A new report published Monday shows that more than a quarter of Israeli families live in economic hardship.
The Israeli aid organization “Latet”, which specializes in reducing poverty (non-governmental), indicated in a report that Anadolu Agency obtained a copy of, that 27.7 percent of all Israeli families live in economic hardship.
She said, “830,000 families (27.7 percent) suffer from economic hardship, compared to 699,000 families (24.1 percent) before the coronavirus pandemic, meaning that 131,000 families have deteriorated into economic hardship and have not yet recovered.”
“The percentage of those who need assistance from an external party due to the economic situation has increased from 1.5 percent before the Corona crisis to 4.3 percent in 2022,” the Israeli organization added.
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And she continued, “50.3 percent of the population in Israel estimates that they will be affected, to a large or very large extent, by the increase in prices that occurred since the beginning of this year.”
She pointed out that more than 680,000 families (21.1 percent) live in a state of foodlessness, including 312,000 families (9.7 percent) who suffer from severe food insecurity.
“While there are more than a million children living in a state of foodlessness, including 601 thousand who suffer from severe food deficiency,” according to the organization.
She pointed out that 3,431 shekels ($1,000) is the amount required for a family of five to buy a basic and healthy monthly food basket.
And she added, “77.8 percent of aid recipients reported that the food they bought was not enough, and they did not have enough money to buy more, compared to 18.1 percent of the general population.”
While 47.8 percent of aid recipients said they had reduced or skipped meals due to lack of money, according to the organization.
The average monthly expenditure of an aid-supported family is 8,447 shekels ($2,470), which is 55.6 percent higher than the average monthly income of 5,430 shekels ($1,580).
She pointed out that “59.3 percent of aid recipients reported that they avoided repairing serious defects in their apartment in the past year for financial reasons.”
“A very high percentage (21.3 percent) said they would have to vacate their place of residence due to difficulty in paying rent or mortgage, compared to 5.1 percent among the general population,” she said.
She added, “54.5 percent of aid recipients reported that their children are ashamed to invite their friends to their homes due to housing conditions and economic difficulties.”
The Latet report measures poverty according to households lacking basic needs, such as housing, education, health care, food security and the ability to cover the cost of living.
The report did not specify the percentage of Arab families in this data, as Israeli data indicate that Arab families are poorer than Jewish families.
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics had said that in 2022, the population of Israel would reach 9.5 million.