A comparison of health indicators and social determinants of health between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Figures & data

Table 1. Life expectancy in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt).

Year	Israel	oPt	Difference
1990	76.6	68.1	8.5
2000	79.0	70.8	8.2
2010	81.6	72.4	9.2
2015	82.1	73.3	8.8
2016	82.4	73.5	8.9

Source: The World Bank, 2019.

Table 2. Infant and child mortality rates in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (per 1000)*.

	Infant Mortality		<5 y Mortality		5–14 y Mortality
Year	Israel	oPt	Israel	oPt	Israel	oPt
1990	9.7	35.7	9.7	44.6	2.0	no data
2000	5.6	25.1	5.6	30.2	1.5	4.9
2010	3.7	19.9	3.8	23.5	1.1	3.9
2015	3.0	18.6	3.0	21.9	1.0	3.4
2016	2.9	18.3	2.9	21.4	1.0	3.1
2017	2.9	17.9	2.9	20.9	0.9	3.2

Source: United Nations Inter-agency for Child Mortality Estimation, 2018.

*all difference between Israel and oPt are statistically significant (p < 0.0001).

Table 3. Maternal mortality rates in Israel and oPt (per 100,000)*.

Year	Israel	oPt
1990	12	96
1995	10	71
2000	9	59
2005	7	59
2013	2	47

*all differences between Israel and oPt are statistically significant (p < 0.0001).

Source: WHO, 2014.

Table 4. Mortality rate, age-standardised, per 100,000, in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt) for 20 leading causes of death in the oPt (2017).

	Israel	oPt	Ratio
Ischemic heart disease	47.7	153.0*	3.2
Stroke	23.9	81.6*	3.4
Alzheimer's Disease	34.0	43.3*	1.3
Diabetes	17.4	37.9*	2.2
Chronic Kidney Disease	17.7	28.5*	1.6
Lower respiratory infection	17.4	22.6*	1.3
Neonatal disorders	2.9	15.8*	5.5
Lung cancer	47.7	14.9*	0.3
Hypertensive	1.7	13.0*	7.6
Colorectal cancer	14.0	12.6	0.9
COPD	12.3	12.1	1.0
Breast cancer	10.8	10.2	0.9
Cirrhosis	6.2	9.2*	1.5
Road injuries	6.3	8.6*	1.4
Congenital birth defects	2.7	7.6*	2.8
Leukemia	6.1	6.1	1.0
Brain and nervous system cancer	4.6	6.0*	1.3
Liver cancer	3.3	5.9*	1.8
Interpersonal violence	2.1	5.8	2.8
Stomach cancer	5.8	5.4	0.9

*statistically significant difference between Israel and oPt (p < 0.05).

Source: IHME, 2019a.

Table 5. Percent of deaths attributed to environmental risk factors, in Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories.

	All environmental and occupational risks combined		Ambient particulate air pollution		Ambient ozone		Lead exposure		Second hard smoke		Occupational exposures
Cause of death	Israel	oPt	Israel	oPt	Israel	oPt	Israel	oPt	Israel	oPt	Israel	oPt
Ischemic Heart Disease	12.2	20.1*	10.1	15.3	–	–	2.2	5.4	2.0	4.8*	–	–
Stroke	8.6	14.2	6.7	9.4	–	–	2.0	5.1	1.2	3.0*	–	–
Diabetes	24.5	27.5	24.3	27.1	–	–	–	–	4.0	10.9	–	–
Chronic Kidney Disease	2.2	4.2	–	–	–	–	2.2	4.2	–	–	–	–
Lower Resp Infection	19.4	28.9	18.7	25.0	–	–	–	–	4.2	7.0	–	–
Neonatal disorders	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	15.4	6.7*
Lung cancer	29.2	28.9	13.2	17.3	–	–	–	–	3.7	3.6	–	–
Hypertensive heart disease	4.0	9.9	–	–	–	–	4.0	9.9	1.4	4.1	–	–
COPD	39.7	44.2	20.8	24.6	17.7	17.6	–	–	4.3	6.4	7.3	9.9
Breast cancer	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1.4	4.1	–	–
Road injury	8.9	29.5*	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	8.9	29.5*
Leukemia	0.4	0.8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.4	0.8

*Statistically significant difference between oPt and Israel (p < 0.05).

Source: IHME, 2019b.

Table 6. Percent of deaths attributed to dietary risks, in Israel and oPt.

