More than 80 percent of Israeli adults do not maintain a healthy lifestyle according to the latest statistics released Monday by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
In a report covering 2016, the Bureau said that just 16 percent of Israelis above the age of 21 followed routine health advice, including healthy diet (defined as at least three fruits or vegetables a day), regular exercise and no smoking.
According to the World Health Organization, the average adult should do about 3 hours of moderately strenuous exercise a week, or 70 minutes of high-strain activity.
The report said that women are typically more careful about their health routines than men. Forty-one percent of women and 32 percent of men surveyed said they take care to observe recommendations for two out of the three indicators, but neither gender reaches the 20 percent threshold (17 percent for women, 15.3 for men) for all three.
The report comes at a time of increasing concern about obesity, especially among children. During the 2016-17 school year, 18 percent of elementary school age children were obese, increasing to 30 percent in junior high school.
Still, life expectancy in Israel is one of the highest in the world, with Israelis living an average of 82.5 years (men: 80.7, women: 84.2 years), eighth in the world and just over one year less than world leader Japan.