meir panim update

Percentage of poor children up to 35.8

Social Welfare Minister Yitzhak Herzog presented the NII’s poverty report together with the director general of the institute, Yigal Ben-Shalom.

The report showed a slight decrease in overall poverty – the percentage of families living under the poverty line dropped from 20.6% in 2005 to 20% and the percentage of individuals living under the poverty line decreased from 24.7% to 24.5%. However, the percentage of children who suffered from poverty rose from 35.2% to 35.8%.

According to the report, an estimated 404,000 families – 1.65 million people and 796,000 children – lived under the poverty line.

There was a significant drop in poverty figures among the elderly – from 24.4% in 2005 to 21.5%. The fall was the result of an increase in pensions.

Read more at JPost.com

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