According to the Bituach Leumi (National Insurance Institute) annual poverty report released on Thursday, 15 Kislev 5773, 23,000 children joined the ranks of the nation’s poor during 2011, bringing the total number of children in Eretz Yisrael living under the poverty level at the end of 2011 to 860,000. The number of “poor” people in the country increased from 1,773,400 to 1,800,000. This places the number of poor in Israel at about twice that of OECD member nations.
On a positive note, there is a slight decrease in the number of poor senior citizens, attributed to some by the increase in attention the nation’s elderly received from outgoing Welfare Services Minister Moshe Kahlon. The minister increased benefits for the elderly and simply made their plight a major priority of his office.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
let us not get carried away with this. it is well known that many frum Israelis who show no income are either living well shnoring, working in the ‘black’, or kollel youngelite supported by parents/in-laws. They do not disclose their source of incomes so that they can collect betuach leumi, too.