One in every four Israelis lives below poverty line
National Insurance Institute report: 1,651,300 Israelis classified as poor in 2008, including 783,000 children.
By Dana Weiler-Polak Tags: Israel news Israel povertyOne in every four Israelis lived below the poverty line in 2008, a National Insurance Institute report revealed on Monday.
The report showed that 1,651,300 people in Israel were classified as poor in 2008, as opposed to 1,630,400 in the preceding year. A total of 420,100 poor families lived in Israel during the year, including 783,000 children.
According to the report, the decline in the number of Israeli children living below the poverty that began in 2007 has continued: from 38.5 percent in 2006, to 34.2 percent in 2007 and 34 percent in 2008.
As such, the report also showed that the global financial crisis did not have a significant effect on the number of poor people in Israel.
"The current Poverty Report testifies to the direct association between going out to work and being rescued from poverty," said Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog.
"Despite the economic crisis, the rise in the rate of participation in the job market, which characterized 2008, has led to a drop in the number of poor families in the Arab sector.
"In contrast to this, among poverty-stricken single-parent families, the rate rose significantly following layoffs."
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If the money spent on settlements and the roads leading to them were diverted to public welfare the problem would be solved.
Are you out of your god damned mind. The poverty line is determined usually using a basket of goods, or based on food and housing costs. What your describing is the definition of relative poverty, which has nothing to do with poverty lines (which by the way are still flawed, because they generally haven't re-assesed the increasing cost of housing in most countries).
Arabs in Israel and many other Israelis do not declare their wages and than claim poverty to get additional benefits from the government. They also do not pay taxes. Among the Arabs of Israel this is standard.
Arabs in Israel and many other Israelis do not declare their wages and than claim poverty to get additional benefits from the government. They also do not pay taxes. Among the Arabs of Israel this is standard.
The Arab boycott is what impoverishes our people. The oil bloc and enemies of Israel strangle Israel's borders and cause poverty in Israel. This is part of the hostility modern Israel survives through every day the past hundred years.
Disagree with the data? Need to skew the data to show that Israel has no poverty?
"Poverty line is DEFINED as half of the median income, so BY DEFINITION - in ANY given society roughly quater of population is below powerty line" My oh my, vitaly, have you ever thought of suing the miserable person who taught you math?
Poverty line is DEFINED as half of the median income, so BY DEFINITION - in ANY given society roughly quater of population is below powerty line. This term "poverty line" is very confusing - it has nothing to do with poverty at all - if you give every citizen in Israel 1 million $ each - still according to the "poverty line" calculation a quoter of them will be below powerty line ! Dana, take a short course in statistics - it's a very useful science, even for journalists.
Israel can now be proud that it has a "working poor." After all, it makes is more like the USA!
A contributing factor is the lifestyle of the haredim. No secular education, many children.
Arab Israeli's?
I think that the real problem in this country is the working poor. I'm talking about the guys who go to work everyday to bring home wages of 4000 shekels a month. How can anyone support a family like that? It's a disgrace, especially when you hear about the inflated incomes of the "upper class." It's also a dangerous situation socially, because it breeds resentment, discontent and crime.
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My guess is that they are mainly Palestinian Israelis, not Jews.
And thank you Milton Freedman!