Jerusalem Post's HILARY LEILA KRIEGER reports....
The Jewish population, particularly in the Diaspora, has a far higher proportion of elderly than the rest of the world, according to statistics to be released by the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute Tuesday.
The Jewish over-65 population average of 16% is more than twice as high as the global average, which stands at 7%. Report co-editor Jenny Brodsky attributed this primarily to a relatively low birthrate among Jews.
Brodsky also pointed to assimilation in the Diaspora as a partial explanation for the large number of older Jews. "The youngest sectors are those which tend to assimilate, leaving you with a higher proportion of the elderly population that identifies as Jewish."
An additional factor – though not a major one, according to Brodsky – could be the greater affluence of Jews in comparison to other world populations. "There is a significant relationship between life expectancy and socioeconomic status," she said.
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