Attention Single Jewish Men…
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Are you a single, thirty-something Jewish American man, in constant dread of your mother’s nagging quest to understand why you’re not married? Do you live in the shadow of her disappointment, feeling inferior and inadequate, and maybe starting to believe yourself that you’ll die alone?
Well, here’s a solution: Move to Tel Aviv, where 44 percent of the city’s women age 30 to 34 are single.
Earlier this week, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics released a collection of the country’s demographic data from 1990 to 2009, highlighting trends in marriage and birth rates. It seems Israelis are going forth and multiplying regularly. Twenty-six percent of Jewish Israelis are below the age of 14 and an Israeli mother will produce three kids on average, compared to 2.1 by an American woman.
Even more encouraging data for the wayward and single Jewish American man might be the statistical one-two punch of many young, single women who eventually marry. Of the 374,000 single Israelis in 2009, 60 percent were the fairer sex. (And they’re not all spinsters and elderly divorcees: only 45 percent were over 65.) A promising 92 percent of Israeli women between 40 and 44 have been married at least once.
In 2006, Haaretz reported 625 North American singles were expected to make aliyah. These new statistics suggest that maybe male olim just aren’t working hard enough.
Unfortunately, no data examines whether Israeli women are actually interested in American men.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
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