The National Insurance Institute's Poverty Report for 2012 paints a disturbing picture. The report states that 817,200 children and more than 180,000 senior citizens live below the poverty line in Israel.
This means that Israel has the third highest rate of poverty in the OECD.
The figures show a slight improvement. In 2012, 1.8 million people lived below the poverty line in Israel compared with 1.75 million in 2011 - a fall of just 1.5%.
However, the latest figures show that the number of pensioners living below the poverty line rose 3% to 22.7%, while the number of children living below the poverty line fell 2% to 33.7%. There was also a small fall in the number of young families (under 30 with 1-3 children) living below the poverty line. In 2012, the proportion of these families fell to 19.7%.
5% of families with two breadwinners still live below the poverty line, continuing the rising trend for such families in recent years.
Welfare Minister Meir Cohen said, "Poverty must be at the top of the public dialogue. As a government we must take responsibility and work in a planned and systematic way to lower poverty in Israel."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 17, 2013
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