The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics defines the population of Israel as including Jews living in all of the West Bank and Palestinians in East Jerusalem but excluding Palestinians anywhere in the rest of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and foreign workers anywhere in Israel. As of December 2023, this calculation stands at approximately 9,842,000 million, of whom:
73.2% (about 7,208,000 people) are Jews, including about 503,000 living outside the self-defined borders of the State of Israel in the West Bank
An additional 5.7% (roughly 554,000 people) are classified as "others". This diverse group comprises those with Jewish ancestry but not recognized as Jewish by religious law, non-Jewish family members of Jewish immigrants, Christians other than Arabs and Armenians, and residents without a distinct ethnic or religious categorization.[2][1]
Israel's annual population growth rate stood at 2.0% in 2015, more than three times faster than the OECD average of around 0.6%.[3] With an average of three children per woman, Israel also has the highest fertility rate in the OECD by a considerable margin and much higher than the OECD average of 1.7.[4]
Overview and definitions
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counted by Palestinian Authority
counted by Israel
Israel counts Palestinians only in East Jerusalem + all Israelis; Palestinian Authority counts all residents
counted by both
Demographics of Israeli and Palestinian Territories
The definition of what constitutes the population of Israel varies depending on which territories are counted and which population groups are counted in each territory.
9,889,760[29] (most current update from the Israeli Central Bureau for Statistics, via live feed)
Note: includes over 200,000 Israelis and 250,000 Arabs in East Jerusalem, about 421,400 Jewish settlers on the West Bank, and about 42,000 in the Golan Heights (July 2007 estimate). Does not include Arab populations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Does not include 222,000 foreigners living in the country.[30]
Density
Population density per square kilometer, by district, sub-district and geographical area
During the 1990s, the Jewish population growth rate was about 3% per year, as a result of massive immigration to Israel, primarily from the republics of the former Soviet Union. There is also a very high population growth rate among certain Jewish groups, especially adherents of Orthodox Judaism. The growth rate of the Arab population in Israel is 2.2%, while the growth rate of the Jewish population in Israel is 1.8%. The growth rate of the Arab population has slowed from 3.8% in 1999 to 2.2% in 2013, and for the Jewish population, the growth rate declined from 2.7% to its lowest rate of 1.4% in 2005. Due to a rise in fertility of the Jewish population since 1995 and immigration, the growth rate has since risen to 1.8%.[31]
Fertility
The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that an average woman would have, in her lifetime.
3.01 children born/woman (2019)
Jewish total fertility rate increased by 10.2% during 1998–2009, and was recorded at 2.90 during 2009. During the same time period, Arab TFR decreased by 20.5%. Muslim TFR was measured at 3.73 for 2009. During 2000, the Arab TFR in Jerusalem (4.43) was higher than that of the Jews residing there (3.79). But as of 2009, Jewish TFR in Jerusalem was measured higher than the Arab TFR (2010: 4.26 vs 3.85, 2009: 4.16 vs 3.87). TFR for Arab residents in the West Bank was measured at 2.91 in 2013,[32] while that for the Jewish residents was reported at 5.10 children per woman.[33]
The ethnic group with highest recorded TFR is the Bedouin of Negev. Their TFR was reported at 10.06 in 1998, and 5.73 in 2009. TFR is also very high among Haredi Jews. For Ashkenazi Haredim, the TFR rose from 6.91 in 1980 to 8.51 in 1996. The figure for 2008 is estimated to be even higher. TFR for Sephardi/Mizrahi Haredim rose from 4.57 in 1980 to 6.57 in 1996.[34] In 2020 the overall Jewish TFR in Israel (3.00) was for the first time measured higher than Arab Muslim TFR (2.99).
