Jerusalem's population size and composition has shifted many times over its 5,000 year history.
Most population data pre-1905 is based on estimates, often from foreign travellers or organisations, since previous census data usually covered wider areas such as the Jerusalem District. [1] These estimates suggest that since the end of the Crusades, Muslims formed the largest group in Jerusalem until the mid-19th century. Between 1838 and 1876, a number of estimates exist which conflict as to whether Jews or Muslims were the largest group during this period, and between 1882 and 1922 estimates conflict as to exactly when Jews became a majority of the population.
In 2020, the population was 951,100, of which Jews comprised 570,100 (59.9%), Muslims 353.800 (37.2%), Christians 16.300 (1.7%), and 10,800 unclassified (1.1%). [2]
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Jerusalemites are of varied national, ethnic and religious denominations and include European, Asian and African Jews, Arabs of Sunni Shafi'i Muslim, Melkite Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Latin Catholic, and Protestant backgrounds, Armenians of the Armenian Orthodox and Armenian Catholic, Assyrians largely of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church, Maronites, and Copts. [3] Many of these groups were once immigrants or pilgrims that have over time become near-indigenous populations and claim the importance of Jerusalem to their faith as their reason for moving to and being in the city. [3]
Jerusalem's long history of conquests by competing and different powers has resulted in different groups living in the city many of whom have never fully identified or assimilated with a particular power, despite the length of their rule. Though they may have been citizens of that particular kingdom and empire and involved with civic activities and duties, these groups often saw themselves as distinct national groups (see Armenians, for example). [3] The Ottoman millet system, whereby minorities in the Ottoman Empire were given the authority to govern themselves within the framework of the broader system, allowed these groups to retain autonomy and remain separate from other religious and national groups. Some Palestinian residents of the city prefer to use the term Maqdisi or Qudsi as a Palestinian demonym. [4]
The tables below provide data on demographic change over time in Jerusalem, with an emphasis on the Jewish population. Readers should be aware that the boundaries of Jerusalem have changed many times over the years and that Jerusalem may also refer to a district or even a subdistrict under Ottoman, British, or Israeli administration, see e.g. Jerusalem District. Thus, year-to-year comparisons may not be valid due to the varying geographic areas covered by the population censuses.
The population of Jerusalem during Persian rule in Judea (province of Yehud Medinata ) is estimated at between 1,500 and 2,750. [5]
During the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), the population of Jerusalem was estimated at 600,000 persons by Roman historian Tacitus, while Josephus estimated that there were as many as 1,100,000 who were killed in the war—though this number included people who did not belong to the city itself. [6] Josephus also wrote that 97,000 Jews were sold as slaves. After the Roman victory over the Jews, as many as 115,880 dead bodies were carried out through one gate between the months of Nisan and Tammuz. [7]
Modern estimates of Jerusalem's population during the final Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 (CE) are variously 70,398 by Wilkinson in 1974, [8] 80,000 by Broshi in 1978, [9] and 60,000–70,000 by Levine in 2002. [10] According to Josephus, the populations of adult male scholarly sects were as follows: over 6,000 Pharisees, more than 4,000 Essenes and "a few" Sadducees. [11] [12] New Testament scholar Cousland notes that "recent estimates of the population of Jerusalem suggest something in the neighbourhood of a hundred thousand". [13] A minimalist view is taken by Hillel Geva, who estimates from archaeological evidence that the population of Jerusalem before its 70 CE destruction was at most 20,000. [14]
Al-Maqdisi, a 10th-century native of Jerusalem writing prior to the crusades, reports that "everywhere the Christians and Jews have the upper hand and the mosque is void of congregation". [15]
Year | Jews | Muslims | Christians | Total | Original source | As quoted in |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
c. 1130 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 | 30,000 | ? | Runciman |
1267 | 2* | ? | ? | ? | Nahmanides, Jewish scholar | |
1471 | 250* | ? | ? | ? | ? | Baron |
1488 | 76* | ? | ? | ? | ? | Baron |
1489 | 200* | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yaari, 1943 [16] |
* Indicates families.
