Rehovot, a city in Israel’s central district, about 12 miles south-east of Tel Aviv, with a population of 135,726, has just been rated to have the best overall quality of life out of the 14 cities in the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Well-Being in Big Cities index.
There are three significant Jewish ethnic minorities in Rehovot: Russian Jews, Yemenite Jews, and Ethiopian Jews, concentrated largely in the Kiryat Moshe and Oshiot areas. There is a growing community of religious anglos who primarily live in Northern Rehovot, around the Weizman Institute of Science.
According to the CBS, Rehovot not only has the highest quality of life, it also leads in its residents’ job satisfaction, housing satisfaction, their sense of ability to cope with problems, and the lowest infant mortality in Israel, which also means in the entire Mediterranean basin.
Ramat Gan, in second place, has the highest life expectancy in Israel (and the region, obviously).
In third-place Rishon Letzion, people’s satisfaction with their residential area is the highest.
Bnei Brak (4th place) leads in satisfaction with life, people’s sense of their personal health, and the highest voter turnout in Knesset elections (making it first in the entire Middle East).
Fifth-place Petah Tikva has the highest percentage of residents who are satisfied with their economic situation.
In sixth-place Holon, the residents are very satisfied with their residential area (probably not as much as those Rishon Letzion folks, but what they don’t know can’t hurt them).
Seventh-place Tel Aviv-Yafo has the highest employment rate.
Ashdod, 8th place, leads in people’s satisfaction with their public parks and green open-air surfaces.
Here’s an odd one: 9th place Ashkelon has the distinction of being home to the lowest percentage of residents who expressed high confidence in the health system. We assume there are other distinguishing facts about the city that’s located so close to the Gaza border which makes it ninth in quality of life – but we never figured that mistrusting your doctor improves your life quality. Maybe it means they don’t go to hospital as often as the rest of Israel’s citizens, opting instead for an apple a day.
Tenth-place Haifa has the lowest housing density. Who would have thunk. It may have to do with the city’s infamous low-to-toxic air quality, which makes for a faster turnover in housing dwellers.
For some reason, 11th-place Netanya has the highest number of residents who express confidence in their government. This is even odder than the Ashkelon story, because, A. Netanyahu is known as the organized crime capital of Israel, and, B. Netanya’s mayor, her son, and several senior city administrators have been under investigation for graft over the past few years. Is it possible that the real distinguishing mark of Netanya residents is a stunning capacity for deadpan delivery of ironic statements?
12th-place Be’er Sheva has the lowest life expectancy and the highest infant mortality rate.
But even with that dreadful distinction, it still came ahead of 13th-place Jerusalem, which has the lowest percentage of residents who are satisfied with their residential area (no surprise there), but also the highest percentage of residents expressing high confidence in their health system. So, to reiterate, lousy apartments, great doctors.
The last city on the CBS list, Bat Yam, has the lowest percentage of satisfaction with life. Now, that’s a depressing statistic for you.