Year
Jews
Muslims
Christians
Druze
Others
Total
2000
2.66
4.74
2.55
3.07
2.95
2001
2.59
4.71
2.46
3.02
2.89
2002
2.64
4.58
2.29
2.77
2.89
2003
2.73
4.50
2.31
2.85
2.95
2004
2.71
4.36
2.13
2.66
1.47
2.90
2005
2.69
4.03
2.15
2.59
1.49
2.84
2006
2.75
3.97
2.14
2.64
1.55
2.88
2007
2.80
3.90
2.13
2.49
1.49
2.90
2008
2.88
3.84
2.11
2.49
1.57
2.96
2009
2.90
3.73
2.15
2.49
1.56
2.96
2010
2.97
3.75
2.14
2.48
1.64
3.03
2011
2.98
3.51
2.19
2.33
1.75
3.00
2012
3.04
3.54
2.17
2.26
1.68
3.05
2013
3.05
3.35
2.13
2.21
1.68
3.03
2014
3.11
3.35
2.27
2.20
1.72
3.08
2015
3.13
3.32
2.12
2.19
1.72
3.09
2016
3.16
3.29
2.05
2.21
1.64
3.11
2017
3.16
3.37
1.93
2.10
1.58
3.11
2018
3.17
3.20
2.06
2.16
1.54
3.09
2019
3.09
3.16
1.80
2.02
1.45
3.01
2020
3.00
2.99
1.85
1.94
1.35
2.90
2021
3.13
3.01
1.77
2.00
1.39
3.00
2022
3.03
2.91
1.68
1.85
1.26
2.89
Year
Jews
Muslims
Christians
Druze
Others
Total
Birth rate
TFR of Israel to 2016
2021:
Total: 19.7 births/1,000 population
Jews and others: 19.1 births/1,000 population
Muslims: 23.4 births/1,000 population
Christians: 13.3 births/1,000 population
Druze: 15.8 births/1,000 population
Births, in absolute numbers, by mother's religion[35]
Births by mother's religion January - February 2023: Jewish 21,877 (74.52%); Muslim 6,106 (20.80%); Christian 359 (1.22%); Druze 324 (1.10%); others 692 (2.36%); Total 29,359
Births by mother's religion January - February 2024: Jewish 22,465 (76.31%); Muslim 5,782 (19.64%); Christian 343 (1.17%); Druze 286 (0.97%); others 563 (1.91%); Total 29,440
Between the mid-1980s and 2000, the fertility rate in the Muslim sector was stable at 4.6–4.7 children per woman; after 2001, a gradual decline became evident, reaching 3.51 children per woman in 2011. By point of comparison, in 2011, there was a rising fertility rate of 2.98 children among the Jewish population.
Life expectancy
Life expectancy in Israel since 1950Life expectancy in Israel since 1961 by gender
The table shows population estimates by sex and age group, as of July 1, 2019. It includes data for East Jerusalem and Israeli residents in certain other territories under occupation by Israeli military forces since June 1967. Data refer to Israeli citizens and permanent residents who are listed in the Population Register.[39]
Age Group
Male
Female
Total
%
Total
4,494,051
4,559,975
9,054,026
100
0–4
469 807
444 266
914 073
10.10
5–9
441 977
419 861
861 838
9.52
10–14
396 165
376 914
773 079
8.54
15–19
365 754
349 118
714 872
7.90
20–24
331 474
319 040
650 514
7.18
25–29
312 165
304 844
617 009
6.81
30–34
299 747
298 768
598 515
6.61
35–39
289 123
292 026
581 149
6.42
40–44
277 424
282 277
559 701
6.18
45–49
251 526
257 539
509 065
5.62
50–54
210 803
217 399
428 202
4.73
55–59
191 364
204 826
396 191
4.38
60–64
178 062
196 878
374 940
4.14
65–69
166 374
188 225
354 598
3.92
70–74
131 622
154 117
285 739
3.16
75–79
73 046
91 752
164 798
1.82
80–84
58 830
81 606
140 436
1.55
85–89
31 038
48 194
79 233
0.88
90–94
12 882
23 779
36 661
0.40
95–99
3 434
6 783
10 216
0.11
100+
1 432
1 765
3 197
0.04
Age group
Male
Female
Total
Percent
0–14
1,307,949
1,241,041
2,548,990
28.15
15–64
2,707,444
2,722,713
5,430,157
59.98
65+
478 658
596 221
1,074,879
11.87
Population by Age Group (2010 est.)
