Survey: Modern Israelis clinging to traditional family structures
Almost all couples are married; only 3 percent live together out of wedlock.
By Yuval Azoulay Tags: Israel newsThe average Israeli is generally pleased with his life, his standard of living is up, his family relationships are happy and he has a mobile phone and internet services, according to Central Bureau of Statistics data released ahead of family day next week.
The number of single mothers increased by 63 percent between 2000 and 2008, from 8,400 to 13,700, the bureau reported Wednesday.
Some 1.73 million families lived in Israel in 2008, 104,000 of them single parent families with children up to 17 years old.
However, Israel is still a traditional country. Almost all couples are married and only 3 percent live together out of wedlock, compared with 24 percent in Denmark, 18 percent in The Netherlands and 8 percent in the United States.
The average Israeli family comprises 3.7 people.
Despite a sharp rise in real estate prices and the high demand for apartments, the number of people living per room decreased in 2008. Almost 53 percent of Israelis households had more than one room per person in 2008 compared to 45 percent in 1998.
Almost every Israeli family has a mobile phone, more than 60 percent have a computer and more than 55 percent subscribe to the Internet.
The larger the number of people in a family, the fewer electronic devices the family owns, the figures show. More than 77 percent of housholds with two children or less have Internet access, compared with 56.8 percent of families with more than three children. Ninety percent of families who have up to two children have a television set, compared to 79 percent of families with three or more children.
About 70 percent of households with no children have satellite or cable television compared with 58 percent of families with children and 40.6 percent of families with three children or more. Three quarters - 74 percent - of families with up to two children have at least one car, compared to 68 percent of the families with three or more children.
Among people over 20, 87 percent who live as a family are pleased or very pleased with their life, compared to 78 percent who live without a family.
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to sit in front of a box of electronics for so long is a waste of time and it has negative influences on most people, especially the young. The trend of not having or throwing out the TV has never handicapped a family. It is an opiate of sorts that destroys the genius of civilization (along with computer abuse) and prevents man from better utilizing his time and energy. If this seems foreign to the reader, you are hooked!
Charedim tend to have large families, and usually don't have internet and television. Surprised the article doesn't note that. I'm quite sure that this is the reason for the lower percentage of television and internet usage in families with many children.