Table 1.
Study population characteristics by year. In the religion variable, mothers whose origin was reported “Circassian”, “Other Muslim”, “Other Christian”, “Unknown” or “Other” were all sub-grouped as “Other”
| Total number of children | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
| n | 422,534 | 439,369 | 456,681 | 455,942 | 394,236 | |
| Maternal education, n (%) | Elementary | 9530 | 9715 | 9784 | 9842 | 8107 |
| High School | 117,661 | 121,669 | 125,123 | 122,749 | 104,013 | |
| Tertiary Education | 35,500 | 38,634 | 42,597 | 45,359 | 42,425 | |
| Academic | 124,969 | 133,136 | 140,590 | 142,639 | 123,922 | |
| Missing | 134,874 | 136,215 | 138,587 | 135,353 | 115,769 | |
| Ethnic group, n (%) | Christian Arab | 6241 | 6391 | 6545 | 6375 | 5374 |
| Druze | 8621 | 9012 | 9180 | 9129 | 7547 | |
| Jewish | 248,900 | 257,901 | 266,650 | 269,929 | 237,924 | |
| Muslim Arab | 94,202 | 99,691 | 102,199 | 99,663 | 84,921 | |
| Muslim Bedouin | 1177 | 1917 | 3735 | 6202 | 7996 | |
| Other | 9437 | 9730 | 10,170 | 10,318 | 8912 | |
| Missing | 53,956 | 54,727 | 58,202 | 54,326 | 41,562 | |
| Sex of child, n (%) | Female | 205,548 | 213,675 | 222,102 | 221,234 | 191,276 |
| Male | 216,986 | 225,694 | 234,579 | 234,708 | 202,960 | |
| Maternal birth country, n (%) | Ethiopia | 6039 | 6323 | 6913 | 7069 | 6266 |
| FSU | 13,867 | 15,095 | 16,488 | 16,763 | 14,079 | |
| Israel | 344,601 | 361,705 | 373,029 | 370,504 | 319,928 | |
| Other | 25,293 | 25,239 | 25,326 | 25,883 | 23,835 | |
| Maternal employment status, n (%) | Employed | 165,974 | 178,179 | 195,345 | 205,890 | 189,838 |
| Unemployed | 93,411 | 95,953 | 97,224 | 94,809 | 79,416 | |
| Student | 15,608 | 17,519 | 19,318 | 20,128 | 18,225 | |
| Other | 147,541 | 147,718 | 144,794 | 135,115 | 106,757 | |
| Maternal marital status, n (%) | Married | 370,702 | 387,562 | 400,797 | 397,968 | 342,344 |
| Unmarried | 12,132 | 13,181 | 14,371 | 15,259 | 13,847 | |
| Divorced | 5286 | 5244 | 5278 | 4860 | 3773 | |
| Other | 34,414 | 33,382 | 36,235 | 37,855 | 34,272 | |
| Maternal age, n (%) | ≤ 20 | 18,631 | 18,821 | 18,464 | 17,512 | 14,206 |
| 20–40 | 391,600 | 406,961 | 421,384 | 418,611 | 360,138 | |
| > 40 | 11,831 | 12,865 | 13,929 | 14,506 | 12,984 | |
| Child’s age at time of estimation, n (%) | 0–1 | 187,783 | 192,493 | 197,007 | 197,809 | 185,019 |
| 1–2 | 169,254 | 173,707 | 181,267 | 181,784 | 166,682 | |
| 2–3 | 106,652 | 109,820 | 114,959 | 115,508 | 104,789 | |
| 3–4 | 45,226 | 50,475 | 54,075 | 52,957 | 23,917 | |
| 4–5 | 9602 | 10,850 | 12,000 | 11,760 | 9968 | |
| 5+ | 15,888 | 18,666 | 22,194 | 21,439 | 9337 | |
In the maternal education level “Other” includes “Missing”, “No education” and “Studies in Yeshiva”. In the birth country variable, “Other” includes children whose mothers were reported as born in Europe, Other, Unknown, North America, Africa, Asia, South and Central America, Australia, and Oceania. In marital status, ‘Missing’, ‘widower’ and ‘other’ were reported as ‘Other’