Every third Israeli child and every fourth adult live in poverty - these figures appear in the alternative poverty report published by the non-government organization Latet, anticipating the official data due to be published by the National Insurance Institute. The data indicate that 2.4 million Israelis, 29% of the country's population, are poor. More than one million of them are children, 35% percent of citizens under 18. 1.4 million are adults, 25% of Israeli adults. Furthermore, according to the report, 36% of Israeli single mothers live in poverty and deprivation. The report's figures are based on the Multidimensional Poverty Index, which examines the level of deprivation in relations to the vital needs for a basic standard of life.
According to the report's figures, 63.3% of citizens supported by aid organizations live in poverty despite being employed or not of working age. This figure jumped 21.5% from last year. It also indicates that more than half (50.6%) of people receiving aid belonged to the middle class in the past, before falling into poverty - a 23.7% jump from 2015.
The percentage of people receiving support who are in debt is almost twice as high as the general population - 65.7%. More than half (54.2%) of the children receiving aid do not have basic school supplies and textbooks; this figure rose 24.3% from last year. More than two thirds of people receiving aid (70.7%) said that they gave up on repairing severe defects in their homes, in comparison with 35.2% of the general population.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 12, 2016
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