As the air force prepares to graduate its next class of pilots, the military released the following statistics pertaining to the graduates.

44% of the graduates come from cities while 5% come from kibbutzim. 32% live in local authorities and 14% in moshavim. 59% of the graduates are from Central Israel, 34% from the north and 7% from the south. Most are native Israelis while 5% were born abroad.

24% of the parents of the new pilots are teachers and 40% of the parents are either engineers or in the medical profession.

56% of the graduates belonged to a youth movement prior to entering the IAF and 22% volunteered for a year of public service prior to their draft. Most classify themselves as secular, 5% as frum and 2% as traditional. 20% were elsewhere in the IDF before entering the pilot training program.

39% of the graduates is the ‘sandwich’, explaining they have an older and younger brother. 34% are the youngest and 27% the oldest. 34% are the ‘ben zikunim’, the youngest of relatively elderly parents.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)