Demography

Young people constitute a very high proportion of Jerusalem's population. This is due mainly to the Orthodox Jewish and the non-Jewish populations, both of which have a high percentage of large families. The large number of children has important implications with regard to the public services provided for infants, children, and teenagers: formal and informal education, health services, etc. Similarly, the high percentage of senior citizens (65+) is significant in terms of the distribution of services allotted to them.

Population by Age

In 1996 about 44% of Jerusalem's total population was between the ages of 0-19, and of them, approximately 13% were between the ages 0-4. Senior citizens (65+) constituted 8% of the population. In the non-Jewish sector, 51% of the population was between the ages of 0-19 (16.6% between the ages of 0-4), and in the Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods over 50% of the population was between the ages of 0 - 19.

Table 2: Population of Jerusalem by Age Groups, 1996

Age Total Population Jewish Non Jewish

Numbers % Numbers % Numbers %

Total 602,100 100.0 421,200 100.0 180,900 100.0

0 - 4 80,400 13.4 50,200 11.9 30,100 16.6

5 -19 185,000 30.7 122,000 29.0 62,900 34.8

20 - 44 203,700 33.8 141,500 33.6 62,200 34.4

45 - 64 84,900 14.1 66,400 15.8 18,600 10.3

65+ 48,100 8.0 41,400 9.7 7,100 3.9

Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, Population File, 1996

An analysis of the dispersal of different age groups in the city indicates that:

There is a high concentration of young children (ages 0 - 4) in the Orthodox neighborhoods and in several non-Jewish neighborhoods: in these areas, the percentage of the population in this age group exceeds 20%, whereas the municipal average for this age group is 13.4%.

There is a high concentration of school-aged children (5-19) in the peripheral neighborhoods, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and in the Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. In all these neighborhoods, the percentage of this age group exceeds the municipal average of 30.7%.

The elderly (65+) are most heavily concentrated in the center of the city, where they constitute more than 20% of the total population (the municipal average is 8%). This percentage declines as one moves away from the city center and is lowest in the peripheral neighborhoods.

In contrast to previous years, the percentage of the 0-19 age group has remained stable in both the Jewish and the non-Jewish sectors. There has, however, been an increase in the percentage of elderly (65+) among the Jewish population of Jerusalem. Whereas this group constituted 8.5% of Jerusalem's Jewish population in the mid-1980s, it rose to 9.1% in 1991, 9.2% in 1992, 9.5% in 1993, 9.6% in 1994 and 9.7% in 1995 and in 1996. This can probably be attributed to the influx of new immigrants, a relatively high proportion of whom are senior citizens, and to negative balance migration, which took its toll on Jerusalem's younger population.

Dependency Ratio

The dependency ratio indicates the number of individuals of working age in relation to the non-working age population, specifically children and the elderly. As the rate of dependent (non-working) population increases, so too does the economic burden on the working population. According to the National Insurance Institute (The National Insurance Institute, Department of Research and Planning, unpublished), the dependency rate in Jerusalem is as high as 100:100. (In comparison, the national average is 85.9:100, in Tel Aviv it is 74.0:100, and in Haifa it is 83.0:100.) In other words, statistically, every person of working age in Jerusalem has dependents, either children or elderly; in fact, the main factor behind this high ratio is the very large number of children in Jerusalem. Should the percentage of children and/or elderly increase any further, so too would the dependency ratio, so that every person of working age will have more than one dependent. This will result in a drop in the level of income per person.

The ratio of children to people of working age in Jerusalem is 81.0:100. This is significantly higher than either the national ratio (65.1:100) or the ratio of Israel's two other leading cities, Tel Aviv (40.2:100) and Haifa (45.8:100). In contrast, the ratio of elderly Jerusalemites to the working-age population (19.0:100) is lower than the national ratio (20.8:100) or the ratio in Tel Aviv (33.8:100) and Haifa (37.1:100). It can, therefore, be determined that the high dependency rate in Jerusalem is mainly an outcome of the large number of children among the Orthodox Jewish and the non-Jewish populations.

Family Size

It has already been shown that Jerusalem has a particularly high percentage of large families. According to The Statistical Yearof Jerusalem (1996), the average number of persons per household is 3.9, which can further be broken down to 3.6 among the Jewish population and 5.4 among the non-Jewish population. About 23% of all Jerusalem households have six persons or more, while 37% have only one or two persons. A study of the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, conducted by the Division for Strategic Planning and Research (March 1998) found that the average size of families in these neighborhoods reaches 6.0 persons per household.

Students in the Educational System

Jerusalem's educational system must cater to the very large number of school-aged children (160,000) and provide for three distinct sectors of the population: Jewish (95,000) (this includes both the non-Orthodox and the Modern Orthodox population), ultra-Orthodox Jewish (65,000), and Arab (24,000). In comparison, Tel Aviv's educational system caters to some 64,000 students (including private schools and yeshivot), and Haifa's, to some 58,000 students.

Table 3: Breakdown of Students within Jerusalem's Educational System, 1996, 1997

The Jerusalem Education Authority

The Ultra-Orthodox Educational Department

Total

Department 1996 1997 1996 1997 1996 1997

Kindergarten 9,878 9,381 15,109 16,046 24,987 25,427

Primary Education 32,657 30,200 32,114 34,078 64,771 64,278

Highschool 28,784 28,810 12,549 13,889 41,333 42,699

Arab Sector 23,398 24,272 23,398 24,272

Total (*) 94,717 94,513 59,772 64,890 154,489 159,403

Source: Education Yearbook, 1996,1997 The Jerusalem Education Authority, The Ultra-Orthodox Educational Department, The Municipality of Jerusalem.

(*) Total number of students, 1997, 159,403, including students in special education, with 1,580 students under the auspices of the Jerusalem Education Authority and 877 under the auspices of the Ultra-Orthodox Educational Department.

Level of Education

The high level of education characteristic of Jerusalem residents exceeds both the national average and that of either Tel Aviv of Haifa. Some 36% of the population above the age of 15 have had more than 13 years of education, and of these 19% have had more than 16 years. Over 45% of the Jewish population has over 13 years of education, of which 24 percent has over 16 years. The highly educated workforce, which has been boosted by a highly educated immigrant population, exhibits enormous potential for developing local, scientific-based industries such as science-based industries, computer programming, communications, etc.