National Council for the Child: Poverty Statistics 'Appalling'

Jerusalem, 16 January, 2017 (TPS) -- Director General of the National Council for the Child Vered Windman presented President Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin with the Council’s 2016 Children of Israel Statistical Yearbook. The report says that 10 percent of Israeli children live below the poverty line.

“Around 10% of Israeli children report that they go to bed hungry. A hungry child can then grow to be an adult who lives in tension, fear, and perhaps in need,” stated President Rivlin.

“We have our work cut out for us: We need to halt the trend of poverty, to fight against crime, increase volunteerism and community involvement, and open more avenues for enrichment and excellence,” Rivlin added.

The Council said that the number of children in Israel has more than doubled over the past 45 years, though a significant downward trend has been noted in the statistical proportion of young people in the total population (around 40 percent in 1970 to 33 percent in 2015).

At the end of 2016, a total of 48,601 children lived in Israel without any status, and 161,400 without full citizenship.

“A third of Israelis are children […] that is a  significant number for a young and developing country whose future is still ahead,” stated President Rivlin.

“This population presents a mirror to Israeli society, which includes Jews and Arabs, religious, ultra-Orthodox and secular, immigrants and children of foreign workers, healthy people and disabled, poor kids, rich kids, outstanding children and children at risk. More than two million and a half people that reflect the next generation of Israel.”

President Rivlin claimed that he saw in this report a sort of prophecy of doom and that Israel’s future would be in danger should the country fail to ensure that children are provided with the emotional, legal and educational resources to protect and support them.

The yearbook said that 594,719 children visited emergency rooms in 2015, a fifth of whom were admitted for continuing hospital. Though life expectancy continues to increase for both Jews and non-Jews, and for both sexes, Jews still live longer on average, and girls longer than boys.

Notably, 2.0 percent of first graders, and 3.6 percent of students in seventh grade are underweight. The phenomenon is common in all sub-sectors, though it is more pronounced in seventh grade among students of the ultra-Orthodox and Bedouin sectors.

“The proportion of poor children is appalling. The gaps between children remain significant and outrageous,” said Windman.

Over the past decade, the number of minors suspected of crimes decreased from 23,527 in 2005 to  21,211 in 2015, but the total number of crimes committed against minors increased from 2006 to 2015 from 14,513 cases to 17,677.  

In addition, the past year has shown a significant rise in the number of students, in both the Jewish and Arab sectors, who reported having been victims of violence.

The yearbook also reported statistics about the mobile generation: About 30 percent  of students watch at least four hours a day of television, and 83 percent own a smartphone. Approximately one- quarter use the smartphones more than five hours a day, and nearly one-third of respondents said they contacted strangers via their mobile phones or computers. Fifteen percent of children reported that they had met strangers in person, but parents said that happened far more infrequently.

“This yearbook is not [merely] a data book but a children’s book,” stated Adv. Vered Windman. “But this story should cause, to lose sleep for all policymakers,” she concluded.