Israel ranked poorest member of OECD
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A new report says Israel has the lowest living standards among the 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In its economic survey for 2013, the organization says Israel’s “average living standards remain well below the top-ranking OECD countries,” adding, “The rate of relative poverty is highest in the OECD area and there are ongoing environmental challenges.”
The report warned against severe deterioration of living conditions in Israel, saying, “The incomes of about one in five Israeli households fall below the (relative) poverty line.”
The 111-page report notes that Israel stands below average in “social connections, housing, education and skills, personal security, environmental quality and civic engagement.”
In recent years, the gap between the rich and the poor in Israel has widened considerably.
In October, a report released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said about 31 percent of Israelis are close to the poverty line.
The report also indicated that some 40 percent of Israeli children are facing the risk of poverty, which is also double the rate in Europe.
Momi Dahan, an official at Hebrew University in al-Quds (Jerusalem), said the high poverty rate is due to Israel’s constant cuts in welfare benefits over the past 30 years.
He added that the 2013 Israeli austerity budget “continues the current policy of cutting welfare spending, mainly through cuts in children benefits, which now became even lower.”
Many Israelis have been migrating in recent months to Germany and the United States. It is said that the Israelis are leaving Israel on economic grounds.
High taxes and low salaries have had adverse effects on the lives of Israelis, specifically the middle class, in recent years.
Discontented Israelis almost regularly take to the streets in Tel Aviv and other cities to protest against Tel Aviv’s economic plans and the painful austerity measures, which have raised income and value-added taxes and cut welfare benefits. |
