Israel - Kid Country
InterNations, the world’s largest network for people who live and work as expats abroad, ranked Israel third on their list of 19 countries for raising a family. First place was Finland, with the Czech Republic taking second place. Just behind Israel, placing fourth and fifth respectively, were Austria and Sweden. The other countries, in descending order, were: Norway, Australia, Taiwan, Belgium, Germany, France, Poland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, South Africa, Singapore, Philippines, Mexico and South Korea. The UK and US were not on the list.
The InterNations survey rated 43 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of 1-7. One of the sub-indexes is the Family Life Index, which consists of 45 countries. Expats were asked to rate everything from childcare and education, to children’s health and safety. Each country had to have at least 31 respondents raising dependent children abroad, for the nation to be included in the index. Third ranked Israel advanced one place from last year’s fourth place ranking. According to the survey, 81 percent of expat parents were “happy with the childcare options” in Israel and are similarly positive about Israel’s education options, with an impressive 84 percent expressing “general satisfaction” in that area.
According to Business Insider, the main reason Finland took the top spot was because, “no expat parent had anything negative to say about their children’s health, children’s safety, or children’s well-being in Finland. 70% of expats said the quality of education there is excellent, compared to the global average of just 21 percent.”
The Czech Republic, previously ranked 14th, shot up to second place because “74 percent agreed that education is easy to afford, although it did not reach the top spot due to the quality of that education.” According Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2016, there were approximately 1.96 million families in Israel in 2014, compared with 1.65 million in 2005. The average Israeli family size in 2014 was 3.7 people, the same as the decade before and high compared to Europe.
Yonatan Sredni