		Cause of Death
		Ischemic Heart Disease	Stroke	Diabetes	Chronic Kidney Disease	Lung cancer	Colorectal Cancer	Hypertensive Heart Disease
All dietary factors	Israel	53.4	28.2	24.7	8.2	5.0	22.8	15.4
	oPt	72.0*	42.6*	34.9*	4.3	11.9	33.7	9.6
Low in fruits	Israel	4.7	6.5	3.0	–	5.1	–	–
	oPt	12.3	19.3	9.2	–	11.9	–	–
Low in vegetables	Israel	3.4	1.7	–	–	–	–	–
	oPt	14.1	8.0	–	–	–	–	–
Low in whole grains	Israel	21.0	15.3	15.9	–	–	–	–
	oPt	24.3	21.0	20.4	–	–	–	–
Low in fibre	Israel	5.8	–	–	–	–	8.0	–
	oPt	8.8	–	–	–	–	11.4	–
Low in seafood	Israel	8.7	–	–	–	–	–	–
	oPt	19.3*	–	–	–	–	–	–
Low in polyunsaturated fats-	Israel	3.2	–	–	–	–	–	–
	oPt	11.1	–	–	–	–	–	–
Low in nuts and seeds	Israel	14.1	–	–	5.1	–	–	–
	oPt	24.5	–	–	10.6	–	–	–
Low in milk	Israel	–	–	–	–	–	11.4	–
	oPt	–	–	–	–	–	16.5	–
Low in legumes	Israel	4.4	–	–	–	–	–	–
	oPt	7.2	–	–	–	–	–	–
Low in calcium	Israel	–	–	–	–	–	14.5	–
	oPt	–	–	–	–	–	25.3	–
High in sugar sweetened beverages	Israel	2.2	–	2.3	–	–	–	–
	oPt	0.4	–	0.4*	–	–	–	–
High in sodium	Israel	8.6	–	8.0	8.2	–	–	15.4
	oPt	5.5	–	5.2	4.3	–	–	9.6
High in transfatty acids	Israel	0.5	–	–	–	–	–	–
	oPt	2.1	–	–	–	–	–	–
High in red meat	Israel	–	–	–	–	–	0.64	–
	oPt	–	–	–	–	–	0.0005*	–
High in processed meat	Israel	0.8	–	–	0.7	–	0.5	–
	oPt	0.3	–	–	0.02	–	0.01*	–

*Statistically significant difference between oPt and Israel (p < 0.05).

Source: IHME, 2019b.

Table 7. Percent of deaths attributed to behavioural risk factors, in Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories.

	Smoking		High BMI		Low Physical Activity		Alcohol Use
Cause of death	Israel	oPt	Israel	oPt	Israel	oPt	Israel	oPt
Ischemic Heart Disease	15.7	15.5	16.9	26.6	12.0	11.8	−5.1	−0.5
Stroke	10.8	8.1	14.1	23.9	6.2	8.9	1.5	0.2
Alzheimer's Disease	14.4	6.6	14.9	15.8	–	–	–	–
Diabetes	7.4	5.7	35.8	50.6	3.6	3.8	−3.4	−0.4
Chronic Kidney Disease	–	–	29.0	37.3	–	–	–	–
Lower Respiratory Infection	16.4	10.1	–	–	–	–	1.2	0.03
Neonatal disorders	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Lung cancer	68.2	45.4*	–	–	–	–	–	–
Hypertensive heart disease	–	–	41.4	49.3	–	–	7.8	0.009*
Colorectal cancer	13.1	7.4	9.1	10	4.1	4.0	3.6	0.2
COPD	41.5	32.4	–	–	–	–	–	–
Breast cancer	4.7	0.4	5.3	2.7	1.9	4.0	6.9	0.3
Cirrhosis	–	–	–	–	–	–	32.9	5.9
Road injury	0.7	0.4	–	–	–	–	5.4	0.4
Leukemia	25.6	11.5	8.1	7.6	–	–	–	–
Liver cancer	18.3	9.5	16.2	16.8	–	–	29.2	9.9*
Interpersonal violence	0.08	0.02*	–	–	–	–	11.7	0.5*
Stomach cancer	17.9	9.4*	–	–	–	–	–	–

*Statistically significant difference between oPt and Israel (p < 0.05).

Source: IHME, 2019b.

Table 8. Parameters of healthcare delivery in Israel and oPt*.

	Israel	oPt
Per capital health expenditure (2017)	$3145^1	$306^2
Physicians per 1000 inhabitants^3	3.5 (2017)	1.5 (West Bank, 2017); 2.8 (Gaza, 2018)
Nursing and midwifery personnel per 1000 inhabitants (2017)	6.1^4	2.6^5
Hospital beds per 1000 inhabitants^3	3 (2017)	1.3 (2018)

*Data year is indicated in parenthesis. Sources: (1) WHO, 2019a; (2) WHOROEM, n.d.; (3) CIA, n.d.; (4) WHO, 2016; (5) WHOROEM, 2016.

The World Bank. (2019). Life expectancy at birth, total (years), West Bank and Gaza. Retrieved July 8, 2019, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?contextual=region&locations=PS

 Google Scholar

United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation. (2018). Child mortality estimates. Retrieved July 8, 2019, from https://childmortality.org/#datasets

 Google Scholar

WHO. (2014). Trends in maternal mortality: 1990-2013. Retrieved August 20, 2019, from https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/112682/9789241507226_eng.pdf;jsessionid=1226ADD6322A27A0B8490B2C80A20F27?sequence=2

 Google Scholar

IHME. (2019a). GBD results tool. Retrieved August 26, 2019, from http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool

 Google Scholar

IHME. (2019b). GBD compare. Retrieved August 26, 2019, from https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/

 Google Scholar

WHO. (2019a). Global health expenditure database. Retrieved July 13, 2019, from http://apps.who.int/nha/database/ViewData/Indicators/en

 Google Scholar

WHOROEM. (n.d.). Eastern mediterranean health observatory. Current health expenditure, per capita, in US Dollars. Retrieved August 18, 2020, from https://rho.emro.who.int/Indicator/TermID/66

 Google Scholar

CIA. (n.d.). The world Factbook. Retrieved July 24, 2019, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

 Google Scholar

WHO. (2016). Global health observatory country views: Israel. Statistics summary 2002 – present. Retrieved August 19, 2019, from http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.country.country-ISR?lang=en

 Google Scholar

WHOROEM. (2016). Regional health observatory depository. Health workforce: Nursing and midwifery by country. Occupied Palestinian Territories. Retrieved August 18, 2020, from https://rho.emro.who.int/rhodata/node.main.A32?lang=en

 Google Scholar