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More than 2.6 million Israelis live in poverty

Over 2,627,000 Israelis live in poverty, which amounts to nearly 27.8 percent of the country’s entire population, a new report published Monday by Israel’s Latet NGO said. According to Israel's largest anti-poverty organization, at least 1,176,000 of that number are children. A total of 830,000 households in Israel are reported to be in economic distress, which is 131,000 more families than before the Covid pandemic.

The survey showed that the percentage of Israeli households that are getting close to poverty reached 20.1 percent compared to 14 percent before the pandemic. 

Moreover, 680,475 of Israeli families, which amounts to 21.1 percent of the population, live in nutritional insecurity. Out of them 312,825 (nearly 10 percent) live in severe nutritional insecurity.

The data also indicated that over 75 percent of the pension-aged Israelis live in de facto poverty, despite the added pension for the elderly. 

High cost of living remains one of the main issues that the incoming coalition government has to resolve. Over the last 12 months, apartment prices in Israel increased by almost 20 percent. Israel’s inflation rate also rose to 5.1 percent over the past year as of October, with food prices seeing the most significant surge.