Report: Settler growth rate three times that of national average

The Jewish population in Hebron is growing at a rate three times faster than that of the general population, a 2007 statistics report published by the Ariel University Center of Samaria revealed Monday.

The number of Jews in the West Bank stood at 270,000 at the end of 2007.

The data, compiled by a team of researchers headed by Prof. Dan Soen and Dr. Vered Neman-Haviv, indicated that the Jewish population in the West Bank is younger and therefore has a higher fertility rate than the national average. The settler public's birthrate stands at 35 births per 1,000 population compared to 20 births per 1,000 in the general population.

Settlement of Elkana. Positive migration balance (Photo: Zvika Tishler)

According to the report, the Jewish population has more than doubled in the last 12 years, while the general population grew by 29% over the same period.

The second major contributing factor to this high growth rate is the positive internal migration balance in the region.

Better students but more crime

The rate of the ultra-Orthodox population in the region is significantly higher than the national average: 30.7% of West Bank residents are haredim, compared to only 7.5% in all of Israel.

In terms of education the area enjoys a slight advantage with a 71.2% success rate in matriculation exams, a bit higher than the national average.

However, the crime rate among the settler population is almost higher and the number of criminal records opened annually is 22% higher than that of the average population.

A main finding of the study was that the Jewish residents of the West Bank are much more satisfied with the quality of their lives than the national average. Ninety-two percent said that they were extremely satisfied or very satisfied with their lives, compared to 83% who expressed a similar degree of satisfaction among the general population.