904 hospitalisations, 1,112 rehabilitation baskets: the numbers that show exactly where the community falls between the chairs

The Knesset Research and Information Center published a data paper titled "Data on the health status of Ethiopian-Israelis", written by Yonat Meisel and approved by Shelly Levy, dated 10 July 2024. It was prepared at the request of MK Tsega Tsegenesh Melaku. We read it in full. Its mental-health chapter contains two numbers that need to be read against each other.

The first number: hospitalisation

In 2023 there were 23,825 admissions to mental health institutions in Israel. Of those, around 3.8% — 904 admissions — were of Ethiopian-Israelis, who are around 2% of Israel's population.

There is a positive trend here too: between 2019 and 2023 the Ethiopian-Israeli share of admissions fell from 4.4% to 3.8%. The gap narrowed. It did not close.

The paper notes that the Health Ministry supplied no data on Ethiopian-Israelis in hospitalisation alternatives such as "balancing houses", because it says it holds no data on who receives that service.

The second number: community rehabilitation

In 2023, 37,898 people in Israel received a rehabilitation basket under community rehabilitation for people with psychiatric disability. Of them, around 2.9% — 1,112 — were Ethiopian-Israelis.

And here the trend runs the other way: the Ethiopian-Israeli share of all people in community rehabilitation fell from 3.3% in 2019 to 2.9% in 2023. The paper states explicitly that it has no information on their share of all those who need rehabilitation.

Why the two numbers together are the story

A rehabilitation basket is what happens before and after hospitalisation — housing, employment, study, social accompaniment. Hospitalisation is what happens when that is missing. The community is over-represented where people enter in crisis, and under-represented where crisis is prevented. That is precisely the structure that produces the first number.

The suicide data in the same paper

Per the Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2022 the rate of deaths from intentional self-harm per 100,000 residents among Ethiopian-Israelis was 8.4, against 3.7 in the general population — more than double. In 2021 the gap was far wider: 16.1 against 4.2.
Per the Health Ministry, in 2019–2021 there were 112 age-standardised suicide attempts per 100,000 among immigrants from Ethiopia aged ten and over, against 91 among Jews and others excluding immigrants, and 136 among immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

A definitional note worth knowing

The paper warns that the CBS and the Health Ministry count different populations. The CBS includes people born in Ethiopia and Israel-born people whose father was born in Ethiopia — so it does not include Israel-born people whose only Ethiopian-born parent is the mother, who numbered 6,144 at the end of 2022. Some Health Ministry figures refer only to people born in Ethiopia. When comparing percentages across sources, the definition matters.

At the end of 2022 the Ethiopian-Israeli population numbered around 175,000 — about 2% of the population.

What you can do with this

A rehabilitation basket is a right you ask for. It starts with an application to a regional Health Ministry rehabilitation-basket committee. If someone in your family is living with an ongoing mental health condition, that is the question to put to their clinician — before things reach an emergency room.
Hospitalisation carries rights, including the right to an interpreter. We have gathered them on our psychiatric hospitalisation rights page and in our language-access guide.
If you or someone close to you is in distress — ERAN, hotline 1201, per the organisation's own site. In immediate danger to life — 101.

A note for the holidays: community mental-health clinics work reduced hours around Rosh Hashanah, and a booked appointment may be pushed back. If you are on medication, check now that you have enough to last the holiday, and if you need a prescription, request it beforehand. Crisis lines and hospital emergency rooms operate as usual. For anyone who is isolated or bereaved, the holidays are a well-recognised period of worsening — that is a reason to reach out, not a reason to wait.