Group
0–14 years
15–64 years
65+ years
Total
28.0%
62.1%
9.9%
Jews
25.5%
63.1%
11.4%
Israeli Arabs
37.5%
58.6%
3.9%
Median age
Overall
Jewish
Israeli Arab
29.7
31.6
21.1
The Jewish median age in Jerusalem district and the West Bank are 24.9 and 19.7, respectively, and both account for 16% of the Jewish population, but 24% of 0- to 4-year-olds. The lowest median age in Israel, and one of the lowest in the world, is found in two of the West Bank's biggest Jewish cities: Modi'in Illit (11), Beitar Illit (11)[40] followed by Bedouin towns in the Negev (15.2).[41]
According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2008, of Israel's 7.3million people, 75.6 percent were Jews of any background.[47] Among them, 70.3 percent were Sabras (born in Israel), mostly second- or third-generation Israelis, and the rest are olim (Jewish immigrants to Israel)—20.5 percent from Europe and the Americas, and 9.2 percent from Asia and Africa, including the Arab countries.[48]
There are no government statistics categorizing Israeli Jews as "Ashkenazi", "Mizrahi", etc, but studies and estimates have been conducted.[50][51] In a 2019 study, in a sample meant to be representative of the Israeli Jewish population, about 44.9% percent of Israel's Jewish population were categorized as Mizrahi (defined as having grandparents born in North Africa or Asia), 31.8% were categorized as Ashkenazi (defined as having grandparents born in Europe, the Americas, Oceania and South Africa), 12.4% as "Soviet" (defined as having progenitors who came from the ex-USSR in 1989 or later), about 3% as Beta Israel (Ethiopia) and 7.9% as a mix of these, or other Jewish groups.[52] Note that this methodology isn't exact: See, for example, Bulgarian or Greek Jews, who would be categorized as Ashkenazi according to this definition, although they are overwhelmingly Sephardic.
The paternal lineage of the Jewish population of Israel as of 2015 is as follows:
Recent paternal ancestral background of Israeli Jews
Arab citizens of Israel are those Arab residents of Mandatory Palestine that remained within Israel's borders following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the establishment of the State of Israel. It is including those born within the state borders subsequent to this time, as well as those who had left during the establishment of the state (or their descendants), who have since re-entered by means accepted as lawful residence by the Israeli state (primarily family reunifications).
In 2019, the official number of Arab residents in Israel was 1,890,000 people, representing 21% of Israel's population.[54] This figure includes 209,000 Arabs (14% of the Israeli Arab population) in East Jerusalem, also counted in the Palestinian statistics, although 98 percent of East Jerusalem Palestinians have either Israeli residency or Israeli citizenship.[55]
Arab Muslims
Most Arab citizens of Israel are Muslim, particularly of the Sunni branch of Islam. A small minority are Ahmadiyya sect and there are also some Alawites (affiliated with Shia Islam) in the northernmost village of Ghajar with Israeli citizenship. As of 2019, Arab citizens of Israel composed 21 percent of the country's total population.[54] About 82 percent of the Arab population in Israel are Sunni Muslims, a very small minority are Shia Muslims, another 9 percent are Druze, and around 9 percent are Christian (mostly Eastern Orthodox and Catholic denominations).
The Arab Muslim citizens of Israel include also the Bedouins, who are divided into two main groups: the Bedouin in the north of Israel, who live in villages and towns for the most part, and the Bedouin in the Negev, who include half-nomadic and inhabitants of towns and Unrecognized villages. According to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as of 1999, 110,000 Bedouins live in the Negev, 50,000 in the Galilee and 10,000 in the central region of Israel.[56] The vast majority of Arab Bedouins of Israel practice Sunni Islam.
