(Jewish Chronicle-UK) Paul Morland - In the 1990s Israeli Jewish women were having on average a little over 2.5 children. Today, when other advanced populations in the Mediterranean area have seen fertility rates plummet, the average Israeli Jewish woman has a little over three children. By international comparison, this is astonishing. It is twice the level of Greece and more than twice the level of Italy, Germany or Spain. In no developed country besides Israel does the level approach three. Meanwhile, the family sizes of Israel's neighbors have started to fall, rapidly. Egyptian fertility rates are now about the same as those of Israel and falling. Today, Iranian women have more than one child fewer than Israeli Jewish women. In the 1960s, Israeli Muslim women were still having nine children. Today, Muslim Israeli women have around three and a half children. Arab Christian and Druze women have a fertility rate of a little above two. The writer is an Associate Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London.
2014-04-11 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive