Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Haim Katz and National Insurance Institute Director Meir Spiegler presented the National Insurance Institute's annual poverty report.
In 2017, the incidence of poverty fell in persons from 21.9% in 2016 to 21.2% - among children, from 31.0% to 29.6% and in families from 18.5% to 18.4%.
466,400 families lived in poverty in the past year, which is 1,780,500 persons, of whom 814,800 are children. For the first time in many years, the absolute number of children living in poverty declined (23,700), despite an increase in the population of children in Israel (47,900).