Jerusalem, 6 May, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics released the data from the 2022–2023 PIAAC skills survey which found, among other things, that more than a third (36%) of the population in Israel is at a low level of performance in reading literacy.
Among those with a low skill level, the proportion of men is higher than that of women (54% and 46%, respectively).
Although about a quarter of those with a low skill level in Israel belong to the older age group (55-65 years old), the Share of young people is also not insignificant (18% are 16-24 years old).
The proportion of Arabs among those with a low level of skill (43%) is significantly higher than their share in the population aged 16-65 (22%).
About a fifth of those with low skill levels are foreign-born who immigrated to Israel after the age of 10. However, the vast majority of those with low skills are Israeli-born or foreign-born who immigrated to Israel before the age of 10 (82%).
Low-skilled workers in Israel do not only include those with low levels of education. Only about a quarter of those with low levels of education have not completed high school, and most of them (76%) have high school education or higher.
Arabs are 3.4 times more likely to have a low level of reading literacy than Jews.
People aged 45-54 are 1.5 times more likely to have a low skill level than young people aged 16-24. Those aged 55-65 are even more likely (2.3 times).
Foreign-born people who immigrated to Israel after the age of 10 are 1.9 times more likely to have a low level of reading literacy proficiency than Israeli-born people or foreign-born people who immigrated to Israel before the age of 10.
Provided by the OECD, the PIAAC, measures adults’ proficiency in literacy, numeracy and problem solving.