Year | Jews | Muslims | Christians | Total | Original source | As quoted in |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1525–1526 | 1,194 | 3,704 | 714 | 5,612 | Ottoman taxation registers* | Cohen and Lewis [17] |
1538–1539 | 1,363 | 7,287 | 884 | 9,534 | Ottoman taxation registers* | Cohen and Lewis [17] |
1553–1554 | 1,958 | 12,154 | 1,956 | 16,068 | Ottoman taxation registers* | Cohen and Lewis [17] |
1596–1597 | ? | 8,740 | 252 | ? | Ottoman taxation registers* | Cohen and Lewis [17] |
1723 | 2,000 | ? | ? | ? | Van Egmont & Heyman, Christian travellers | [18] |
Henry Light, who visited Jerusalem in 1814, reported that Muslims comprised the largest portion of the 12,000 person population, but that Jews made the greatest single sect. [19] In 1818, Robert Richardson, family doctor to the Earl of Belmore, estimated the number of Jews to be 10,000, twice the number of Muslims. [20] [21]
Year | Jews | Muslims | Christians | Total | Original source | As quoted in |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1806 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 2,774 | 8,774 | Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, Frisian explorer [22] | Sharkansky, 1996 [23] [24] |
1815 | 4,000–5,000 | ? | ? | 26,000 | William Turner [25] | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] |
1817 | 3,000–4,000 | 13,000 | 3,250 | 19,750 | Thomas R. Joliffe | [26] |
1821 | >4,000 | 8,000 | James Silk Buckingham | [27] | ||
1824 | 6,000 | 10,000 | 4,000 | 20,000 | Fisk and King, Writers | [28] |
1832 | 4,000 | 13,000 | 3,560 | 20,560 | Ferdinand de Géramb, French monk | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] |
Between 1838 and 1876, conflicting estimates exist regarding whether Muslims or Jews constituted a "relative majority" (or plurality) in the city.
Writing in 1841, the biblical scholar Edward Robinson noted the conflicting demographic estimates regarding Jerusalem during the period, stating in reference to an 1839 estimate attributed to the Moses Montefiore: "As to the Jews, the enumeration in question was made out by themselves, in the expectation of receiving a certain amount of alms for every name returned. It is therefore obvious that they here had as strong a motive to exaggerate their number, as they often have in other circumstances to underrate it. Besides, this number of 7000 rests merely on report; Sir Moses himself has published nothing on the subject; nor could his agent in London afford me any information so late as Nov. 1840." [29] In 1843, Reverend F.C. Ewald, a Christian traveler visiting Jerusalem, reported an influx of 150 Jews from Algiers. He wrote that there were now a large number of Jews from the coast of Africa who were forming a separate congregation. [30]
From the mid-1850s, following the Crimean War, the expansion of Jerusalem outside of the Old City began, with institutions including the Russian Compound, Kerem Avraham, the Schneller Orphanage, Bishop Gobat school and the Mishkenot Sha'ananim marking the beginning of permanent settlement outside the Jerusalem Old City walls. [31] [32]
Between 1856 and 1880, Jewish immigration to Palestine more than doubled, with the majority settling in Jerusalem. [33] The majority of these immigrants were Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, who subsisted on Halukka. [33]
Year | Jews | Muslims | Christians | Total | Original source | As quoted in |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1838 | 3,000 | 4,500 | 3,500 | 11,000 | Edward Robinson | Edward Robinson, 1841 [34] |
1844 | 7,120 | 5,000 | 3,390 | 15,510 | Ernst-Gustav Schultz, Prussian consul [35] | |
1845 | 7,500 | 15,000 | 10,000 | 32,000+ | Joseph Schwarz [36] | |
1846 | 7,515 | 6,100 | 3,558 | 17,173 | Titus Tobler, Swiss explorer [37] | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] |
1847 | 10,000 | 25,000 | 10,000 | 45,000 | French consul estimates | Alexander Scholch, 1985 [38] |
1849 | 895 | 3,074 | 1,872 | 5,841 | Official Ottoman census obtained by the Prussian consul Georg Rosen, showing male subjects | Alexander Scholch, 1985 [39] |
1849 | 2,084 | ? | ? | ? | Moses Montefiore census, showing number of Jewish families [40] | |
1850 | 13,860 | ? | ? | ? | Dr. Ascher, Anglo-Jewish Association[ full citation needed ] | |
1851 | 5,580 | 12,286 | 7,488 | 25,354 | Official census (only Ottoman citizens) [41] | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] |
1853 | 8,000 | 4,000 | 3,490 | 15,490 | César Famin, French diplomat | Famin [42] |
1856 | 5,700 | 9,300 | 3,000 | 18,000 | Ludwig August von Frankl, Austrian writer | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] [43] |
1857 | 7,000 | ? | ? | 10–15,000 | HaMaggid periodical | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] |
1862 | 8,000 | 6,000 | 3,800 | 17,800 | HaCarmel periodical | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] |
