Israel's richest and best-established town is Savyon, while the poorest and most backward in socio-economic terms is Rahat. This emerges from a study published today by the Central Bureau of Statistics on the economic and social level of the populations of local authorities in Israel.
The Central Bureau of Statistics affluence table lists 203 local authorities, in accordance with the inhabitants’ economic and social characteristics. Aspects examined were: the monetary wealth of the inhabitants, the number of motor vehicles per family, employment and unemployment data, level of education, and economic distress of various kinds.
The ten richest and best-established local authorities in social and economic terms are: Savyon, Har Adar, Omer, Kfar Shmaryahu, moshava Kinneret, Kochav Yair, Kfar Vradim, Shoham, Ramot Hashavim, and Maccabim-Reut. Kochav Yair is notably home to Prime Minister Elect Ehud Barak. New MK Danny Naveh of the Likud lives in Shoham, and MK Amnon Lipkin Shahack of the Centre Party makes his home in Maccabim-Reut.
Ofakim is the poorest place in the Jewish sector. Arab local authorities place at the bottom of the rating, taking the twenty last places in terms of economic and social development.
Arab local authorities in fact constitute an absolute majority among the 100 with the lowest economic and social standard. On the other hand, all one hundred socially and economically best established local authorities belong to the Jewish sector.
The study found large differences in the economic development level and socio-economic profile in the four major towns. Beer-Sheba earns a midway rating, placing 107th out of 203 local authorities. Jerusalem stands a little higher, in 113th place, while Haifa and Tel-Aviv are well up in the 155th and 162nd places respectively.
Published by Israel's Business Arena June 15, 1999