A total of 13, 666 marriages were recorded in Israel last year, according to data made public here today. About 25 percent of them were between new immigrants and veteran settlers; thirty percent of the newlyweds were “sabras” or pre-state immigrants who married among themselves; about 45 percent were persons who arrived after the establishment of the Jewish State who married among themselves.
According to the official statistics, marriages between European and Eastern couples (Ashkenazim and Sephardim) have increased from 2.4 percent in 1944 to twelve percent. Israel’s marriage rate has dropped from 10. 85 per thousand in 1948 to 8. 38. The decline is due to the population increase resulting from the immigration of families with young children.
Gentlemen prefer city girls, the data revealed. Some 70 percent chose home-town girls, twenty percent found mates from other cities while only ten percent went to villages for their affinities. Village boys, too, choose city-bred girls and according to published figures only 43percent married farm girls. Kibbutz girls, however, are favored by 81 percent of their marriageable comrades. Of the other male members of kibbutzim, 14 percent chose city girls and the remainder took mates from farms and other rural settlements.
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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.
