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

Contemporary Jerusalem

Yair Assaf-Shapira

Last week we celebrated "Jerusalem Day", also known as the day that the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies publishes The Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem - an annual comprehensive data collection, covering many aspects of the city. Over the past year, institute researchers presented part of the data published in the Yearbook in this blog, with a focus on specific topics. It seems that now is a good time to go "back to basics" and look at the population figures of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is by far the largest city in Israel. Its residents numbered 815,300 at the end of the year 2012 (Official data is always delayed, and we can assume that the population has since grown by approximately 20,000 people, but to avoid basing our knowledge on assumptions, we use the official data). The residents of the following largest cities, Tel Aviv and Haifa, numbered 414,600 and 272,200 respectively. It can be seen that Jerusalem is almost twice the size of Tel Aviv, and three times the size of Haifa. This is not uncommon, and for example the largest city in the US, being New York City, at approx. 8.4 Million residents, is also about twice the size of the second city, Los Angeles, at 3.9 Million.

The growth rate of Jerusalem's population from 2011 to 2012 was 1.5%. This figure is lower than the growth of the entire population in Israel, which stood at 1.9%. The growth rate of the Jewish (and other non Arab) population in the city was 0.9%, measuring lowest in the past decade and lower than the growth rate of the Arab population which, at 2.6% was the lowest rate since the 1990s. A trend of decline can be observed in the growth rate of the Arab population in Jerusalem, stemming from the decline in the average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime (total fertility rate - TFR) in this population. The TFR of the Jewish population in Jerusalem grew from 3.88 in 2006 to 4.25 in 2012, while the TFR of the Arab population in the city dropped during that period, from 4.00 to 3.55.

Data source: Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem; U.S. Census Bureau

Written Word – Foreign Language

Lior Regev

Every year thousands of new titles are published in Israel. Even during an era in which the ever-present Internet, television, and radio compete to overwhelm our senses, the written word continues to flow. In the framework of the Book Law, the National Library – the body responsible for collecting and preserving Israel’s cultural assets – receives two copies of every publication issued in Israel. The library classifies and catalogues these books. Each year the library produces a report with statistical data about the new books in Israel. 

In 2012, the library recorded a total of 7,487 new books, including governmental, business, and private publications, reference books, fiction, religious texts, and children’s books. By comparison, in 2011 a total of 6,302 new books were recorded, in 2010 the total was 6,285, and in 2009 it was 6,326. 

Books in Israel are published by a variety of publishers located throughout the country. Jerusalem has consistently been at the top of the list in this regard, as the city with the greatest number of new books – significantly more than Tel Aviv and the other cities on the list. For example, in 1992, a total of 2,594 new books were published in Jerusalem, comprising 41% of the 6,271 publications issued in Israel that year. Tel Aviv, by comparison, produced only 2,051 (33%) publications. In 2002, Jerusalem produced 2,619 (35%) publications out of a total of 7,399 new titles published in Israel, and Tel Aviv produced 1,840 (25%). In 2012, a total of 2,077 (31%) new books were published in Jerusalem, compared with 1,479 (22%) in Tel Aviv and only 408 (6%) in Bnei Brak, the third city in terms of number of new publications.

Most of the books published in Israel and recorded at the National Library are in Hebrew. In 2012, the most recent year for which data have been compiled, about 81% of all publications were produced in Hebrew. So what are the other languages? The most popular foreign languages in which books are published in Israel are English, Arabic, and Russian. Out of a total of 808 books published in a foreign language in Israel, 371 (46%) were published in English, 205 (25%) in Arabic, and 165 (20%) in Russian.

When we examine the languages in which books were published across various cities, an interesting picture emerges. About 21% of the books published in Jerusalem were in a foreign language, compared with only 5% in Tel Aviv. This difference might stem from the variety in culture and background that characterizes Jerusalem compared with Tel Aviv. Out of 429 new books published in a foreign language in Jerusalem, 217 (51%) were published in English, 101 (24%) in Arabic, and 80 (19%) in Russian – comparable to the percentages for Israel. By comparison, in Tel Aviv 33 books (41%) were in English, 34 (42%) in Russian, and only 1 (1%) in Arabic.

I would like to express special thanks to Nachum Zitter and the National Library of Israel for their assistance in providing the statistical information for this column.

Jerusalem@Work

Inbal Doron

The city of Jerusalem, one of the major focal points of employment in Israel, serves as an economic nerve center for more than 1,200,000 individuals. The issue of employment in the city is at the heart of the discourse about the future of Jerusalem in general and about its potential to attract a creative populace in particular. 

In 2012 a total of 294,000 individuals were employed in Jerusalem, constituting 9% of the total in Israel. Among the total number of employees in Jerusalem, about 75% were residents of the city, 11% were residents of Judea and Samaria, and 6% were residents of the Jerusalem District. Thus, a total of 92% of employees in Jerusalem were residents of the city and its environs. Approximately 2,400 of those employed in Jerusalem were residents of Tel Aviv, constituting about 1% of the total. 

The data indicate that most Jerusalem residents (87%) prefer to work within the city, while 13% work outside the city, with women tending to work closer to home than men. Only 8% of the employed women who are residents of Jerusalem work outside the city, compared with 17% of men. More employees residing in Tel Aviv and Haifa choose to work outside their city than do employed residents of Jerusalem. In 2012 the percentage of Tel Aviv residents working outside the city was 37% (for women the figure was 30%), and in Haifa the percentage of residents working outside the city was 29% (for women the figure was 21%).

Men and women also differ in terms of areas of employment. Among women, who constituted 47% of all employees in Jerusalem during 2012, the main areas of employment were the following: education (24%), health, welfare, and nursing (including homecare) services (20%), and public administration (12%). In contrast, among Jerusalem’s employed men the main occupations were in the areas of trade (15%), business services (15%), and education (11%). In 2012 a total of 16,000 individuals were employed in the high-tech industry in Jerusalem, constituting 6% of all employees in the city as well as 6% of all high-tech employees in Israel. Of these, 64% were men.

It is interesting to compare the Jewish and Arab sectors in terms of employment rates in Jerusalem across various areas of employment for men and women. Among women in both sectors, the data indicate that women primarily work in similar areas: education and health, welfare, and nursing (including homecare) services. In contrast, for Jewish men the main areas of employment are business services, public administration, and education, whereas in the Arab sector men are primarily employed in the areas of trade, construction, hospitality and food services, transportation, and communications.

The most significant difference between the sectors in terms of employment in Jerusalem is the rate of participation in the workforce. Within the dominant age groups of employees (25-54), Arab men have a higher rate of participation in the workforce than Jewish men (88% compared with 71%). Among women the situation is reversed, with a particularly low rate of workforce participation among Arab women – only 20% in 2012 – compared with 82% among Jewish women. The rate of workforce participation of the Jewish sector in Jerusalem is unusual in that the women’s rate of participation is higher than that of the men (82% compared with 71%), primarily because of low workforce participation among ultra-orthodox men.

Central Bureau of Statistics- Labour Force Survey