CBS: In 35 years, Israeli life expectancy has risen by nine years
Ramat Gan has highest longevity among cities
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHIllustrative photo of elderly couple(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
The average life expectancy of Israeli women has risen by 0.2 years from 2013- 14 to 84.1, but that of men has remained steady at 80.3 years, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported on Thursday. The longevity gap between Jewish women and their Arab counterparts is 3.3 years and between Jewish men and Arab men 4.3 years.Among residents of cities with a population of at least 100,000, the people of Ramat Gan are most likely to have long lives, with a life expectancy of both sexes reaching 84.3, while those who live in Bat Yam have the shortest life expectancy at 80.5 years. Other cities whose residents have life expectancies below that of Ramat Gan include Rehovot, Rishon Lezion, Petah Tikva, Haifa, Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Netanya, Holon, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Beersheba.According to the CBS, Israeli men in general have the third-highest life expectancy among OECD countries and 2.5 years longer than the average OECD life expectancy, while their female counterparts are in 11th place and only 0.8 years higher than the OECD average.In the last 35 years, life expectancy among Israelis rose significantly: 8.8 years for men and nine years for women. At the end of the 1970s, only a third of the men and 43% of the women in Israel could expect to celebrate their 80th birthdays.