Statistics: Jews Far More Happy to be Living in Jerusalem Than Arabs

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics just released a mountain of Jerusalem-related statistics, just in time for Jerusalem Day.

By David Lev

 

Jerusalem is Israel’s biggest city, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) announced Monday. In a slew of Jerusalem-related statistics, released in honor of Jerusalem Day, to be celebrated later this week, the CBS announced that at the end of 2011, there were 804,400 people living in the city, 499,400 (62%) of them Jewish. Of the rest, 281,000 (35%) were Muslim, 14,700 (2%) Christian, and 9,000 (1%) “other” or no declared religion. In addition, 200 Druze lived in the city.

entrance to Jaffa Gate

Entrance to Jaffa Gate of the ‘Old City’ – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The city added a net of 16,300 residents during 2011. Joining 2,900 individuals who moved into the city from abroad that year were an additional 18,700 who were born to families already living in Jerusalem or Israelis who moved there. However, 7,300 people left the city as well. New Israeli residents of Jerusalem hail mostly from Beit Shemesh, Tel Aviv, and Beitar Ilit, the CBS said.

The average Jerusalem household has 3.9 residents, higher than the average 3.3 in the rest of the country. Other large cities had significantly smaller families; in Haifa, the average household size is 2.5, while in Tel Aviv it is 2.2. Jersualemites also produced more children; women in the city had an average of 3.9 children, compared to 3.0 in the rest of the country.

Significantly fewer Jerusalemites are in the workforce; just over half, 50.5%, are employed, compared to a national average of 63.6%. Unemployment in Jerusalem was 7.8% in 2012, compared to a national average of 6.9%. 84.4% of working Jerusalem residents are employed in the city, compared to 70.9% of Haifa residents, and 63.4% of Tel Aviv residents.

Thirty one percent of residents are “very happy” to be living in Jerusalem. Among Jews alone, 41% said they were very happy to be residents, compared to only 13% of Arabs. Fifty seven percent said they were “happy” to be Jerusalem residents, while 12% said they were unhappy.

Of the Jewish residents of the city, 32% consider themselves hareidi, 21% religious Zionist, 10% traditional-religious, 16% traditional, and 19% said they were secular. Two percent did not place themselves in any of these categories.

During the past educational semester, there were 37,700 students in institutions of higher education in Jerusalem. Among Israel’s six largest cities, Jerusalemites had the lowest per capita spending rate – NIS 3,326. And, the CBS said, city residents owned fewer communication and entertainment devices than residents of other large.

 

View original Arutz Sheva publication at: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/167773#.UYfNb8p0k9E