80% of Israelis: Health is good

Survey finds a third of population experienced depression.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Teen depression (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Teen depression
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
 A third of Israeli Jews over 20 and 49 percent of Arabs felt depressed “frequently” or “from time to time,” according to the first Central Bureau of Statistics report on quality of life indices issued on Thursday for World Health Day.
However, the same study found that 80% of all Israelis and nearly 100% of those aged 20 to 44 described their health situation as “very good” or “good.”
According to the latest count, 27% of school pupils through ninth grade suffered from being overweight or obese. However, being overweight or obese was significantly less likely among Beduin and ultra-Orthodox (haredi) children.
A total of 16.2% of adults over the age of 21 (after army age) said they smoke at least one cigarette daily.
This shows there has been a gradual decline in smoking over recent years among both men and women. The figure is lower here than the OECD average of 19.7% and similar to the rate in Finland and Denmark.
Between 2000 and 2014, there was a steady decline in infant mortality, according to the CBS, but the gap between Arab and Jewish infants remained high, between 2.5 to 2.8 times higher in Arabs than in the Jewish sector. The average life expectancy for men and women at birth was 82.1 years, putting Israel in seventh place of OECD nations together with Iceland. This figure is 1.6 years higher than the OECD average of 80.5 years.
There remain significant differences in life expectancy between men and women. Between 2000 and 2014, life expectancy in men rose 3.6 years in men to 80.3, and 3.2 years in women to 84.1. The gap in life expectancy between the sexes is among the lowest in the OECD, only 3.8 years. The longevity figures are lower among Arab Israelis, with a gap of 4.3 years in men (largely due to much higher smoking rates among Arab males) and 3.3 years in women.