1864 | 8,000 | 4,500 | 2,500 | 15,000 | British consulate | Dore Gold, 2009 [44] |
1866 | 8,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 16,000 | John Murray travel guidebook | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] |
1867 | ? | ? | ? | 14,000 | Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad, Chapter 52 | [45] |
1867 | 4,000– 5,000 | 6,000 | ? | ? | Ellen-Clare Miller, Missionary | [46] |
1869 | 3,200* | n/a | n/a | n/a | Rabbi H. J. Sneersohn | New York Times [47] |
1869 | 9,000 | 5,000 | 4,000 | 18,000 | Hebrew Christian Mutual Aid Society | [48] [49] |
1869 | 7,977 | 7,500 | 5,373 | 20,850 | Liévin de Hamme, Franciscan missionary | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] |
1871 | 4,000 | 13,000 | 7,000 | 24,000 | Karl Baedeker travel guidebook | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] |
1872 | 3,780 | 6,150 | 4,428 | 14,358 | Ottoman salname (official annals) for 1871–72 | Alexander Scholch, 1985 [50] |
1874 | 10,000 | 5,000 | 5,500 | 20,500 | British consul in Jerusalem report to the House of Commons | Parliamentary Papers [51] |
1876 | 13,000 | 15,000 | 8,000 | 36,000 | Bernhard Neumann [52] | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] |
Published in 1883, the PEF Survey of Palestine volume which covered the region noted that "The number of the Jews has of late increased at the rate of 1,000 to 1,500 per annum. Since 1875 the population of Jerusalem has rapidly increased. The number of Jews is now estimated at 15,000 to 20,000, and the population, including the inhabitants of the new suburbs, reaches a total of about 40,000 souls." [53]
In 1881–82, a group of Jews arrived from Yemen as a result of messianic fervor, in the phase known as the First Aliyah. [54] [55] After living in the Old City for several years, they moved to the hills facing the City of David, where they lived in caves. [56] In 1884, the community, numbering 200, moved to new stone houses built for them by a Jewish charity. [57]
The Jewish population of Jerusalem, as for wider Palestine, increased further during the Third Aliyah of 1919–23 following the Balfour Declaration. Prior to this, a British survey in 1919 noted that most Jews in Jerusalem were largely Orthodox and that a minority were Zionists. [58]
Year | Jews | Muslims | Christians | Total | Original source | As quoted in |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1882 | 9,000 | 7,000 | 5,000 | 21,000 | Wilson | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] |
1883 | 15,000–20,000 | ? | ? | 40,000 | PEF Survey of Palestine | PEF Survey of Palestine [53] |
1885 | 15,000 | 6,000 | 14,000 | 35,000 | Goldmann | Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001 [24] |
1889 | 25,000 | 14,000 | ? | >39,000 | Gilbert | Martin Gilbert, 2008 [59] |
1893 | >50% | ? | ? | ~40,000 | Albert Shaw, Writer | Shaw, 1894 [60] |
1896 | 28,112 | 8,560 | 8,748 | 45,420 | Calendar of Palestine for the year 5656 | Harrel and Stendel, 1974 |
1905 | 13,300 | 11,000 | 8,100 | 32,400 | 1905 Ottoman census (only Ottoman citizens) | U.O.Schmelz [61] |
1922 | 33,971 | 13,413 | 14,669 | 62,578 | Census of Palestine (British) [62] | Harrel and Stendel, 1974 |
1931 | 51,200 | 19,900 | 19,300 | 90,053 | Census of Palestine (British) | Harrel and Stendel, 1974 |
1944 | 97,000 | 30,600 | 29,400 | 157,000 | ? | Harrel and Stendel, 1974 |
1967 | 195,700 | 54,963 | 12,646 | 263,307 | Harrel, 1974 |
Year | Jews | Muslims | Christians | Total | Proportion of Jewish residents | Original source |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | 292,300 | ? | ? | 407,100 | 71.8% | Jerusalem Municipality[ citation needed ] |
1985 | 327,700 | ? | ? | 457,700 | 71.6% | Jerusalem Municipality |
1987 | 340,000 | 121,000 | 14,000 | 475,000 | 71.6% | Jerusalem Municipality |
1988 | 353,800 | 125,200 | 14,400 | 493,500 | 71.7% | Jerusalem Municipality [63] |
1990 | 378,200 | 131,800 | 14,400 | 524,400 | 72.1% | Jerusalem Municipality |
1995 | 417,100 | 182,700 | 14,100 | 617,000 | 67.6% | Jerusalem Municipality [63] |
1996 | 421,200 | ? | ? | 602,100 | 70.0% | Jerusalem Municipality |
2000 | 448,800 | ? | ? | 657,500 | 68.3% | Jerusalem Municipality [63] |
2004 | 464,500 | ? | ? | 693,200 | 67.0% | Jerusalem Municipality [63] |
2005 | 469,300 | ? | ? | 706,400 | 66.4% | Jerusalem Municipality |
2007 | 489,480 | ? | ? | 746,300 | 65.6% | Jerusalem Municipality |
2011 | 497,000 | 281,000 | 14,000 | 801,000 | 62.0% | Israel Central Bureau of Statistics [63] |
2015 | 524,700 | 307,300 | 12,400 | 857,800 | 61.2% | Israel Central Bureau of Statistics [63] |
2016 | 536,600 | 319,800 | 15,800 | 882,700 | 60.8% | Israel Central Bureau of Statistics [63] |
2017 | 546,100 | 328,600 | 15,900 | 901,300 | 60.6% | Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research [63] |
2018 | 555,800 | 336,700 | 16,000 | 919,400 | 60.5% | Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research [63] |
