Fertility differentials of Jewish women living in Israel and the West Bank

Anaïs Simard-Gendron, Université de Montréal

Israel is one of the most fertile developed countries in the world and has had a stable fertility rate since 1995. However when looking at a regional level, it is observed that the fertility levels vary tremendously all throughout the country. Indeed, Jewish women living in the settlements of the West Bank have a fertility level that is way higher than that of any other Jewish community in the country. To try to find an explanation to such a difference, this study uses data from the 2004 General Social Survey of Israel to investigate the effects of religiosity, socio-economic status and demographic characteristics on female fertility. A series of hypotheses which aim to demonstrate the critical role of religiosity in shaping people’s fertility behavior are tested.