About 45 percent of Palestinian refugees reside in the camps, while 55 percent live in the gatherings and bordering areas, she added.

In addition, the illiteracy rate of the Palestinian refugees reaches 7.2 percent, while the unemployment rate is 18.4 percent.

The number of Palestinian families in the camps and gatherings has reached 52,147, of which 7.2 percent are Palestinians married to Lebanese women and 2.4 percent Lebanese men married to Palestinian women.

It is the first official census of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

The census was done through a partnership between the Lebanese Central Administration of Statistics and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.