Israel has highest fertility rate in OECD, report finds
Life expectancy at birth is an average 82.1 years – 80.1 years for men and 84.1 years for women, which is the ninth-highest life expectancy of the countries surveyed.
By NAOMI GRANTUpdated: JULY 4, 2018 03:27Babies (Illustrative)(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Israel is the most fertile country in the OECD, according to a report.The latest Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development report surveys data from 2016, during which the average number of births per woman was 3.1, surpassing the two second most fertile countries, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Both of those countries had 2.5 births per woman, leaving a much larger gap than between those two countries, and the next two, Indonesia and Peru which both had 2.4 births per woman.The average among OECD countries in 2016 was 1.7.Israel also had among the lowest suicide rates, with 5.5 suicides per 100,000 residents in 2014, the latest available data.Life expectancy at birth is an average 82.1 years – 80.1 years for men and 84.1 years for women, which is the ninth-highest life expectancy of the countries surveyed.The report also forecasted good economic growth for Israel, which tied for ninth highest economic growth with Latvia, with a 3.6% projected annual growth rate in 2019. Comparatively, the worldwide international growth rate in 2019 is predicted to be 3.9% while the OECD growth rate is predicted to be 2.5%.Israel has 3.1 physicians per 1,000 people, a fairly average rate, compared to the OECD average of 3.3 per 1,000 residents, but just 4.9 nurses per 1,000 people, compared to an OECD average of 9.3 nurses.In the same vein, Israel had just 5.5 medical school graduates per 100,000 people in 2015, the second lowest number of all OECD countries, although Luxembourg, the lowest, had zero. Ireland had the highest, with 23.5 graduates per 100,000 residents.Israel also has 36 MRI tests per 1,000 people, significantly fewer than 64 in the OECD, though this has increased since 2016.“Health outcomes are at the top of the OECD, but infrastructure and resource issues require significant improvement beyond the improvements we have made in recent years,” Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar-Siman-Tov told Israel Hayom. “The health system’s challenges, as mentioned in the report, require special attention in light of the accelerated aging of the population.”Israel’s medical spending in 2016 amounted to $2,725 per capita, with $980 of voluntary spending and $1,703 of government/compulsory spending, the report indicated.
