The number of immigrant children who live below the poverty line in Israel has decreased dramatically, from 43 percent in 1993 to 23 percent in 1994, Absorption Minister Yair Tsaban announced last week.
Tsaban also pointed out that immigrant children have improved their academic performance, surpassing the national average success rate in college matriculation exams.
Tsaban revealed these and other figures at a June 5 daylong conference marking the publication of the first “Immigrant Children in Israel” report, published jointly by his ministry and the National Council for the Child in Israel.
The council, established in 1980, has published annual reports on children in Israel for the past three years. Although past reports contained a chapter on immigrant children, this is the first report devoted solely to them.
According to the report, immigrant children constituted 27 percent of all immigrants who made aliyah between 1990 and the end of 1994.
Of the 163,887 immigrant children who came to Israel during this period, about 136,000 came from the former Soviet Union, 17,000 from Ethiopia, 2,400 from the United States and 1,800 from France.
Approximately 95,000 immigrant families with children live today in Israel. The majority of them, about 57 percent, have one child, and 11 percent have three or more children.
The rate of single-parent families, now at 18,000, has grown in the last two years from 14 percent to 19 percent of all immigrant families, and is more than double the 9 percent rate of single-parent families in the rest of the population.
Tsaban also said various government agencies are working to improve mortgage loan conditions for single-parent families, and is more than double than 9 percent rate of single-parent families in the rest of the population.
Tsaban attributed the general rise in living standards of immigrant children to the decrease in unemployment among their parents — from 30 percent 1992 to 11 percent in 1994.
Another contributing factor to the rise in living standards, he said, are grants for a first child given by National Insurance Institute, a program that went into effect only recently.
Tsaban also pointed with satisfaction to the continued improvement in immigrant children’s academic achievements.
In 1993, 48 percent of immigrant children passed their matriculation exams – – national tests taken at the end of high school that are a major factor in university admissions. In 1994, the number rose to 50.1 percent.
An average of 47 percent native-born Israelis pass the matriculation exams.
Tsaban called on Israeli society and the various absorption institutions to increase their efforts at absorbing immigrant children, saying that because they adapt easier to their new environment, they become a bridgehead for the successful absorption of their entire families.
“The failure to absorb an immigrant child could have a negative influence on the absorption of the child’s family,” said the minister.
He added that surveys of immigrants from the former Soviet Union indicated that the concern for their children’s welfare and their future prospects in Israeli society constitutes a crucial element in the parents’ decision to make aliyah.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