2019 | 563,200 | 345,800 | 16,200 | 936,400 | 60.1% | Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research [63] |
2020 | 570,100 | 353,800 | 16,300 | 951,100 | 59.9% | Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research [63] |
These official Israeli statistics refer to the expanded Israel municipality of Jerusalem. This includes not only the area of the pre-1967 Israeli and Jordanian municipalities, but also outlying Palestinian villages and neighbourhoods east of the city, which were not part of Jordanian East Jerusalem prior to 1967. Demographic data from 1967 to 2012 showed continues growth of Arab population, both in relative and absolute numbers, and the declining of Jewish population share in the overall population of the city. In 1967, Jews were 73.4% of city population, while in 2010 the Jewish population shrank to 64%. In the same period the Arab population increased from 26,5% in 1967 to 36% in 2010. [64] [65] In 1999, the Jewish total fertility rate was 3.8 children per woman, while the Palestinian rate was 4.4. This led to concerns that Arabs would eventually become a majority of the city's population.
Between 1999 and 2010, the demographic trends reversed themselves, with the Jewish fertility rate increasing and the Arab rate decreasing. In addition, the number of Jewish immigrants from abroad choosing to settle in Jerusalem steadily increased. By 2010, there was a higher Jewish than Arab growth rate. That year, the city's birth rate was placed at 4.2 children for Jewish mothers, compared with 3.9 children for Arab mothers. In addition, 2,250 Jewish immigrants from abroad settled in Jerusalem. The Jewish fertility rate is believed to be still currently increasing, while the Arab fertility rate remains on the decline. [66]
The demographics of Israel, monitored by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, encompass various attributes that define the nation's populace. Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has witnessed significant changes in its demographics. Formed as a homeland for the Jewish people, Israel has attracted Jewish immigrants from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both the State of Israel and Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital. Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, and Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim is widely recognized internationally.
Palestinians or Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinian Arabs, are an ethnonational group descending from peoples who have inhabited the region of Palestine over the millennia, and who today are culturally and linguistically Arab.
Palestinian Christians are a religious community of the Palestinian people consisting of those who identify as Christians, including those who are cultural Christians in addition to those who actively adhere to Christianity. They are a religious minority within the State of Palestine and within Israel, as well as within the Palestinian diaspora. Applying the broader definition, which groups together individuals with full or partial Palestinian Christian ancestry, the term was applied to an estimated 500,000 people globally in the year 2000. As most Palestinians are Arabs, the overwhelming majority of Palestinian Christians also identify as Arab Christians.
Hebron is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies 930 metres (3,050 ft) above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank, and the third-largest in the Palestinian territories, it had a population of 201,063 Palestinians in 2017, and seven hundred Jewish settlers concentrated on the outskirts of its Old City. It includes the Cave of the Patriarchs, which Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions all designate as the burial site of three key patriarchal/matriarchal couples. The city is often considered one of the four holy cities in Judaism as well as in Islam.
The population of the region of Palestine, which approximately corresponds to modern Israel and the Palestinian territories, has varied in both size and ethnic composition throughout the history of Palestine.
Palestine is a geographical region in West Asia. It is usually considered to include modern-day Israel and the State of Palestine, though some definitions also include parts of northwestern Jordan. Other historical names for the region include Canaan, the Promised Land, the Land of Israel, or the Holy Land.
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Palestinian Jews or Jewish Palestinians were the Jewish inhabitants of the Palestine region prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
Demographic features of the population of the area commonly described as Palestinian territories includes information on ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of that population.