Ahmadiyya
The Ahmadiyya community was first established in the region in the 1920s, in what was then Mandatory Palestine. There is a large community in Kababir, a neighborhood on Mount Carmel in Haifa.[57][58] It is unknown how many Israeli Ahmadis there are, although it is estimated there are about 2,200 Ahmadis in Kababir alone.[59]
Arab Christians
As of December 2013, about 161,000 Israeli citizens practiced Christianity, together comprising about 2% of the total population.[60] The largest group consists of Melkites (about 60% of Israel's Christians), followed by the Greek Orthodox (about 30%), with the remaining ca. 10% spread between the Roman Catholic (Latin), Maronite, Anglican, Lutheran, Armenian, Syriac, Ethiopian, Coptic and other denominations.[60]
The Arab citizens of Israel include also the Druze, who numbered at an estimated 143,000 in April 2019.[61] All of the Druze living in what was then British Mandate Palestine became Israeli citizens after the declaration of the State of Israel. Druze serve prominently in the Israel Defense Forces, and are represented in mainstream Israeli politics and business as well, unlike Muslim or Christian Arabs who are not required to and generally choose not to serve in the Israeli army. Though a few individuals identify themselves as "Palestinian Druze",[62] the vast majority of Druze do not consider themselves to be 'Palestinian', and consider their Israeli identity stronger than their Arab identity. A 2017 Pew Research Center poll reported that the majority of the Israeli Druze identified as ethnically Arab.[63]
In 2014, Israel decided to recognize the Aramaic community within its borders as a national minority, allowing some of the Christians in Israel to be registered as "Aramean" instead of "Arab".[64] As of October 2014, some 600 Israelis requested to be registered as Arameans, with several thousand eligible for the status – mostly members of the Maronite community.
The Maronite Christian community in Israel of around 7,000 resides mostly in the Galilee, with a presence in Haifa, Nazareth and Jerusalem. It is largely composed of families that lived in Upper Galilee in villages such as Jish long before the establishment of Israel in 1948. In the year 2000, the community was joined by a group of Lebanese SLA militia members and their families, who fled Lebanon after 2000 withdrawal of IDF from South Lebanon.
The Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Ancestrally, they claim descent from a group of Israelite inhabitants who have connections to ancient Samaria from the beginning of the Babylonian Exile up to the beginning of the Common Era. 2007 population estimates show that 712 Samaritans live half in Holon, Israel and half at Mount Gerizim in the West Bank. The Holon community holds Israeli citizenship, while the Gerizim community resides at an Israeli-controlled enclave, holding dual Israeli-Palestinian citizenship.
About 4,000 Armenians reside in Israel mostly in Jerusalem (including in the Armenian Quarter), but also in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jaffa. Armenians have a Patriarchate in Jerusalem and churches in Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa. Although Armenians of Old Jerusalem have Israeli identity cards, they are officially holders of Jordanian passports.[65]
In Israel, there are also a few thousand Circassians, living mostly in Kfar Kama (2,000) and Reyhaniye (1,000).[66] These two villages were a part of a greater group of Circassian villages around the Golan Heights. The Circassians in Israel enjoy, like Druzes, a status aparte. Male Circassians (at their leader's request) are mandated for military service, while females are not.
Ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians, immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who were eligible to emigrate due to having, or being married to somebody who has, at least one Jewish grandparent and thus qualified for Israeli citizenship under the revised Law of Return. A number of these immigrants also belong to various ethnic groups from the Former Soviet Union such as Armenians, Georgians, Azeris, Uzbeks, Moldovans, Tatars, among others. Some of them, having a Jewish father or grandfather, identify as Jews, but being non-Jewish by Orthodox Halakha (religious law), they are not recognized formally as Jews by the state. Most of them are in the mainstream of Israel culture and are called "expanded Jewish population". In addition, a certain number of former Soviet citizens, primarily women of Russian and Ukrainian ethnicity, emigrated to Israel, after marrying Muslim or Christian Arab citizens of Israel, who went to study in the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. 1,557,698 people from the current Russia and Ukraine live in Israel.[67]
Finns
Although most people of Finnish origin in Israel are Finnish Jews who immigrated to Israel, and their descendants, a small number of Finnish Christians moved to Israel in the 1940s before independence and gained citizenship following independence. For the most part, many of the original Finnish settlers intermarried with the other communities in the country, and therefore remain very small in number. A Moshav shitufi near Jerusalem named Yad HaShmona, meaning the "Memorial for the Eight", was established in 1971 by a group of Finnish Christian-Israelis, although today, most members are Israeli, and are predominantly Hebrew speakers, and the moshav has become a center of Messianic Jews.[68][69]
Baháʼís
The population of followers of the Baháʼí Faith in Israel is almost entirely made up of volunteers serving at the Baháʼí World Centre. Bahá'u'lláh (1817–1892), the Faith's founder, was banished to Akka and died nearby where his shrine is located. During his lifetime he instructed his followers not to teach or convert those living in the area, and the Baháʼís descending from those original immigrants were later asked to leave and teach elsewhere. For nearly a century there has been a policy by Baháʼí leaders to not accept converts living in Israel. The 650 or so foreign national Baháʼís living in Israel are almost all on temporary duty serving at the shrines and administrative offices.[70][71][72]
Vietnamese
The number of Vietnamese people in Israel and their descendants is estimated at 150 to 200.[73] Most of them came to Israel in between 1976 and 1979, after prime minister Menachem Begin authorized their admission to Israel and granted them political asylum. The Vietnamese people living in Israel are Israeli citizens who also serve in the Israel Defense Forces. Today, the majority of the community lives in the Gush Dan area in the center of Tel Aviv, but also a few dozen Vietnamese-Israelis or Israelis of Vietnamese origin live in Haifa, Jerusalem, and Ofakim.
