The Central Bureau of Statistics recently released the Social Survey for 2019. The survey included about 7,600 respondents aged 20 and over throughout the country, and among the specific topics included this year was the family theme. Some of the questions touched on the number of children in the family.
When asked about the “suitable” number of children in the family, the most common answer (42% of respondents) was three children, followed by (26%) four children. Unsurprisingly, there seems to be a significant difference in the answers to this question among population groups with different religious identities, and between Jews and Arabs.
Among the Jewish population, the more religious the group is, the higher the preference is for the number of children, but there is also greater variability of the answers within the group. Thus, among the secular population, the most common answer (The statistical mode) was three children, and 56% of the respondents (the statistical frequency) chose it. Among traditional Jews, the common answer was also three, but the percentage of respondents who chose it was lower (43%), which means there was a greater dispersion of the answers. In the spirit of these days it can be said that the distribution curve for this population, is flatter. Among the non-Ultra-Orthodox religious, the most frequent answer was four children, with a frequency of only 34%. Among the Ultra-Orthodox, the most common answer was 10-12 children, and although this is a range (and not in a single number), only 29% of respondents chose it.
Among the Arab population, the trend was almost identical to the traditional Jews. The frequent answer was three children, with a frequency of 43%.
Unfortunately, the sample in Jerusalem was not large enough to examine the various populations in the city. However, it is interesting to see that the most common answer among all city residents was three children, with a low frequency of 31%, indicative of the city’s diversity.
