Report: 48% of Jerusalem Residents Are Poor

Photo Credit: Miriam Alster / Flash 90

About half of the total population in the city of Jerusalem live below the poverty level according to data gathered in 2014, the Central Bureau of Statistics and Bituach Leumi, National Insurance Institute) report.

Elsewhere in the country the poverty rate is much lower. According to the agencies, half that number — 22 percent — of the total population in Israel was found to be living below the poverty line in 2014.

In 2013, the poverty rate in Israel was 20.9 percent, according to a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD reported that year that Israel had the highest poverty rate in the developed world.