The African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem is a religious sect[74] of Black Americans, founded in 1960 by Ben Carter[75][76] a metal worker in Chicago. The members of this sect believe they are descended from the tribes of Judah driven from the Holy Land by the Romans during the First Jewish War (70 AD), and who reportedly emigrated to West Africa before being taken as slaves to the United States.[75][77] With a population of over 5,000, most members live in their own community in Dimona, Israel, with additional families in Arad, Mitzpe Ramon, and the Tiberias area. The group believes that the ancient Israelites are the ancestors of Black Americans and that the actual Jews are "impostors".[78] Some scholarship does consider them to be of subsaharan African origin, rather than Levantine.[79] Their ancestors were Black Americans who, after being expelled from Liberia, illegally immigrated to Israel in the late 1960s using tourist visas, requesting that Israel provide them legal citizenship status. Israel granted their requests.[80] The African Hebrew Israelites, like the Haredim and most Israeli Arabs, are not required to serve in the military; however, some do.
Meeting between Sudanese refugees and Israeli students, 2007.
The number and status of African migrants in Israel is disputed and controversial, but it is estimated that at least 70,000 refugees mainly from Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Ivory Coast reside and work in Israel. A count in late 2011 published in Ynet pointed out the number only in Tel Aviv is 40,000, which represents 10 percent of the city's population. The vast majority live in the southern parts of the city. There is a significant population in the southern Israeli cities of Eilat, Arad, and Beersheba.
There are around 300,000 foreign workers, residing in Israel under temporary work visas, including Palestinians. Most of those foreign workers engage in agriculture and construction. The main groups of those foreign workers include the Chinese, Thai, Filipinos,[81]Nigerians, Romanians, and Latin Americans.
Other refugees
Approximately 100–200 refugees from Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraqi Kurdistan, and North Korea were absorbed in Israel as refugees. Most of them were also given Israeli resident status, and currently reside in Israel.[82] As of 2006, some 200 ethnic Kurdish refugees from Turkey resided in Israel as illegal immigrants, fleeing the Kurdish–Turkish conflict.[83]
Due to its immigrant nature, Israel is one of the most multicultural and multilingual societies in the world. Hebrew is the official language of the country, and Arabic is given special status, while English and Russian are the two most widely spoken non-official languages. A certain degree of English is spoken widely, and is the language of choice for many Israeli businesses. Hebrew and English language are mandatory subjects in the Israeli school system, and most schools offer either Arabic, French, Spanish, German, Italian, or Russian.
13% consider themselves "religious-traditionalists" (mostly adhering to Jewish Halakha);
25% are "non-religious traditionalists" (only partly respecting the Jewish Halakha), and
43% are "secular".
While the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredim, represented only 5% of Israel's population in 1990,[86] they are expected to represent more than one-fifth of Israel's Jewish population by 2028.[87] By 2022, Haredim were 13.3% of the population and enumerated 1,280,000.[88][89]
Education between ages 5 and 15 is compulsory. It is not free, but it is subsidized by the government, individual organizations (such as the Beit Yaakov System), or a combination. Parents are expected to participate in courses as well. The school system is organized into kindergartens, 6-year primary schools, and either 6-year secondary schools or 3-year junior secondary schools + 3-year senior secondary schools (depending on region), after which a comprehensive examination is offered for university admissions.
