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.
{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}
kayin yirbu
Check out Harry Dent’s book The Demographic Cliff. He posits that a huge piece of economic destiny lies in a country’s demographics. That’s what has put Japan in a coma, is hurting Greece and Spain and soon Germany. He’s actually very positive about Israel’s long term future because of its high birthrate and technological innovation, once the geopolitics calms down over there, bimheira b’yameinu.