A record share of Israelis say they are struggling psychologically after two years of near-continuous war, with 32% reporting they need professional mental health support, according to a new end-of-year survey released by Maccabi Healthcare Services.

The findings point to a deepening national mental health crisis, particularly among those who have served in uniform. Among IDF conscripts and reservists who served over the past year, the distress is markedly higher: 39% say they need mental health support, 26% report concern about depression, and 48% say they are suffering from sleep problems.

The survey was conducted in November among a representative national sample of 1,100 Israelis aged 20 to 75, and combined self-reported responses with anonymized medical data from approximately 2.7 million Maccabi members, giving the findings unusual breadth and clinical grounding.

Nearly one in three respondents nationwide said they feel they need professional mental health care. Seventeen percent described their mental state as fair or poor, up from 13% before the war. The data suggest that psychological strain has not eased with time, but has instead accumulated as fighting, reserve duty, displacement, and uncertainty have continued.

At the same time, the picture of Israelis’ physical health is more mixed. Sixty-two percent of respondents rated their physical health as very good or excellent—an increase compared with the prewar period. Only nine percent described their health as fair or poor, a significant improvement from levels recorded immediately after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack and the outbreak of war.

Lifestyle trends, however, reveal widening contradictions. Smoking increased among existing smokers, with 30% reporting they smoked more over the past year. Sedentary behavior remains widespread: Israelis sit an average of 8.2 hours per day, and 20% say they sit more than 11 hours daily. About 30% report no aerobic physical activity at all.

At the same time, engagement with fitness services surged. Maccabi reported approximately 2.5 million workout sessions booked in 2025 through its UPAPP platform. Pilates was the most popular activity, followed by gym workouts and yoga. Nearly half of Israelis say they adhere to a healthy lifestyle to a large or very large extent—about 15 percentage points higher than before the war.

Medical data reflect additional shifts. Winter morbidity during the 2024–2025 season rose 7% compared with the previous winter. Births declined 4% compared with 2024. Preventive breast cancer screening rates remained stable, while cervical cancer screening increased slightly.

Use of injectable medications for obesity treatment rose sharply. In 2025, more than 100,000 Maccabi members purchased hundreds of thousands of packages of weight-loss injections, while the number of bariatric surgeries dropped 17% compared with the previous year.

Upper respiratory tract infections were the most common diagnoses in 2025 among both family physicians and pediatricians. Among adults, abdominal pain, coughing, and lower back pain followed; among children, sore throat, abdominal pain, and fever were most frequent.

The survey also highlights a changing medical information landscape. Fifty-seven percent of Israelis search for medical information online, 50% consult doctors or medical staff, 44% use health fund or hospital websites, and 32% turn to artificial intelligence tools. Trust in AI remains limited: only 21% express high trust, while roughly a third say they do not trust AI-based medical recommendations at all.

Attitudes toward flu vaccination remain cautious. Forty percent of respondents say they have never received a flu shot, and only 4% of that group were considering vaccination this year. The data were collected before the peak of flu season in December.

“In a period of change and uncertainty, it is essential to understand the health of Israeli citizens based on up-to-date objective data alongside the public’s own perceptions,” said Sigal Dadon-Levi, CEO of Maccabi Healthcare Services. “I call on decision-makers in Israel to use it to formulate more precise policy and provide real responses to the health challenges we face.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)