Literacy
Age 15 and over can read and write (2011 estimate):[92]
Israel is the thirtieth-most-densely-crowded country in the world. In an academic article, Jewish National Fund Board member Daniel Orenstein, argues that, as elsewhere, overpopulation is a stressor on the environment in Israel; he shows that environmentalists have conspicuously failed to consider the impact of population on the environment, and argues that overpopulation in Israel has not been appropriately addressed for ideological reasons.[93][94]
This section's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2012)
The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) 5763 was first passed on 31 July 2003, and has since been extended until 31 July 2008. The law places age restrictions for the automatic granting of Israeli citizenship and residency permits to spouses of Israeli citizens, such that spouses who are inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are ineligible. On 8 May 2005, the Israeli ministerial committee for issues of legislation once again amended the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, to restrict citizenship and residence in Israel only to Palestinian men over the age of 35, and Palestinian women over the age of 25. Those in favor of the law say the law not only limits the possibility of the entrance of terrorists into Israel, but, as Ze'ev Boim asserts, allows Israel "to maintain the state's democratic nature, but also its Jewish nature" (i. e., its Jewish demographic majority).[95] Critics, including the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,[96] say the law disproportionately affects Arab citizens of Israel, since Arabs in Israel are far more likely to have spouses from the West Bank and Gaza Strip than other Israeli citizens.[97]
In the constitutional challenges to the Citizenship and Entry to Israel Law, the state, represented by the Attorney General, insisted that security was the only objective behind the law. The state also added that even if the law was intended to achieve demographic objectives, it is still in conformity with Israel's Jewish and democratic definition, and thus constitutional. In a 2012 ruling by the Supreme Court on the issue, some of the judges on the panel discussed demography, and were inclined to accept that demography is a legitimate consideration in devising family reunification policies that violate the right to family life.[98]
During the 1970s about 163,000 people of Jewish descent immigrated to Israel from the USSR.
Later Ariel Sharon, in his capacity as Minister of Housing & Construction and member of the Ministerial Committee for Immigration & Absorption, launched an unprecedented large-scale construction effort to accommodate the new Russian population in Israel so as to facilitate their smooth integration and encourage further Jewish immigration as an ongoing means of increasing the Jewish population of Israel.[107] Between 1989 and 2006, about 979,000 Jews emigrated from the former Soviet Union to Israel.
Emigration
For many years definitive data on Israeli emigration was unavailable.[108] In The Israeli Diaspora sociologist Stephen J. Gold maintains that calculation of Jewish emigration has been a contentious issue, explaining, "Since Zionism, the philosophy that underlies the existence of the Jewish state, calls for return home of the world's Jews, the opposite movement—Israelis leaving the Jewish state to reside elsewhere—clearly presents an ideological and demographic problem."[109]
In the past several decades, emigration (yerida) has seen a considerable increase. From 1990 to 2005, 230,000 Israelis left the country; a large proportion of these departures included people who initially immigrated to Israel and then reversed their course (48% of all post-1990 departures and even 60% of 2003 and 2004 departures were former immigrants to Israel). 8% of Jewish immigrants in the post-1990 period left Israel, while 15% of non-Jewish immigrants did. In 2005 alone, 21,500 Israelis left the country and had not yet returned at the end of 2006; among them 73% were Jews, 5% Arabs, and 22% "Others" (mostly non-Jewish immigrants, with Jewish ancestry, from USSR). At the same time, 10,500 Israelis came back to Israel after over one year abroad; 84% were Jews, 9% Others, and 7% Arabs.[110]
According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, as of 2005, 650,000 Israelis had left the country for over one year and not returned. Of them, 530,000 are still alive today. This number does not include the children born overseas. It should also be noted that Israeli law grants citizenship only to the first generation of children born to Israeli emigrants.
Health
HIV/AIDS – adult prevalence rate
0.2% (2009 est.)
