Food insecurity disproportionately impacts Arab households in ‘Israel’
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- NII report finds 27.1% of households in ‘Israel’ experiencing food insecurity.
- Highest rates recorded in the Arab sector, with significant disparities across income levels.
More than one in four households in ‘Israel’ is experiencing food insecurity, according to a new report published by the National Insurance Institute (NII).
The NII’s 2024 Food Security Report found that 27.1 percent of households, equal to 968,000 families, are facing food insecurity. This represents about 2.8 million people, including more than one million children.
The figures varied across different population groups. According to the report, 58 percent of Arab families were classified as food insecure. The rate in the Haredi community was 25 percent, while non-Haredi Jewish households reported 19 percent.
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This high rate among Arab households is not an isolated issue but rather the direct consequence of interconnected challenges, including long-standing restrictions on land and housing that lead to overcrowding, persistent gaps in government budgets for Arab municipalities and schools, and significant barriers to high-wage employment.
Human rights organizations and researchers point to these structural factors as creating a cycle of poverty and disadvantage that makes it disproportionately difficult for a large segment of the Arab population to achieve economic stability and, by extension, food security.
Income levels also showed a clear correlation. In the lowest-income quintile, 47.6 percent of families reported food insecurity, compared to 9.5 percent in the highest-income quintile.
The overall national rate of 27.1 percent marked a slight decrease from the 30.8 percent recorded in 2023. The report explained that this change was influenced by the mass evacuation of citizens during the ongoing war. Many evacuees were temporarily housed in hotels where meals were provided, which reduced the number of households classified as food insecure for the purpose of the survey.
