The Hebrew U

Inbal Doron

The Hebrew University in Jerusalem is the third largest university in Israel today, after the universities of Tel Aviv and Bar-Ilan. In 2011 a total of 20,400 students were enrolled in the Hebrew University, which for several years has had the largest number of students in the country pursuing advanced degrees, including doctorates. In 2011, a total of 2,540 were pursuing doctoral degrees in Jerusalem, constituting 24% of the total for Israel. The number of students in higher education institutions in Israel rises each year, especially for advanced degrees. In the last decade (2001-2011) there has been an increase of 23% in the number of students pursuing a master’s degree, and 50% in the number studying towards a doctorate. 

At the same time, there has been a decline in recent years in the ratio of Hebrew University students to the total number of students in Israel. Two decades ago (1991), about a quarter of the total number of students in Israel were enrolled at the Hebrew University, compared to only 16% in 2011. The key explanation for this trend lies in the privatization of higher education in Israel that took place during the early 1990s and in the opening of a large number of academic colleges that compete with universities. Another explanation lies in the transformations that have occurred in the most sought-after fields today, as compared with past years.

Out of a total of 251,800 students in 2011, about half studied in universities and half in academic colleges and teacher-training colleges. Today a total of 35 academic colleges and 23 teacher-training colleges operate in Israel. Among other things, the colleges offer a wide range of degrees in areas such as design, music, or technology. In Jerusalem today there are seven academic colleges and five teacher-training colleges, at which in 2011 a total of 16,000 students were enrolled, constituting 44% of the total number of students in the city that year.

A review of students’ chosen fields over time in Israel reflects the change that has taken place in recent decades. In 2011, bachelor’s degree students in Israel’s universities pursued the following fields of study: social sciences (31%), engineering and architecture (20%) humanities (19%), natural sciences (15%), medicine (10%), law (4%), and agriculture (1%). The most significant decline was in the humanities. Until the late 1990s this had been the leading field of study, attracting about a third of bachelor’s degree students on average. The fields in which a significant increase occurred were medicine and healthcare, engineering, and architecture. The percentage of medical students today is double that of 1980, and in engineering and architecture one can see a steady increase in the number of students over the past decades. 

These changes in chosen fields of study, and primarily the decrease in interest in the humanities as well as the lack of an engineering faculty have been contributing factors in the decline in percentage of students at the Hebrew University out of the total number of students in Israel’s universities. The salient fields of study at the Hebrew University compared to others in Israel are medicine and healthcare. A total of 28% of the country’s bachelor’s degree medical and healthcare students are enrolled at the Hebrew University. These figures are 26% for law and 19% for the natural sciences. 

Data source: Central Bureau of Statistics

Family Relations

Inbal Doron

The family unit is undergoing a process of transformation in the modern world. In recent years the public debate surrounding this process and its potential implications for various aspects of society has been increasing. In this context, some interesting statistics regarding the population of Jerusalem are presented here.

According to data of the Central Bureau of Statistics from the end of 2009, a total of 66% of the city’s population (aged 20 and above) were married, whereas 23% were single, 6% were divorced, and 5% were widowed. The percentage of married individuals aged 20 and above in Jerusalem was comparable to the figure for Israel (63%) and much higher than the figure for Tel Aviv (46%). The data indicate that Jerusalemites marry at a young age. Among those aged 20-34 in Jerusalem, about 53% were married (compared to 28% in Tel Aviv). Interestingly, 9% of all married residents of the city were wed before age 24, compared to 4% in Israel and only 1.5% in Tel Aviv.

Divorce rates in Jerusalem were very low. Only 9% of those aged 35 and above in the city were divorced, compared to 16% in Tel Aviv and 14% in Haifa. The percentage of those divorced among the 35+ age group within the Jewish population was higher than the figure for the Arab population: 11% versus 3%, respectively. The percentage of singles within both population groups was identical, at 8%.

According to data of the National Council for the Child from the end of 2010, Jerusalem had 7,900 single-parent families, which included about 14,000 children under age 18. These children accounted for approximately 4% of all the city’s children. This is lower than the figure for Israel, in which 9% of all children belong to single-parent families. In Tel Aviv the percentage of children within single-parent families was especially high, measuring 17%. 

Sources: Analysis of Central Bureau of Statistics data, Statistical Yearbook of the National Council for the Child.

Business As Usual

Inbal Doron

An examination of the number of active businesses in a city and their survivability rates over time provides an indication of the strength of the city's business sector. Identifying those sectors of the economy in which businesses have higher survivability rates can also be instructive.

In 2010, approximately 34,700 businesses operated in Jerusalem. This was lower than the 2010 figure for Tel Aviv, where about 64,700 businesses operated, and higher than for Haifa, where about 20,000 businesses operated. The economic sectors with the highest numbers of businesses in Jerusalem were real estate and business services (26%), trade (20%), health, education, and welfare (14%), and transportation and communications (11%). These sectors are more dynamic than others, with a large number of business openings and closings registered annually. During 2010, a total of 912 new businesses opened in the sector of real estate and business services, representing 28% of all new businesses. During the same year, 616 businesses from this sector closed, representing 23% of all the businesses that closed. In the trade sector, 727 new businesses opened (23%) and 656 closed (24%) during this year. In total, more than 3,200 new businesses opened in Jerusalem and about 2,700 closed during 2010. These numbers were lower than the figures for Tel Aviv, where more than 6,300 businesses opened and about 4,450 closed.

What are the chances of survival for a new business? The data indicate that of all the new businesses opened in Israel in 2005, approximately half closed by 2010. A similar trend took place in Jerusalem, where the survivability rate of a new business was 89% in the first year, 75% in the second year, 65% in the third year, 59% in the fourth year, and 52% in the fifth year.

Rates of survivability vary among the different business sectors. Jerusalem businesses in the education and health sector and in the banking and finance sector enjoyed relatively high survivability rates, with 67% surviving past five years. In contrast, the survivability rate of businesses in the hospitality and food services' sector that had opened in 2005 measured only 35% in 2010.

Source: Analysis of Central Bureau of Statistics data