Obesity – adult prevalence rate
26% of women and 40% of men are overweight. In both genders, obesity rate is 15% (as of 2011).[111]
In June 2013, the Central Bureau of Statistics released a demographic report, projecting that Israel's population would grow to 11.4million by 2035, with the Jewish population numbering 8.3million, or 73% of the population, and the Arab population at 2.6million, or 23%. This includes some 2.3million Muslims (20% of the population), 185,000 Druze, and 152,000 Christians. The report predicts that the Israeli population growth rate will decline to 1.4% annually, with growth in the Muslim population remaining higher than the Jewish population until 2035, at which point the Jewish population will begin growing the fastest.[114]
In 2017, the Central Bureau of Statistics projected that Israel's population would rise to about 18 million by 2059, including 14.4million Jews and 3.6million Arabs. Of the Jewish population, about 5.25million would be Haredi. Overall, the forecast projected that 49% of the population would be either Haredi Jews (29%) or Arabs (20%).[115] It also projected a population of 20 million in 2065.[116] Jews and other non-Arabs are expected to compose 81% of the population in 2065, and Arabs 19%. About 32% of the population is expected to be Haredi.[117]
Other forecasts project that Israel could have a population as high as 23 million, or even 36million, by 2050.[118]
Jordan has a population of more than 11.1 million inhabitants as of 2023. Jordanians are the citizens of Jordan. Around 94% of Jordanians are Arabs, while the remaining 6% belong to other ethnic minorities, including Circassians, Chechens, Armenians and Kurds. Around 2.9 million inhabitants are non-citizens, a figure including refugees, legal and illegal immigrants. Jordan's annual population growth rate stands at 3.05% as of 2023, with an average birth rate of 2.8. There were 1,977,534 households in Jordan in 2015, with an average of 4.8 persons per household.
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.
Israelis are the citizens and nationals of the State of Israel. The country's populace is composed primarily of Jews and Arabs, who respectively account for 75 percent and 20 percent of the national figure; followed by other ethnic and religious minorities, who account for 5 percent.
The one-state solution is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, according to which one state would be established between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean. Proponents of this solution advocate a single state encompassing the currently recognized state of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The term one-state reality describes the belief that the current situation in Israel/Palestine is de facto a single state. The one-state solution is sometimes also called a bi-national state, owing to the hope that the state would be a homeland for both Jews and Palestinians.
The Arab citizens of Israel are the country's largest ethnic minority. They are colloquially referred to in Arabic as either 48-Arabs or 48-Palestinians, denoting the fact that they have remained in Israeli territory since the Green Line was agreed upon between Israel and the Arab countries as part of the 1949 Armistice Agreements. According to several sources, the majority of Arabs in Israel now prefer to be identified as Palestinian citizens of Israel. International media outlets often use the term "Arab-Israeli" or "Israeli-Arab" to distinguish Israel's Arab citizens from the Palestinian Arabs residing in the Israeli-occupied territories. They are formerly, or are descended from, those Arabs who belonged to the British Mandate for Palestine through Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925. Speakers of both Arabic and Hebrew, they self-identify in a wide range of intersectional civic, national, and religious identities.
The Jerusalem District is one of the six administrative districts of Israel. The district capital is Jerusalem. The Jerusalem District has a land area of 652 km2. The population of 1,159,900 is 66.3% Jewish and 32.1% Arab. A fifth (21%) of the Arabs in Israel live in the Jerusalem Municipality, which includes both East and West Jerusalem. Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem has not been recognized by the international community.
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.
Isratin or Isratine, also known as the bi-national state, is a proposed unitary, federal or confederate Israeli-Palestinian state encompassing the present territory of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Depending on various points of view, such a scenario is presented as a desirable one-state solution to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, or as a calamity in which Israel would ostensibly lose its character as a Jewish state and the Palestinians would fail to achieve their national independence within a two-state solution. Increasingly, Isratin is being discussed not as an intentional political solution – desired or undesired – but as the probable, inevitable outcome of the continuous growth of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the seemingly irrevocable entrenchment of the Israeli occupation there since 1967.
Jerusalem's population size and composition has shifted many times over its 5,000 year history.
Religion in Israel is manifested primarily in Judaism, the ethnic religion of the Jewish people. The State of Israel declares itself as a "Jewish and democratic state" and is the only country in the world with a Jewish-majority population. Other faiths in the country include Islam, Christianity and the religion of the Druze people. Religion plays a central role in national and civil life, and almost all Israeli citizens are automatically registered as members of the state's 14 official religious communities, which exercise control over several matters of personal status, especially marriage. These recognized communities are Orthodox Judaism, Islam, the Druze faith, the Catholic Church, Greek Orthodox Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Armenian Apostolic Church, Anglicanism, and the Baháʼí Faith.
