According to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics pertaining to 2011, 520,000 families, representative of 28% of the population, are being assisted in some way by social services.

4% of the heads of families are from Ethiopian descent and 17% from the FSU that moved to Israel after 1990. In 40% of the families there is at least one senior citizen 65 or older and 29% of families have a senior citizen 75 or older. 15% of the families registered for social services are ‘single parent’ families.

There are 1.83 million families in Israel today of which 1.47 million are Jews and 310,000 Arab. The average Jewish family is 3.5 members and that average increases in yishuvim throughout Yehuda and Shomron to 4.7 members per family. Average family size in the Jerusalem district is 4.2 as compared to 4.1 in the northern district. The smallest average family is seen in Tel Aviv, averaging 3.2 members. Over 50% of the Tel Aviv district families are composed of two adults and a child below 17-years-old. 107,000 families (6% of total number of families) are single parent with children under 17.

· 95% of families are registered as legally married. However, the number of non-married couples continues to grow; from 27,000 ten years ago to 69,000 today.

· 73.5% of families with children have at least one car as compared to 55.8% in childless families.

· 78.2% of homes have a computer.

· 70.3% are connected to the internet.

· 88.4% have a television.

· 54.6% have at least 2 televisions.

· 61.8% have cable or satellite TV.

· 93.5% have a cellular telephone.

· 70.7% have more than one cellular telephone.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)