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Source: https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2024/09/95824/
What Explains Israel's Exceptional Fertility?
(Public Discourse) Daniel Kane - As birthrates in every other developed country have plummeted to well below replacement levels in recent decades, Israel is the only OECD country with a naturally growing population. Its birthrate - which, since 1980, has consistently been three births per woman - is roughly double the OECD average. The abundance of children is one of the most striking features of modern Israeli society. What makes Israel different? All expectant mothers in Israel have full medical coverage. Moreover, Israel provides every family about $600 upon the arrival of their first child. In contrast, the average delivery in America costs families about $2,000. After giving birth, Israeli mothers are entitled to fifteen weeks of paid leave, funded by the state. Finally, there are tax breaks per child and a monthly child allowance, based on the number of children. What makes Israeli fertility truly remarkable is the fact that elevated fertility rates are not limited to its devout religious minority. Nationalism goes a long way to explaining the exceptional robustness of "secular" Israel's family-oriented culture. Nationalism creates a shared sense of identity across time. To be Jewish is to be the inheritor of an intergenerational project - a national story that precedes each one of us by centuries and will outlive us by many more. And the pervasiveness of this self-understanding among Jewish Israelis is among the most important drivers of Israel's exceptional fertility. Because individual identities are deeply rooted in a sense of national belonging, Jewish Israelis feel remarkably connected to their collective past and invested in their shared future. Israelis do not speak of having children as merely a lifestyle choice or a question of personal preference. There is also an unmistakable sense that having children is about something bigger than each of them individually. The choice to have children is an affirmation of the national story they have collectively inherited and spent much of their lives celebrating.