Working-age population is broader than the workforce: it includes all women aged 15 to 64, whether they are employed, looking for work, studying or outside the labor market. Economists use it to assess potential labor supply and as the population base for employment and participation rates.
Before the latest release, the chart told an unusually smooth story. The count rose in every year shown from 2,049 thousand in 2002 to 2,975 thousand in 2024.
The reason for skepticism about the downturn is documented. Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics said in its Labour Force Survey Data, February 2026 (Main Data) that it rebased the 2025 figures on the 2022 census and changed the survey-population definition. That makes the new estimate not directly comparable with unrevised 2024 data.
This is a break in the series, not clean evidence that the underlying population shrank. The reported decline of 43 thousand therefore should not be read as that many women disappearing from Israel’s potential labor pool. It also means apparent changes in female employment or labor-force participation can be distorted if calculations mix population estimates from either side of the break. Until the earlier data are placed on the same basis, the chart’s final step says more about measurement than demography.