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25% of homes in Israel live in poverty, Arabs hit worst

December 13, 2022 at 9:49 am

Families struggle to live at houses made of sheet metal, nylon and pieces of fabric on July 30, 2022 [Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency]

About 27.8 per cent of Israeli households – 2,627,000 Israelis – live in poverty, a report published by Latet NGO revealed yesterday.

Latet, which is Israel’s largest anti-poverty NGO, found that at least 1,176,000 of the poor are children, adding that a total of 830,000 households are reported to be in economic distress – 131,000 more families than before the Covid pandemic.

The report shows that 680,475 Israeli families – 21.1 per cent of the population – live in nutritional insecurity. Of them, 312,825 live in severe nutritional insecurity.

According to the reported data, over 75 per cent of Israelis who are of pension age live in de facto poverty.

It also stated that the high cost of living remains one of the main issues that the incoming coalition government has to resolve.

Over the last 12 months,property prices in Israel increased by almost 20 per cent, while inflation rose to 5.1 per cent with food prices seeing the most significant surge.

The report found, according to Arab48, that Arab residents of Israel are the most affected by the rising poverty rates.

READ: 58% of children in Jerusalem live in poverty, report reveals