Poverty & Standard of Living
Chap. 3
The prevalence of poverty and its impact on the ultraOrthodox population’s standard of living is far greater than among the general population. Although poverty in the ultra-Orthodox community has decreased substantially since 2008, this decline has been slow, and the rate remains very high.
The percentage of Haredim below the poverty line (54%) is much higher than in the general population (22%), with almost half (49%) of ultra-Orthodox families and almost two thirds (62%) of ultra-Orthodox children living in poverty. However, it should be noted that after a decade in which the percentage of ultra-Orthodox families living below the poverty line ranged between 50% and 58 %, the poverty rate is declining.
Standard of living is closely linked to households' levels of income and expenditure. The gross monthly income of an ultra-Orthodox family averaged NIS 12,616 in 2015 — far lower than that among other Jewish households (NIS 20,807). This low income level can be attributed to the fact that the ultra-Orthodox nuclear family often depends upon a single breadwinner who is likely to spend fewer hours on the job in a lower-paid occupation.
A look at monthly expenditures shows that in 2015, on the average, ultra-Orthodox households spent NIS 13,676 per month — 15 % less than other Jewish households, even though on the average --Haredi households are larger. The gap can be attributed to ultra-Orthodox culture, whose very essence emphasizes modesty and thrift, as well as to the existence of community-based commercial centers targeted towards this population, where products can be acquired cheaply and sometimes even at no cost.
Among ultra-Orthodox households, mandatory expenditures such as income tax, National Insurance payments, and health insurance are, on average, only one-third of those among other Jewish households (1,261 NIS as compared with 3,583 NIS).
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An analysis of behavior patterns related to standard of living indicates that gaps in standard of living between the ultraOrthodox and the general Jewish population remain wide; for example, gaps in car ownership (41% among Haredim as compared with 79% of the rest of the Jewish population) and in the use of public transportation for travel to work (25% as compared with 14%). The only area in which we found full parity between the two populations was in homeownership (75 % for both).