Ahead of the State Comptroller’s report due tomorrow on Israel’s lack of preparedness for an aging population, experts are warning that the country’s old-age pension is far below OECD levels and are urging parties to commit to fixing the problem before the coming election.
The 121 Social Change Movement says new data show Israeli seniors rely much less on government benefits than older adults in other developed countries. The group has launched an online campaign that uses AI to depict politicians and party leaders as elderly versions of themselves, alongside the message: “Your pension is guaranteed. For hundreds of thousands of seniors in Israel, poverty is guaranteed.”
According to the organization, based on OECD data, only 27.6% of the income of older Israelis comes from public pensions, one of the lowest rates in the developed world and far below the OECD average of 57.1%. The comparison is stark across Europe, including Belgium at 82.4%, France at 78.1%, Portugal at 76.6%, Ireland at 76.1%, the Czech Republic at 75.9%, and Germany at 68.3%.
Israel also trails the UK at 42.8%, the United States at 41.3%, and Canada at 34.4%. The group says this leaves many older Israelis working into old age or depending on family support to make ends meet, especially since many in the current elderly generation never built up meaningful pensions, or have none at all. Mandatory pension contributions in Israel began only in 2008.
The campaign also highlights the erosion of the old-age pension itself, which the group says has risen by only about 20% over the past decade, or 461 shekels, from 2,296 shekels to 2,757 shekels. Yekutiel Meshi, head of policy advancement and government relations at the 121 Social Change Movement, said the data show that in most OECD countries old-age pensions are a central source of income that enables dignity in retirement, while in Israel many seniors with low or no pensions must keep working or rely on relatives.
