An absolute majority of Israelis believe that Israel is a good place to live, and most are satisfied from their lives here, according to a survey published by Maariv ahead of Rosh Hashana.
65% of Israelis responded that Israel is a good place to live, 33% said they didn't think so and 2% didn't answer.
The segmentation of the answers shows that the degree of satisfaction increases with the age of the respondents: 77% of those aged 61 and over, compared to 51% of the young people up to the age of 29 believe that Israel is a good place to live.
The positive perception of life in Israel is more prevalent among the religious (79%) and the ultra-Orthodox (69%), compared to 59% of the secular sector.
Most of the respondents (59%) are also satisfied with life in Israel, 37% are not satisfied and another 4% do not know. By the way, men (64%) are more satisfied than women (54%). Those aged 61 and over are much more satisfied than young people up to the age of 29 (76% vs. 48% respectively), religious and ultra-Orthodox (77% and 68% respectively) are more satisfied than secular and traditional (55% vs. 21).
In general, the ultra-Orthodox are the happiest (82%), followed by the religious (71%), the secular (63%) and the traditional (48%).
Directly following the satisfaction with life in the country and the personal happiness index, it turns out that the majority of respondents (62%) believe that the State of Israel is a set fact, and only 23% think that it is in real existential danger. 15% do not know how to answer. Netanyahu's opponents are more certain that Israel is a set fact (73%), while the Arab respondents have a relatively high rate of those who do not know (35%).
The downsides of life in Israel
What bothers Israelis? The cost of living is the most disturbing thing (68%). There is no difference in this regard between respondents from different groups. After this, and by a large margin, are Palestinian terrorism (32%), housing prices (18%), crime (13%) and political instability (12%).
Terrorism worries [opposition leader Benjamin] Netanyahu's supporters much more (47%), crime and relations between Jews and Arabs are relatively more disturbing to the Arab respondents (39% and 21%, respectively) and the rift between the right and the left is relatively more disturbing to Netanyahu's opponents (12%).
715 members of Panel4All's internet panel of respondents participated in the survey. The survey was conducted on a representative sample of the adult population in Israel aged 18 and over, both Jews and Arabs, and was conducted on September 21-22. The maximum sampling error is 3.7%.