Latet’s 2025 Alternative Poverty Report: poverty post-October 7
Its findings show that the economic shock of October 7 has both intensified existing deprivation and pushed thousands of previously stable households into poverty. Families of reservists, small business owners, and full-time wage earners who were coping
Latet calculated that the minimum cost of living in Israel in 2025 stands at approximately NIS 5,589 per person per month, or NIS 14,139 for a household of two adults and two children. This is significantly higher than the official poverty line set for 2025 by the National Insurance Institute (NII), at NIS 4,105 per person and NIS 10,508 for a family of four.
Even NII’s two full minimum-wage salaries – roughly NIS 12,495 combined – fall short of Latet’s basic monthly budget (14,139). And with the average household employing just 1.35 earners, the shortfall reaches nearly 40%.
The cost of living in Israel rises, while wages remain stagnant
The gap between wages and the real cost of living lies at the core of the “new poor” phenomenon. Families of reservists saw their income collapse during the months-long call-ups, with self-employed workers forced to shutter businesses due to prolonged absences.
Ynet profiled Adi Degani, a former kite-surfing instructor who closed his small business after repeated reserve duty left it in debt. He now works as a construction foreman and has taken a bank loan to cover war-related losses.
The report also said that the cost of essential goods – food, housing, clothing, health, and education – has risen sharply. Per the latest estimates, an additional annual burden of roughly NIS 3,500 per person and NIS 9,000 per household, compared with previous years. The minimal health basket alone rose nearly 15% due to increased premiums and higher out-of-pocket spending.
Food insecurity is the most alarming area. According to the report, 26.9% of families – about 867,000 households – face food insecurity, alongside 2.8 million individuals and more than 1.18 million children. This represents a jump of roughly 27% to 29% from last year.
Many households rely on donated food to free up limited funds for rent, electricity, and medicine. More than half of Latet’s aid recipients say they have reduced portion sizes or skipped meals; in the general population, the figure is 18%.
Working families are among the hardest hit. Latet found that 83% of households receiving assistance have at least one breadwinner, yet still cannot afford basic monthly expenses.Over half of these families say their employment situation has deteriorated since the war, nearly twice the rate among the broader public. These households, while technically above the official poverty line, cannot meet minimum living costs and therefore fall through the cracks of state assistance programs.
Children are bearing a disproportionate share of the burden. In many aid-dependent households, at least one child has gone out to work to support the family – a rate that is more than double that of the general population. Parents report worsening mental health, educational setbacks, and long-term anxiety linked to chronic financial instability.
The psychological toll is evident. Around 62% of aid recipients describe their mental state as “not good,” nearly triple the rate in the general public. Over 40% – and almost half of all elderly recipients – say their mental health has deteriorated since the war began.
Latet has long argued that Israel’s official poverty measures fail to capture absolute deprivation. Its Alternative Poverty Report uses a multidimensional model that incorporates not only income but also access to food, health, housing, and education. This approach has drawn mixed reactions from economists, according to reports.What stands out this year is the scale of the deterioration and the way October 7 accelerated an already-widening gap.
Latet CEO Eran Weintraub said that without structural reforms, Israel risks becoming a “super-Sparta” – a state investing heavily in defense while social gaps widen unchecked.
The nonprofit called for indexing the minimum wage and key social benefits to the actual cost of living, strengthening the welfare safety net, and providing targeted relief for reservist families and low-income working-class households.
For now, the report paints a stark picture of a society weathering an unprecedented security crisis while millions already live in what Latet describes as “permanent emergency mode” – families unsure how they will feed their children tomorrow as the country faces its most challenging year in decades.
Sarah Ben-Nun