A new Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) report published on Wednesday reveals that the number of single men and women in Israel rose significantly in recent years while the number of married couples has been on the decline.
The new report — which sees light ahead of Tu B'Av, considered the Hebrew Valentine’s Day — recorded a sharp decline in the number of matrimonies among both Jews and Muslims since 2009.
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The number of marriages among both Jews and Muslims has seen a sharp decline since 2009
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According to CBS data, just 3% of Jewish men between the ages of 45–49 were single at the end of 1970, hiking to 13% by the end of 2019, while the number of women out of wedlock in the same age groups rose from 2% to 11% in that same time period.
Meanwhile, bachelorhood rates among Jewish men aged 25–29 more than doubled from 28% in 1970 to 63% by the end of 2019. The bachelorettes' share among their female counterparts more than tripled from 13% in 1970 to 48% by the end of 2019.
The northern town of Kiryat Tiv'on is leading the country in singlehood rates between the ages 25-29 with a whopping 90%. Trailing closely behind are Binyamina-Giv'at Ada with 89% and Tel Aviv with 88%.
The report further notes that 48,056 couples have tied the knot in Israel in 2019, of which 33,354 were Jewish, 12,900 Muslim, 973 Druze and 803 were Christian.
Additionally, more and more unmarried Jewish couples between the ages of 18–34 were living together in domestic partnerships, with their share climbing from just 2% in 2000 to 6% by the end of 2019.
The average age of marriage has also risen since 1970 by about two and a half years among men and about three and a half years among women, peaking at in 2015.
In 2019, the average marriage age for first-time grooms and brides stood at 27.3 and 24.9, respectively, eclipsing 1970's figures, which stood at 25 for men and 21.8 for women.
The report also shows that 5.7% (or 2,745) of all women who got hitched in 2019 were under the age of 19 while just 1% of grooms were under 19 that year.