Israel’s Annual Poverty Report: Decline in Arab Poverty Meets Increase in Depth and Severity

The incidence of poverty among Arab families declined at a greater rate than the overall population in 2017, dropping from 49.2% in 2016 to 47.1% (a milder drop compared to the 4% decrease between 2015 and 2016). While labor market changes have factored into this decline, it is also attributed to government benefit payments (such as welfare or allowances for children and senior citizens), which helped 9.7% of Arab families recover from poverty in 2017 versus 6.1% of families in 2016. However, if residents of East Jerusalem and Bedouins are not included in calculations, the number of Arab citizens of Israel living under the poverty line dropped by 9% in 2017. These communities actually saw a spike in poverty during 2017, with Bedouin poverty rates rising from 58% to nearly 65% and East Jerusalem Arab poverty rising from 70% to roughly 75%. Arab families, which comprise 15% of families in Israel, represented 37.4% of poor families in Israel in 2017, versus 39% in 2016.