Nearly four in 10 Israeli men and one in four Israeli women say the challenges of living in the country cause them to consider moving to another country to a great or very great extent, a significantly higher rate among men than among women, according to a survey released Sunday.
The survey was conducted by the Shiluv Institute among 502 Jewish Israeli respondents aged 18 and older.
In recent years, Israeli citizens have been forced to contend with an unusual succession of crises and upheavals, including a sharp rise in the cost of living and housing prices, public protests and deepening political and social polarization, the October 7 attack and the longest war in Israel’s history that followed, the evacuation of communities in the South and North, ongoing confrontations along Israel’s borders, and direct escalation with Iran.
These were compounded by prolonged and unprecedented periods of reserve duty, harm to businesses and work routines, a sense of security and economic uncertainty, and a polarized public discourse, much of which has focused on the possibility of living, working, or raising a family in another country.
Against this backdrop, the new survey found that 31.3% of respondents said life in Israel causes them to consider moving to another country to a great or very great extent. Some 11.4% answered “to a very great extent,” while 19.9% said “to a great extent.” By contrast, 34.5% said life in Israel does not cause them to consider moving abroad at all.
The nationwide survey was commissioned by attorney Joshua Pex of the Decker-Pex-Levi law firm, which assists Israelis in obtaining foreign citizenship and foreigners in obtaining Israeli citizenship. The survey was intended to provide a deeper understanding of trends in the Israeli market surrounding the pursuit of second citizenship.
One of the survey’s more surprising findings was the significant gender gap among Israelis when asked about emigrating abroad. According to Pex, the breakdown between men and women reveals two particularly noteworthy trends.
Three times amount of men vs women considering emigration ‘to a very great extent’
Among men, 38.3% said they were considering emigration to a great or very great extent.
Among women, only 24.1% said they were considering emigration to the same degree. The gap becomes even sharper when examining the most extreme responses. Some 17% of Israeli men said life in Israel causes them to consider moving to another country “to a very great extent,” compared with just 5.6% of women.
According to Pex, the figure is particularly interesting and may have several possible explanations that are not necessarily contradictory. He said that despite social progress, in most Israeli families the man still tends to fill the role of primary breadwinner, while the woman is more likely to manage the household and family and take responsibility for the children’s education.
He said the past several years have placed particularly severe economic challenges on business owners and employees in Israel, including repeated business closures due to threats to the home front and waves of layoffs in the hi tech sector. Men have also been more likely to be called up for demanding and prolonged reserve duty.
While the soaring cost of living affects men and women equally, business owners and those responsible for supporting their families may experience its impact more acutely.
By contrast, the sense of cohesion and togetherness that spread across the Israeli home front following the prolonged war may have created a sense of belonging and solidarity among those who remained behind, strengthened ties with extended family and local communities, and existed alongside deep concern for loved ones serving on the front lines.
This sense of shared fate may have eased some of the hardships of daily life. These two contrasting factors may help explain why women experience the difficulties of life in Israel less acutely than men.
A significant gender gap also emerged at the opposite end of the survey. Some 59.4% of women said they were considering moving only to a small extent or not at all, compared with 44.7% of men. Among women, 39% selected “not considering moving at all,” compared with 30% of men.
The gender gap does not end with the question of who is considering leaving Israel. Another finding pointed to a difference in how men and women view the benefits of foreign citizenship.
Men were more likely to view a foreign passport as a gateway to economic opportunities and a possible solution to Israel’s high cost of living, with 40% of men citing this consideration compared with 31% of women. Among women, security concerns and fears of a catastrophe were more prominent, along with concern for their children’s future, cited by 67% of women compared with 56% of men.
Men see citizenship as path to relocation, women see as expansion to options
According to Pex, the differences may also reflect different ways of responding to the difficulties of life in Israel. While men may be more inclined to consider relocating the center of their lives and moving to another country, women may see additional citizenship as a way to expand the options available to their families and children without this necessarily translating into an immediate desire to emigrate.
Pex said that what he called “the female approach,” viewing a passport as an asset that can help secure the future, is something he frequently sees in cases handled by his firm. In many cases, he said, obtaining the passport is not connected at all to plans for imminent emigration.
“A passport provides an option for living in another country, but it does not necessarily indicate practical intentions to emigrate,” Pex said. “The moment a person says that they are seriously considering moving their life to another country, a job, a spouse, children, an education system, housing, language, and a family and social network all come into play. Therefore, I do not think it is correct to conclude from the survey that women are simply less troubled by the reality in Israel, but perhaps that women have a more practical approach, because of their lower stated willingness to consider emigration.”
According to Pex, when the findings are taken together, an interesting picture emerges. Israeli men are more likely to think of moving abroad as a realistic possibility, an adventure aimed at improving their economic situation in a new place, while women may be more likely to view a foreign passport as a safety net and a way to expand the options available to their families and children, even without any immediate intention of leaving the country.
“It is possible that for some men, a foreign passport is more quickly associated with the idea of living somewhere else, finding a different job, and pursuing new economic opportunities, while for women it serves more as a way of securing options for the future,” Pex said.
“Ultimately, an additional passport does not require anyone to leave Israel. It only gives them the option to do so. In fact, many of the proactive inquiries that come to the firm are made by members of the older generation, grandparents who are not considering emigration themselves but want to secure passports for the next generation, their children and grandchildren. And the survey indicates that men and women apparently view that possibility differently.”