ABSTRACT
This chapter examines mortality patterns in Israeli society as a whole, with an emphasis on the dramatic reduction in deaths over time and the convergences of mortality differences among population subgroups. It shows how changes and fluctuations in death rates offer conspicuous clues about the quality of Israeli life. The chapter also examines changes in the distribution of health and medical care reflected by differential rates of death and dying. Health and welfare institutions were developing in the society as a whole; they were distributed among communities and in neighborhoods where immigrant Jews settled, in an attempt to integrate them into the new society and to increase their health and welfare. Societies in which differential mortality rates characterize subpopulations or regions are likely to have other forms of inequality as well. Equally impressive declines in infant mortality may be observed for the Moslem population in Israel.
