Unmarried women aged 17-34 are fewer than unmarried men, but after age 34, the proportion begins to reverse.

In honor of International Women's Day, Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics released the following numbers:



At the end of 2005, 2.572 million women and 2.438 million men - 15 years and older - lived in Israel, a ration of 106 women to 100 men. More boys are born each year, but by age 35, the proportion of women to men takes a turn in favor of women.



Life expectancy for Jewish women in Israel is 82.6 years, nearly four years more than Arab women. Life expectancy for Jewish men is 79.1 years - compared with 75.0 for Arab men.



Unmarried women aged 17-34 - including divorcees and widows - are fewer than unmarried men, but after age 34, the proportion begins to reverse. Among Arabs, the proportion begins changing at age 31.



In 2005, over 923,000 women were mothers to children under 17 - some 36% of all women. (Among Arabs, nearly half the women were mothers to children under 17.) Some 10% of them (4% of Arabs, 11% of Jews) head single-parent families; 60% of the single mothers are divorced, 12% are widowed, and 15% are separated from their husbands.



In 1970, the average age for a woman's first marriage was 21.7, while in 2004, it stood at 24.5. This compares with age 28 in Europe, 21.5 among Moslem women in Israel, and 23.5 among Christian women in Israel.

Nearly 140,000 women gave birth in 2005 - 1% fewer than the year before. The average Israeli woman gives birth to 2.8 children in her lifetime - compared with 1.5 in Europe.



Women are better educated: 14.5% of women over age 18 have a college degree, compared with 11.9% of men. 7.9% of women and 7.7% of men have a Masters degree - but nearly twice as many men (1.2%) as women (0.7%) have doctorates.



Some 50.4% of women over age 15 work, compared to 45.6% ten years ago, and compared to 61.1% of men today.

7% of women who work are self-employed, while for men this number is 16%.



Income in 2005: Men's monthly salaries average 8,575 shekels, compared with 5,419 for women. Only part of this gap is explained by the fact that women generally work fewer hours; per hour, men earned 44.9 shekels, while women made 37.4 shekels.



Crime: Women comprise 10% of Israel's criminals, with the rate increasing proportionately with age - 17% of criminals over age 60 are women.



46% of women defined their main activity as "work," while 20% said their main activity was "care for home or family." For men, these numbers were 64% and 1%, respectively.



Women are generally more satisfied with their work (86%) than with their pay (47%); men show the same tendencies, though by a smaller margin - 81% satisfied with work, 53% happy with pay.



81% of women aid they were satisfied with their lives, compared with only 52% of men.