Omer and Savyon are Israel's wealthiest communities, with the highest socio-economic ranking - cluster 10, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported today.
The Central Bureau of Statistics today published its Characterization and Ranking of Local Authorities According to the Population's Socio-Economic Level in 2001, but noted that no major changes had occurred in the subsequent two years, and the figures and rankings were still valid.
Jerusalem is the poorest of Israel's four large cities, with a low socio-economic ranking - cluster 4. Tel Aviv was ranked in cluster 8, and Haifa and Rishon LeZion were ranked in cluster 7.
The wealthiest regional councils were Efal, Gederot, and Gan Raveh, ranked in cluster 9 and 10. The poorest regional councils were al-Batouf, Bustan al-Marj, and Nahal Soreq, ranking in clusters 1-3.
Only ten of Israel's 74 poorest communities, ranked in clusters 1-3, were Jewish, all of which were haredi (ultra-orthodox) communities and development towns. In ascending order from the poorest community in cluster 1, the rankings are as follows: Emanuel - 13th; Kiryat Ye'arim - 23rd; Bnei Brak - 40th; Elad - 42nd; Netivot - 60th; and Ofakim - 71st.
64 communities ranked in the lowest three socio-economic cluster were in the non-Jewish sector, mostly Arab and Bedouin villages and communities in the Negev and Galilee, including Umm el-Fahm - 24th; Taibe - 62nd; Abu-Ghosh - 65th; and Nazareth - 74th.
Medium-sized and large Jewish cities were classified in clusters 4 and 5, including; Tzfat (Safed) - 84th; Acre - 91; Ramle - 100; Ashkelon - 103rd; Lod - 104th; Tiberias - 105th; Ashdod - 107th; Katzrin - 114th; Afula - 117th; Beer Sheva - 124th; Upper Nazareth - 125th; Hadera - 128th; Netanya - 129th; and Eilat - 135th.
Nearly all the development towns founded in the 1950s and 1960s in the Galilee and Negev were classified in clusters 3 and 4: Kiryat Malakhi, home of President Moshe Katsav; Beit Shemesh; Yeruham; Sderot, residence of Histadrut chairman MK Amir Perez; Or Akiva; Hatzor Haglilit; Kiryat Gat; Dimona; Migdal Ha'Emek; Beit She'an, the home town of former Minister of Foreign Affairs David Levy and his sons; Mizpeh Ramon; Shlomi; and Kiryat Shmona.
Belying public concern that settlements beyond the Green Line are socio-economically wealthy, several settlements are classified in socio-economic clusters 5 and 6, including: Karnei Shomron - 118th; Ariel - 133rd; Maaleh Edumim - 134th; and Kedumim - 138th.
Most medium-sized and large cities in the center of the country are classified in socio-economic clusters 7 and 8, including: Givatayim, Ra'anana, Kiryat Ono, Herzliya, Shoham, Givat Shmuel, Ramat Gan, Hod Hasharon, Mevasseret Zion, Kfar Saba, Benyamina, Modi'in, Yehud, Nes Ziona, Petah Tikva, Rehovot, and Holon.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on January 27, 2004