State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman warned in a report released Sunday that Israel is not prepared for the rapid aging of its population, one of the country's major strategic challenges. He said there is a wide gap between the government's recognition of the issue and its actual response, and stressed that providing for older adults is both a moral and civic obligation. Today, people aged 65 and over make up 13% of Israel's population, and that share is expected to rise to 15% by 2050, when the country is projected to have about 2 million senior citizens, up from 1.3 million now.
The report says the National Insurance Institute is heading toward a financial crisis. After the 2018 nursing-care reform, annual spending on nursing care jumped from NIS 7 billion to about NIS 21 billion in 2025, partly because eligibility assessments were shifted to document-based reviews instead of in-person visits. Englman warned that in 2035 the institute will face cash-flow deficits and, without additional funding, will not be able to pay all its legal obligations. He also said the social-economic cabinet has not held any recent discussion on the institute's balance and stability, and recommended annual reviews, along with a return to face-to-face dependency assessments in line with OECD guidance.
Englman also said the government is failing to meet its own employment targets for older adults. In the past year, employment among people ages 67 to 74 stood at 22.3% for women and 35.4% for men. He noted that retirement ages have not been adjusted to rising life expectancy, with men retiring at 67 and women rising gradually to 65, while life expectancy in 2024 was 81.4 for men and 85.5 for women. He further said Social Equality Minister May Golan has not appointed new members to the public advisory council for pensioners since 2023, despite a legal requirement to do so.
The health system, too, is described as under strain. Between 2020 and 2023, the number of geriatric hospital beds per 1,000 people aged 75 and older fell by 16%, and geriatrics was labeled a shortage profession. The report says 54% of older adults had no documented preventive care action between 2019 and 2024, and the Health Ministry has not created a tool to identify seniors at risk of decline. It also says no ministry has been assigned responsibility for identifying and helping lonely older adults, despite a 2021 government decision, and no quantitative target has been set to reduce loneliness. Englman called on the government to urgently prepare a funded, multi-year national plan with clear goals and a single coordinating authority.
