Young Neve Yaacov

Shaya Rosenblum

In every discussion about the demographic future of Jerusalem and its various neighborhoods, the residential patterns of young people (20- to 34-year-olds) within the city must be taken into consideration. At these ages, following their army service, most people are setting out independently, studying at academic institutions, seeking employment, or marrying and starting families. Personal choices about where to live that are made at this time of life have significant influence on the character of the city and its neighborhoods.

Among the haredi population, young couples are mostly unable to purchase or rent an apartment in the neighborhoods where they were born, and they tend to move outside the city. The minority that is able to purchase an apartment in Jerusalem can only do so in the secular neighborhoods on the periphery, which leads to the phenomenon of "haredization" in these neighborhoods.

The following is a 2011-2015 analysis of the Jerusalem neighborhoods where young people (aged 20-34) constitute more than 40% of the adult (over 20-year-old) population.

Excluding the areas where the Hebrew University dormitories are located, and where, not surprisingly, there is a high concentration of young people, constituting 50 to 94% of the population, the figures regarding the areas where there are high concentrations of young people should teach us about the preferred areas in which to reside on the part of secular and observant young people on the one hand, and about the areas chosen by young haredi families on the other.

The most prominent finding is that the haredi neighborhoods have the highest percentages of young people (aged 20-34), with their percentages reaching as high as 60% of the adults in the Bayit VeGan neighborhood. In many Arab neighborhoods as well, young people comprise up to 51% of the adult population, one example being New Anata (Ras Shehada). Both these population groups are characterized by high fertility rates (3.23 among the Arabs, and 6.9 among the haredi population) and therefore their populations are younger relative to the general population in Israel.

A deeper analysis teaches us about patterns of "haredization" in certain Jerusalem neighborhoods and about the neighborhoods preferred by secular and religious young people.

In upper (western) Neve Ya'acov there is a continuous increase in the number of young people – from 3,840 in 2011 to 4,450 in 2015 – a 15% increase, among the residents aged 20 to 34. This is an increase from 45.5% in 2011, to 51% in 2015. The story behind the figures is that in recent years a trend of "haredization" has been observed, moving from the lower (eastern) part of the neighborhood (that has been haredi since its inception) to the upper part. When considering the young families (defined as having children aged 0 to 9, and parents aged 25 to 39), the "haredization" in Neve Ya'acov  grants the area the highest percentage of young families among Jerusalem neighborhoods, where they comprise 62% of the residents in the upper part of the neighborhood.

When studying the concentrations of people aged 20 to 34, it emerges that the areas they prefer are the various parts of Nahlaot and the center of the city, in the triangle formed by the streets Jaffa, King George, and Agron, where they comprise between 41 and 53% of the residents. These areas experienced an increase of 14% in the total number of young people who reside in them, between 2011 and 2015, when the numbers grew from 3,550 to 4,050.

In Rehavia, young people constitute 43% of the adult population. The neighborhood is popular among students, and also among young haredi families from North America. The highest growth rate was recorded in the northern part of Rehavia adjacent to the Sha'arei Hesed neighborhood. For young families, Nahlaot leads among the non-haredi neighborhoods, where young families number about 51% of the adult residents. However, the percentage of children in the neighborhood is low relative to other neighborhoods such as Talpiot, Gilo, Pisgat Ze'ev, Ir Ganim and Nayot. The recorded high percentage is actually comprised of a very high concentration of 25 to 29-year-olds who don't have children.

The data clearly reveals that Nahlaot and the city center are the preferred temporary neighborhoods for young people who have not chosen to start a family, as compared to the concentrations of young haredi people who are starting families in the neighborhoods they choose to settle in.

Translation: Gilah Kahn

Depression

Yael Israeli

Depression is the most prevalent mental illness in the Western world. It is estimated that approximately 17% of the population in Western countries suffers from depression. Many of us find ourselves in a depressed mood from time to time because of various events such as the breakup of a relationship, being fired from work, the death of a close acquaintance, and so on, but these are temporary moods and their context is clear – in contrast to clinical depression, which usually has inherent, possibly unknown, causes.

The 2013 Social Survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics explored the mental and emotional state of respondents and the extent of support they feel they receive from their community.

