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Survivors becoming more needy
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Factor: We've raised awareness

Holocaust survivors in 2009 – needier and lonelier

240,000 Holocaust survivors are currently living in Israel, but by 2025 their numbers will shrink to only 47,000. By 2015 more than two thirds of them will be over 80 years of age

There are some 240,000 Holocaust survivors currently living in Israel, a study conducted for the Survivors' Welfare Fund ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day 2009 determined.

 

According to the study by 2015 that number will shrink to 144,000 survivors, and by 2025 to just 47,000/

Naturally, the average age of the survivors has steadily increased over the years. In late 2008 only 7% of survivors were under 70 years of age compared with 45% who were 80 and over.

 

By 2015 some 66% of survivors are expected to be 80 and over.

 

This of course will spell a dramatic increase in the extent of aid required by the elderly survivors.

 

Nearly 108,000 of them receive a monthly stipend. These are the survivors eligible for compensation from Germany or other European countries or damages from the claims committee.

 

The study surveyed consumerism among survivors supported by the Holocaust Survivors' Welfare Fund, which offers assistance to the elderly who depend on others for everyday actions. The study shows that 8% of survivors are eligible for this stipend, a number expected to rise to 15% in 2015, and to 25% in 2025.

 

The fund claims that at least 20% of survivors suffer from cold in the winter due to a lack of heating equipment. Five percent of survivors have reported that they suffer from a lack of food.

 

Thirty percent of survivors dependant on the fund require a live-in nurse, 40% say they suffer from loneliness and a similar percentage say they have difficulty leaving their homes.

 

Zeev Factor, chairman of the fund, said Holocaust survivors' needs would grow significantly by 2015 due to aging.

 

"The awareness of survivors' needs has significantly risen in the past two years and we have succeeded in increasing the funds by 100%, but it is our job to make sure that this awareness is translated into means that allow the assistance of all needy survivors," he said.

 


פרסום ראשון: 04.20.09, 00:53
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