[1] Following Israel's establishment in 1948 and the War of Independence that began immediately afterward, the country was impoverished and lacking in foreign currency reserves.
Throughout the austerity period, living standards were preserved at tolerable levels, and the regime of strict rationing enabled the Israeli government to ensure that the entire population was adequately fed, clothed, and sheltered.
Israel used these sources to invest in its infrastructure and in industrial and agricultural development projects, which allowed the country to become economically self-sufficient.
Due to this commitment to development in its first two decades of existence, Israel experienced economic growth rates that exceeded 10% annually.
People could now have their own telephone lines and travel on railroad cars offering almost European comfort and luxury.From 1950 to 1976, Israel managed to raise its standard of living threefold.
For instance, consumption of animal protein per capita rose from 32.2 to 49.4 grams (1.14 to 1.74 oz) per day, while during that same period, the percentage of families owning an electric refrigerator increased from 2.4% to 99.0%.
Even then, all television broadcasts were in black and white, at a time when American and European stations were switching to full-scale color transmissions.
Defining "wealth" as financial resources (cash, stocks, and bonds) and owned property, adjusted to deduct debt, the report found residents of Israel to be the sixth wealthiest people on average in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region, trailing only Australia, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, and Taiwan.
A 2014 Taub Center report likewise found Israel second only to the United States in disposable income inequality after taxes and government transfers among 22 OECD countries, based on statistics from the mid-2000s.
[33] Israel has a system of universal health care run by semi-private non-profit corporations heavily regulated by the government, wherein all citizens are entitled to the same Uniform Benefit Package.
[34] In 2013, Bloomberg ranked Israel as having the fourth most efficient healthcare system in the world, surpassed only by Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan.
[citation needed] According to a 2014 OECD survey, Israel is the fourth most educated country in the world, with about 46% of adults achieving a tertiary qualification.
[citation needed] Many Jewish schools in Israel have highly-developed special education programs for disabled children, libraries, computers, science laboratories, and film editing studios.
A student may, however, request to be drafted at a later date to study at a college or university, or a school known as a Mechina, which prepares them for military or national service.
[42] All nine Israeli public universities and some colleges are heavily subsidized, and pupils pay only a small part of the actual tuition.
[47] The report published by the National Insurance Institute (NII) indicates that poverty levels remained relatively stable in 2006–2007.
[48] Data for the 2006–2007 NII survey indicates that 420,000 impoverished families resided in Israel (1.5 million people),[49] including some 805,000 children.
[54] A possible reason for this ethnic difference in mobility is the relatively young age of the state of Israel and how it has changed economically and demographically through 21st century industrialization.
The view favored by marxists opposes the liberal thesis, arguing that while industrialization did create increased social mobility in Israel, it has lessened over time and only remained for select groups of people.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranks Israel 2nd in the world for countries with a percentage of working adults who have achieved tertiary education (46%), significantly higher than the average at 33%.
[60][dubious – discuss] As stated above, high levels of social mobility have not typically been applying to all demographic sectors of Israel, such as Arabs.
Consequently, the policy of affirmative action delivers recipients with a premium degree that will enable them to enjoy a higher probability of economic success, as well as improving the social perception of different ethnic and gender demographics in Israel as class leaders.
[63] This is very evident today, with the development of "Silicon Wadi", a cluster of software and other global high tech industries near Tel Aviv.
These welfare programs were started in the 1970s as a means of combatting stratified ethnic class structure with the intended goal of social mobility.
[64] While these programs have prevented critical dangers such as mass hunger or homelessness, it is difficult to prove they have sealed the gap in terms of endogenous ethnic-class structure in Israeli society.
[65] The vast majority of Israeli workers also perform work, largely through answering emails, messages, and phone calls, on evenings, weekends, and vacations, though many do so voluntarily.
Average domestic water consumption in Israel is 250 liters per person per day, which is higher than in most of Europe, but lower than the United States.
[dubious – discuss][citation needed] A moshav is also a collective community, but the land is divided among the residents, who each receive an equal amount, and must grow their own produce.
[citation needed] A moshava is another type of rural agricultural community in Israel, but unlike kibbutzim or moshavim, all the land is privately owned.
A moshav shitufi is another type of cooperative village in Israel, where all production and services are handled collectively, while consumption decisions remain the responsibilities of individual households.