Living in Israel 2018: Living in Israel in comparison to nearby countries is quite different. Consistent utilities are on big plus, in addition to internet and phone service, garbage collections and more. The World Bank report shows that Israel is a high income country.
While browsing statistics of Israel, you will also find that the life expectancy is high from birth. But, due to poverty still an issue, not everyone can afford the costs of nutritional rich foods.
Prior to 1952, things were much different and the picture was much more dim. It was in that year of '52 that Germany agreed to pay Israel for the Holocaust. That said, if you ever hear about groups that refuse to believe the Holocaust existed, if nothing else the proof is within the German government agreeing to pay reparations.
The Reparations Agreement between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany (Luxemburger Abkommen in German), was entered into force on March 27, 1953 after being signed the previous year.
Israel asked for $1.5 billion which is the equivalent of $14 billion today. Leaders also stated that $6 billion in Jewish property had been destroyed, which was also added to the request ($7.5 billion total).
In the end, Germany did not agree to the requested amount and instead paid $3 billion “Deutsche Marks” (Equal to $1.7 Billion in the US) over the next 14 years followed by $450 million marks to the World Jewish Congress.
One of the reasons things improved after or as the money was being paid, is because a lot of the money was used to properly build up infrastructure.
As for housing prices in Israel, the prices have come down from a 2017 high of 416.5 points to 410.9 points in July of 2018.
Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics reports that the average salary is around $2,572 monthly while a two wager earner family sees about $3,428 monthly. Home ownership comes in at around 67.3%, as of 2014 numbers.
