Israelis Worried About Finances, But Less Depressed

Data gathered by the Central Bureau of Statistics confirms that a large swathe of Israeli society has been staggered by the economic impact of the pandemic and worries about making ends meet are widespread.

The CBS said that 46.5 percent of Israelis questioned between May 11 and May 14 are concerned over how to meet their basic expenses, down only slightly from research done during the height of the first coronavirus wave in late March and early April when 50 percent of respondents expressed such fears.

By contrast, the CBS said that only 30 percent of Israelis said they would find it difficult to cover their expenses in the spring of 2019.

Anxieties over the near future fluctuated with the general economy. During the period of the closure, over a quarter (27.3 percent) of respondents said they expected their economic situation to worsen in the coming year. When the closure was lifted, that number dropped to 18.3, which was still twice as much as in 2019 (9.2 percent).

However, despite the health crisis and financial problems, self-reported feelings of depression were actually lower than last year.

According to the survey, 16.2 percent of Israelis said they felt depressed during the crisis and its immediate aftermath, compared to 24.2 percent in the same period in 2019. No reason was ventured for the apparently counter-intuitive finding.