In the overall Israeli population, a fifth of first graders (19.6%) and almost a third of seventh graders (31.4%), are suffering from obesity, as compared to the chareidi stream of education where the average stands at only 12.5% for first graders and 23% for seventh graders.
The media is in no rush to quote that the rate of overweight among chareidi children is the lowest in the country, as reported by data from the Health Ministry for 2022 in "Data World," on the website of that Ministry.
An analysis of the facts presented by the Health Ministry shows that according to the chareidi sector of the population, the general rate of overweight stands at 12.4% in the first grade, and 23.1% in the 7th grade, being the lowest figure of the entire population.
In the secular government educational stream, the overweight rate stands at 21.1% in the first grade and 30.5% in the seventh grade. In the government religious stream the first grade rate is 19% and in the seventh, 29.5%. The Arab sector has the highest figure with 25.1% for first graders and 43.8% for the seventh grade.
A similar gap is shown in a geographic analysis. In Tel Aviv, overweight stands at 7.6% for first-graders; 7.2% for those in Ramat Gan; 8.9in Herzliya, 10.5% in Rishon leZion; 9.8% in Haifa; 9.4 in Ashdod; while in totally chareidi cities the figures run at 3.3% for Bnei Brak; 2.8% for Kiryat Sefer; 4.8% for Elad; 2.2% for Beitar and 4.4% for Beit Shemesh.
In the 7th grade, the figures run as follows: overweight in Tel Aviv, 11.7%; Ramat Gan, 8.4%; Herzliya, 8.4%; Rishon leZion, 14.%; Haifa, 14.9%; Ashdod 14.7%; while in chareidi cities the figures are as follows: Bnei Brak, 7.8%; Kiryat Sefer, 5.5%; Elad, 8.5%; Beitar, 6.7% and Beit Shemesh, 9.3%.
(It was not clear how these local figures coordinate with the overall figures given earlier.)
It is noteworthy that reasons for the special tax on sweet drinks containing either sugar or sweetener that was enacted by the previous government, which affects the chareidi sector in particular. It was claimed that chareidim consume exorbitant amounts of sweet drinks but these new facts of the Health Ministry indicate the very opposite.
