Statistics Regarding
Israeli Arabs
In November 2002, the Central Bureau of Statistics
(CBS) produced an article on Arab population growth and density in Israel.
The study was conducted in 2001, and compares the Arab population in
Israel between 1948 and 2001. The authors also predict the amount of
growth in the population by the year 2020.
According to the study, 156,000 Arabs lived in Israel in 1948. They
comprised approximately 19% of the population. In 2001, 1.2 million
Arabic people populated the area. Because of increased Jewish immigration
to Israel, the proportion of Arab residents remained at 19% in 2001.
The researchers predict that by 2020, the Arab population in Israel
will have increased to 2 million people and will comprise somewhere
between 21% to 24% of Israel's population. On average, the proportion
of Arabs increases 3.4% each year.
In 2001, 82% of the population was Muslim,
9% were Christians,
and 9% were Druze.
According to the CBS, the proportion of Muslims will increase to 85%
by 2020.
As a result of both an increase in the birthrate and
an increase in immigration from neighboring countries, the Arab
community in Israel is very young. More than 50% of the Arab population
is under nineteen years old. The Muslims and Druze are especially young
in comparison to the Christian Arabs in the country.
In total, 71% of the Arab population lives in 116
different localities throughout Israel. In these localities, Arabs are
a heavy majority. Twenty-four percent of Arabs live in cities that have
a Jewish majority. These cities are Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv-Yaffo,
Lod, Ma'a lot-Tarshiha, Nazerat Illit, Akko,
and Ramla. Of the remaining 5%, approximately 4% live in Bedouin communities in the Negev, and
1% live in areas that are almost completely Jewish.
Nazareth has the largest Arab population but Jerusalem, a "mixed" city,
housed 209,000 Arabs in 2000. Only nine of the 116 Arab localities are
cities. The other localities are ruled by an Arab local authority or
else they are strictly rural areas.
One consequence of the exponential increase in the Arab population
is an increase in the amount of single women. Many of the women have
found that there is a shortage in potential husbands. Muslims and Druze,
in particular, are faced with this problem.
While the growth rate continues to increase each year, the birth rate
has decreased. Before 1970, Muslim women gave birth to approximately
nine children each. By 1999, the birth rate had decreased to 4.7 children
per woman. As a result, the size of Arab families has also decreased.
Muslim families, for example, had approximately 5.7 persons per family
in 2001.
Improvements in medicine have largely contributed to the increase in
the Arab population, as life expectancy has increased 27 years since
1948. Arabs in Israel tend to live 10 years longer than Arabs in neighboring
countries.
The most common health-related causes of death are heart disease and
cancer. This could be a result of the large number of Arabs who smoke.
Approximately one half of all Arab men smoke cigarettes. Diabetes is
also common among the Arab population with 14% diagnosed with the disease
in 2000.
Healthcare improvements have also led to a lower infant mortality rate. In 1970,
the infant mortality rate for Arabs was 32 deaths for every thousand
births. In 2000, the rate had significantly decreased to 8.6 per every
thousand. Out of the Arab population, Muslims have the highest rate
of infant mortality with 9.1 per every thousand. Improved living standard,
an improvement in environmental conditions and an increase in years
of schooling also contributed to the decrease in infant mortality.
Improvement in education has also had significant benefits for the
Arab community in Israel. The average number of years of education has
doubled from five years in 1970 to ten years in 2000. Arab women, in
particular, have improved their education. By the year 2000, 59% of
Arab women had obtained at least eight years of education. Women also
made up 51% of the Arab school system in Israel.
Christian Arabs continue to receive more education than Muslims or
Druze. While 27% of Christian Arabs had gone through twelve years of
schooling, only 14% of Muslims and Druze completed that same number.
The rate of graduation from high school for Arabs was comparable to
that of Jews in Israel. In 1999, 46% of Arab students in 12th grade
graduated from high school. In that same year, 52% of Jewish students
graduated.
Twenty-six percent of those Arab students who graduated went on to
receive some kind of secondary education. Arabs comprised approximately
7% of all students at Israeli universities.
As of 2001, only 40% of Arab persons fifteen and older were part of
the work force in Israel. Jews, on the other hand, were shown to have
60% of their population participating in the labor force. One reason
for the lower rate of Arab workers is the extremely low proportion of
Arab women in the work force. Only 15% of Arab women participate in
the labor force, while Jewish women contribute 53% of their population.
In both Jewish and Arab populations, younger women are more likely to
work. Seventy-nine percent of Jewish women aged 25-34 are part of the
work force, while the Arab percentage is only 22%.
Many Arab men work in construction and agriculture. Only seven percent
of Jewish men work in construction. Arabs and Jews have somewhat different
unemployment rates. In 2000, 12% of Arab men were unemployed while 7.6%
of Jewish men were out of work.
The Arab population in Israel tends to earn less money than the Jewish
population. Arabs earn approximately 60% of the yearly wage of Jews.
The cost of living, however, is lower among the Arab population. The
cost of housing for Arabs is, on average, 490,000 shekels ($ 122,500).
For Jews, the cost of a house is 805,000 shekels ($201,250).
In general, the standard of living for Arabs in Israel is significantly
better than that of Arabs in other countries. For example, the rate
of female literacy in Israel is 88% among Arabs, while in Egypt, only
43% of females are literate. Also, life expectancy in Israel is 74.6
years for men, while in Libya, the average lifespan is only 68.6 years.
In 1999, the infant mortality rate for the Arab population in Israel
was 9 deaths per every thousand births. Egypt's infant mortality rate
in the same year was 41 deaths per every thousand.
Sources: Central Bureau of Statistics Center for Statistical Information, (November 2002) |