Quality of life in Israel among world's highest, report says

Israel is enjoying relatively high economic growth compared to other nations, according to the biannual report by the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation, which OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria was due to present to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

The report says that Israel's employment rate is high and increasing, and that per capita income, which stands at an average of $35,000 per year, approaches the per capita income of most advanced countries.

Moreover, the report says that the quality of life in Israel is among the highest enjoyed by OECD member nations. It rated Israel third in quality of life among advanced nations, after Japan and Switzerland.

Israel is better prepared that other OECD nations to deal with an aging population, but public expenditure on pensions is low, according to the report, which also said that Israel's banking and finance sector demonstrated impressive stability.

Along with the praise, the report noted that not all sectors of Israel's population were integrated into the workforce, and some sectors had a low employment rate. Israel's poverty rate was one of the highest among OECD nations, with 21% of the population living below the poverty line -- more than Mexico, Turkey, or Chile. In the mid-1990s, only 14% of Israel's population lived below the poverty line.

According to the report, not only were more people in Israel impoverished, the gap between the wealthy and the poor in Israel had increased in recent years.