Almost one in every five Israeli families lives beneath the poverty line, the National Insurance Institute report for 2015, which was published this morning, has found. The report found that although there was a slight fall in the number of poor people, the poor have become poorer. Israel also remains at the top of the rankings in terms of the level of poverty and inequality in OECD countries.
The National Insurance Institute found that there were 468,800 families living under the poverty line in Israel in 2015, comprising 1,217,900 people including 764,200 children. The report found that although the number of poor actually fell slightly, the percentage of poor families rose from 18.8% in 2014 to 19.1% in 2015.
The report shows that the level of the poverty among poor families, as expressed by the gap between the level of income of the families and the poverty line, has grown by 3.2%.
The National Insurance Institute pointed out that a contributing factor to increased poverty was a 3.3% rise in the standard of living while welfare payments remained unchanged.
The biggest rise in poverty was recorded in the age group that actually has the lowest level of poverty - 46 to pension age. Poverty in this age group grew by 17%. Even so the level of poverty in this age group remains well below the average.
At the same time there was a sharp drop of 13% in the number of one-parent families living below the poverty line, while their proportion among the poor fell 16%. However, poverty among families with children grew by 4%.
The report found that poverty in the Israeli Arab population continued to grow. In 2015, 53.3% of Israeli Arabs lived below the poverty line compared with 52.6% in 2014. However, poverty in the haredi (ultra-orthodox Jewish) population fell sharply from 54.3% to 48.7% over this period. This stems from increased child allowance payments and work income.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 15, 2016
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