The survey asked respondents whether they have felt depressed in the past year. In Jerusalem, 12% of those surveyed said they always or often feel depressed, and 33% said they sometimes feel depressed. These percentages are significantly higher than the figures for Tel Aviv and Israel: in Tel Aviv 7% of respondents said they often feel depressed, and an additional 27% said they sometimes feel depressed; in Israel as a whole these figures are 9% and 25% respectively. In Jerusalem 55% of respondents said that they rarely or never feel depressed, compared to 65% in Tel Aviv and Israel as a whole. However, when asked whether they felt they needed psychological counseling during the past year, only 7% responded in the affirmative, compared to 12% in Tel Aviv and Haifa.

The prevalence of depression varies significantly between men and women. Studies reveal that depression is twice as prevalent among women as opposed to men, but it is unclear what causes this disparity and whether it results from problems in diagnosis. Apparently the disparities between men and women in Jerusalem are not so great: the figure was comparable for women and men in Jerusalem (11%-12%) who reported feeling depressed always or often. A slightly higher proportion of women reported feeling depressed sometimes (36% versus 30%), and a higher proportion of Jerusalem men reported that they are never depressed (36% versus 29%). Among the three major cities, Haifa has the largest disparities between men and women: 8% of Haifa men reported feeling depressed always or often, compared to almost twice the figure for women (15%). A total of 13% of Haifa men reported that they sometimes feel depressed, compared to 32% of women.

Support and assistance from the community can significantly help a depressed person cope with feelings of depression, and can also help someone who is likely to become depressed. A distinct majority of people turn to their partner for emotional support, but some also turn to parents and friends. In Jerusalem nearly half of those surveyed said that they would turn to their partner for support, 16% said they would turn to their parents, and 15% would turn to a friend. The rest said they would turn to their children or to another family member or professional. Here, too, there are differences between men and women: Jerusalem women tend to turn to their children more often when seeking emotional support, whereas Jerusalem men actually tend to turn to their parents.

In Tel Aviv as well, about half of those surveyed responded that they would turn to their partner for emotional support, while only 7% reported that they would turn to their parents (less than half the figure for Jerusalem), and 20% said they would turn to a friend. Tel Aviv women tend to turn to their children or another family member for support, whereas the men tend to turn to their partner.

For all those who are depressed, despondent, grieving, or forsaken, we hope that, in the words of poet Lea Goldberg, “the pathways of sorrow will come to an end.”

Data source: Social Survey 2012, Central Bureau of Statistics

Be fruitful and multiply

Dr. Maya Choshen

A new study correlating fertility in Israel with the level of women’s religiosity, published in June of this year by Dr. Ahmad Hleihel of the Central Bureau of Statistics, states “In recent years there has been an increase in Israeli public discourse regarding the differences in fertility levels among women from the different groups that make up the mosaic of Israeli society. This discourse focuses on the future composition of Israeli society and, in particular, the composition of the work-age population. There are three principal reasons for this: fear of change to the future political composition of society, the socio-political character of the state of Israel, and the low rates of participation of two communities – Haredi and Arab – in the workforce and their significant influence on poverty in Israel.” Jerusalem, where a discourse on this issue has flourished for decades already, has preceded Israel.

In 2009 the total fertility rate (the number of children a woman is expected to birth during her life) was 4.0 children, which is higher by a third than the figure for Israel – 3.0 children. The fertility rate of Jewish women in Jerusalem (4.3) is significantly higher than that for Jewish women in Israel (3.0). The explanation for this lies in the higher proportion of haredi and religious women in Jerusalem compared to Israel. These women are characterized by high fertility rates – 7.5 children for haredi women and 4.3 children for religious women, compared to 2.1 children for secular women. The fertility rate of Arab women in Jerusalem (3.9) is also higher than the figure for Arab women in Israel (3.5), but the difference is smaller.

An examination of the patterns of change of fertility rates reveals that during the past decade the fertility rates of Jewish women in Israel and in Jerusalem have risen. Among Arab and Muslim women in Israel and in Jerusalem the trend has been in the opposite direction, with a decrease in fertility rates.

And now for the news: in 2009, for the first time, the fertility rate of Jewish women in Jerusalem (4.3) was higher than the fertility rate of Arab women (3.9) and was even higher than that of Muslim women (3.9).