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Sunni Islam is a major religion in Palestine, being the religion of the majority of the Palestinian population. Muslims comprise 85% of the population of the West Bank, when including Israeli settlers, and 99% of the population of the Gaza Strip. The largest denomination among Palestinian Muslims are Sunnis, comprising 98–99% of the total Muslim population.
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Christianity, which originated in the Middle East during the 1st century AD, is a significant minority religion within the region, characterized by the diversity of its beliefs and traditions, compared to Christianity in other parts of the Old World. Christians now make up approximately 5% of the Middle Eastern population, down from 13% in the early 20th century. Cyprus is the only Christian majority country in the Middle East, with Christians forming between 76% and 78% of the country's total population, most of them adhering to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Lebanon has the second highest proportion of Christians in the Middle East, around 40%, predominantly Maronites. Egypt has the next largest proportion of Christians, at around 10% of its total population. Copts, numbering around 10 million, constitute the single largest Christian community in the Middle East.
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...the number of those that perished during the whole siege eleven hundred thousand, the greater part of whom were indeed of the same nation [with the citizens of Jerusalem], but not belonging to the city itself...
The population is said to be twelve thousand, of which the largest proportion is Mussulmen: the greatest of one sect are Jews: the rest are composed of Christians of the East, belonging either to the Armenian, Greek, Latin, or Coptish sects.
During our stay here, I made the most accurate estimate that my means of information admitted, of the actual population of Jerusalem at the present moment. From this it appeared that the fixed residents, more than one half of whom are Mohammedans, are about eight thousand; but the continual arrival and departure of strangers, make the total number of those present in the city from ten to fifteen thousand generally, according to the season of the year. The proportion which the numbers of those of different sects bear to each other in this estimate, was not so easily ascertained. The answers which I received to enquiries on this point, were framed differently by the professors of every different faith. Each of these seemed anxious to magnify the number of those who believed his own dogmas, and to diminish that of the professors of other creeds. Their accounts were therefore so discordant, that no reliance could be placed on the accuracy of any of them. The Mohammedans are certainly the most numerous, and these consist of nearly equal portions of Osmanli Turks, from Asia Minor; descendents of pure Turks by blood, but Arabians by birth; a mixture of Turkish and Arab blood, by intermarriages; and pure Syrian Arabs, of an unmixed race. Of Europeans, there are only the few monks of the Catholic convent, and the still fewer Latin pilgrims who occasionally visit them. The Greeks are the most numerous of ail the Christians, and these are chiefly the clergy and devotees. The Armenians follow next in order, as to numbers, but their body is thought to exceed that of the Greeks in influence and in wealth. The inferior sects of Copts, Abyssinians, Syrians, Nestorians, Maronites, Chaldeans, &c. are scarcely perceptible in the crowd. And even the Jews are more remarkable from the striking peculiarity of their features and dress, than from their numbers, as contrasted with the other bodies.
The beginning of construction outside the Jerusalem Old City in the mid-19th century was linked to the changing relations between the Ottoman government and the European powers. After the Crimean War, various rights and privileges were extended to non-Muslims who now enjoyed greater tolerance and more security of life and property. All of this directly influenced the expansion of Jerusalem beyond the city walls. From the mid-1850s to the early 1860s, several new buildings rose outside the walls, among them the mission house of the English consul, James Finn, in what came to be known as Abraham's Vineyard (Kerem Avraham), the Protestant school built by Bishop Samuel Gobat on Mount Zion; the Russian Compound; the Mishkenot Sha'ananim houses: and the Schneller Orphanage complex. These complexes were all built by foreigners, with funds from abroad, as semi-autonomous compounds encompassed by walls and with gates that were closed at night. Their appearance was European, and they stood out against the Middle-Eastern-style buildings of Palestine.
Die Gesammtzahl der Juden in der heiligen Stadt ist nach amtlicher Erhebung 5,700 Seelen; sie stellt somit den dritten Theil der Gesammtbevölkerung dar, welche 18,000 Seelen umfaßt, und überragt die christliche um das Doppelte. Jerusalem zählt 3000 Christen, darunter 1000 Lateiner und 2000 Griechen und Armenier. Von den Juden sind 1700 österreichische Unterthanen und in Schuß Genommene, während Desterreich nur 100 christliche Unterthanen, alle Secten zusammengenommen, in der heiligen Stadt zählt.
: Gold's source: "Report on the Commerce of Jerusalem in the Year 1863", May 1864, in the National Archives (UK), Foreign Office (FO) 195/808