Last update - 00:00 30/12/2007
Study: Twenty percent of children receive welfare assistance
By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent
Twenty percent of Israeli children, around 420,000, receive assistance from the national welfare services, a 44 percent increase from 2001.
The figures are part of a new study by the National Council for the Child, presented to president Shimon Peres on Sunday.
The rate of new welfare recipients is growing, at the same time that the birthrate in Israel is declining and the number of single-parent households is increasing.
According to the report, between the years 1980 and 2000, the percentage of families with 4 or more children decreased from 20.9 percent to 16.3 percent, while the percentage of poor families with four or more children increased from 54.7 percent to 60 percent.
A slight rise was also seen in the average number of children per household from 2.3 percent to 2.4 percent. The figure reflects a rise in the number of families with more than three kids and a drop in the number of families with one child, possibly due to the tapering off of immigration from the former Soviet Union.
A sharp rise in the percentage of children living in single parent households was seen, rising to 8.5 percent of children over 6.8 percent only a decade ago.
The most dramatic rise, at almost 50 percent, was seen in the percentage of families led by an unmarried adult. The number rose from 23,800 to 35,400 since the last survey was performed.
The study also found that 93 percent of children have access to a computer in their house, and 80 percent have a cellular phone.
Despite a series of well-publicized cases of youth violence, between 2004 and 2006 the number of criminal cases against minors decreased by 11 percent according to the study's findings.
Reflecting a rise in obesity throughout the western world, the percentage of Israeli youths weighing more than 81 kg at the time of their enlistment in the Israel Defense Forces increased significantly, with the percentage of men rising from 6.6 to 13 percent, and for women, from 1.7 to 4 percent.