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.
The Lieberman Plan, also known in Israel as the "Populated-Area Exchange Plan", was proposed in May 2004 by Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the Israeli political party Yisrael Beiteinu. The plan suggests an exchange of populated territories – territories populated by both Arabs and Jews – between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli citizenship law details the conditions by which a person holds citizenship of Israel. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the 1950 Law of Return and 1952 Citizenship Law.
The concept of demographic threat is a term used in political conversation or demography to refer to population increases from within a minority ethnic or religious group in a given country that is perceived as threatening to the ethnic, racial or religious majority, stability of the country or to the identity of said countries in which it is present in.
Arab localities in Israel include all population centers with a 50% or higher Arab population in Israel. East Jerusalem and Golan Heights are not internationally recognized parts of Israel proper but have been included in this list.
As of 2022, Muslims are the largest religious minority in Israel, accounting for 18.1% of the country's total population. Most of this figure is represented by the Arab citizens of Israel, who are the country's largest ethnic minority, but there is a notable non-Arab Muslim populace, such as that of the Circassians. Upwards of 99% of Israel's Muslims are Sunnis and the remainder are Ahmadis. Despite Shias constituting the second-largest Islamic sect, there are no reliable sources attesting a Shia presence in Israel or the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which the Israeli government administers as the Judea and Samaria Area. There were only seven Shia villages in the entirety of Mandatory Palestine and all of these were located along what is now the Israel–Lebanon border before being depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Israeli Jews or Jewish Israelis comprise Israel's largest ethnic and religious community. The core of their demographic consists of those with a Jewish identity and their descendants, including ethnic Jews and religious Jews alike. Approximately 99% of the global Israeli Jewish population resides in Israel; yerida is uncommon and is offset exponentially by aliyah, but those who do emigrate from the country typically relocate to the Western world. As such, the Israeli diaspora is closely tied to the broader Jewish diaspora.
Christianity is the third largest religion in Israel, after Judaism and Islam. At the end of 2022, Christians made up 1.9% of the Israeli population, numbering approximately 185,000. 75.8% of the Christians in Israel are Arab Christians. Christians make up 6.9% of the Arab-Israelis.
Tsvi Jekhorin Misinai is an Israeli researcher, writer, historian, computer scientist and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Israeli software industry, he now spends most of his time researching and documenting the common Hebrew roots he believes shared by world Jewry and the Palestinians.
Israeli Druze or Druze Israelis are an ethnoreligious minority among the Arab citizens of Israel.
↑ "The Separation Barrier – Statistics". B'Tselem. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2013. Data source: Israel 's Central Bureau of Statistics, The PA Central Bureau of Statistics and OCHA. All data on population updated to the end of 2005.
1 2 3 Figure calculated from other sourced figures in table
↑ Derived from total CBS Population of Israel 31-Dec-2023 minus estimates for East Jerusalem Israelis and non-Israeli Palestinians, minus Golan Heights, minus 1/1/24 estimate of settlers in Area C
↑ "Population, by Population Group"(PDF). Monthly Bulletin of Statistics. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 31 December 2013. Archived from the original(PDF) on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
↑ Lewin-Epstein, Noah; Cohen, Yinon (18 August 2019). "Ethnic origin and identity in the Jewish population of Israel". Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 45 (11): 2118–2137. doi:10.1080/1369183X.2018.1492370. ISSN1369-183X. S2CID149653977.
↑ Linda Jones, Linda Jones (27 July 1997). "Linda Jones, " Claiming a Promised Land: African-American settlers in Israel are guided by idea of independent Black Hebrew Society ", The Dallas Morning News,27/07/1997 ". The Dallas Morning News.
↑ Markowitz, Fran; Helman, Sara; Shir-Vertesh, Dafna (June 2003). "Soul Citizenship: The Black Hebrews and the State of Israel". American Anthropologist. 105 (2): 302–312. doi:10.1525/aa.2003.105.2.302. ISSN0002-7294.
↑ Orenstein, Daniel E. (2004). "Population Growth and Environmental Impact: Ideology and Academic Discourse in Israel". Population and Environment. 26 (1). Springer Science+Business Media: 41–60. doi:10.1023/B:POEN.0000039952.74913.53. S2CID144223300.
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