In an epidemiological survey on fractures of the femur in Jerusalem, the highest incidence occurred in Oriental males and the next highest in European females. In the same series of patients the frequency of senile osteoporosis was noted to be higher in the Oriental group (both male and female) as compared with that in the European group. Similarly in a randomly chosen sample of the population, osteoporosis in the Oriental sector was twice as high as in the European sector. Osteoporosis was also seen to be three to four times more common in each age group when the fracture series was compared with the randomly chosen sample. No evidence of osteomalacia was noted in these patients.