[Ha'aretz] Paul Morl - In the early days of the State of Israel, the Arab minority underwent a "demographic transition," something that often occurs when traditional societies confront modernity. Health care and living standards improved rapidly, life expectancy rose and infant mortality fell, but, initially, family size remained large. However, the second stage inevitably comes in which birthrates fall. The average Israeli Arab woman is now having fewer than half the children she had in the 1960s, while the Jewish birthrate has recently stabilized and even risen. This accords with recent trends in the Islamic world. Today Israeli women have more children (2.77) than women in Iran (1.71), Egypt (2.72), Jordan (2.47) or Lebanon (1.87).
2009-05-08 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive