Jerusalem’s population is becoming poorer, as well as more fervently Orthodox, according to a report on the capital released this week.
The report, prepared by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, found that 33.9 percent of the children in Jerusalem lived below the poverty line in 1994, compared with the 22.8 percent national figure.
The report also described Jerusalem as one of the poorest cities in the country, with the 1993 average monthly wage totaling about $1,200, compared with $1,400 in Tel Aviv and $1,470 in Haifa.
The study found that during the past five years, some 26,000 residents left Jerusalem, many of them young, educated professionals; the trend contributed to the growing fervently Orthodox character of the city, it found.
Of the 24,300 Jerusalem 11th- and 12th-graders, the report said, 28 percent study in fervently Orthodox schools, which also served 45 percent of those in the first through sixth grades.
The report described Jerusalem as having one of the country’s youngest populations, with a mean age of 23. In Tel Aviv, by comparison, the mean age is 35.
Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that the way to keep Jerusalem’s young, secular population from moving elsewhere was to bring more industry and jobs to the city.
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