Israelis marrying later and living longer

Boasting a young population and rising life expectancy, Israel’s population hits 8.13 million

Newborn babies are attended by nurses at Bikur Holim hospital in Jerusalem. (Flash90)
Newborn babies are attended by nurses at Bikur Holim hospital in Jerusalem. (Flash90)

Israel’s population grew by 1.9 percent during the Jewish year 5774, which ends Wednesday, according to the annual survey of the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, traditionally published just before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The survey suggested that the typical Israeli is an unmarried, secular, 30-year-old Jewish woman living in the center of Israel.

Israel’s population has reached 8.13 million, 6.1 million (or 75%) of them Jews and 1.7 million (21%) Arabs. There are some 347,000 (4.3%) others, primarily Russian-speaking family members of Jews from the former Soviet Union, according to the Globes business daily.

In comparison to other Western countries, Israel’s population is relatively young, with children from the ages of 0-14 representing 28.2% of the population in 2013. However, the percentage of those aged 65 and over continued to rise, reaching 10.6%.

The median age was 29.6, compared to 27.6 in 2000, with the median age for men reaching 28.6 and for women 30.7.

People are continuing to marry later, with 63.3% of Jewish men and 45.8% of Jewish women aged 25-29 being unmarried, compared to 54% of men and 33.3% of women in 2000. The ratio of men to women remains the same, with 982 men in Israel for every 1,000 women.

Among the Muslim population, the percentage of unmarried people was lower than among Jews, but greater than it was in 2000 — 45.5% of men and 18.8% of women aged 25-29 were unmarried, compared with 35.7% of men and 23.2% of women in 2000.

There was a 0.3% increase in births in 2013 as compared to 2012, with 171,444 children being born, 74% to Jewish mothers and 23% to Arab mothers, with the average woman giving birth at age 27.5.

In 2013, 11% of all the families in the country (120,000) were one-parent families with at least one child under 18.

Forty percent of Israel’s population, and about half of the Jewish population, lives in the central region, while almost 60% of the Arab population lives in the north of the country.

Life expectancy in Israel continued to grow, now standing at 80.3 years for men and 83.9 for women. Life expectancy has risen by 9.1 years for men and 9.2 years for women since the 1970’s, with the life expectancy being higher for Jews than Arabs.

Most Popular
read more: