Jewish population by country

Last updated

Jews and those of sufficient Jewish descent to be eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return by country in proportion to the general population (per million people in each country, 2018)

The percentage of the eligible Jewish population that is living in each country (top 13, 2018)

Contents

  Flag of the United States.svg  United States (51%)
  Flag of Israel.svg  Israel (30%)
  Flag of France.svg  France (3%)
  Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada (3%)
  Flag of Russia.svg  Russia (3%)
  Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom (2%)
  Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina (1%)
  Flag of Germany.svg  Germany (1%)
  Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia (1%)
  Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil (1%)
  Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico (1%)
  Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine (1%)
  Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary (1%)
  Other (1%)

As of 2023, the world's core Jewish population (those identifying as Jews above all else) was estimated at 15.7 million, which is approximately 0.2% of the 8 billion worldwide population. Israel hosts the largest core Jewish population in the world with 7.2 million, followed by the United States with 6.3 million. Other countries with core Jewish populations above 100,000 include France (440,000), Canada (398,000), the United Kingdom (312,000), Argentina (171,000), Russia (132,000), Germany (125,000), and Australia (117,200). The number of Jews worldwide rises to 18 million with the addition of the "connected" Jewish population, including those who say they are partly Jewish or that have Jewish backgrounds from at least one Jewish parent, and rises again to 21 million with the addition of the "enlarged" Jewish population, including those who say they have Jewish backgrounds but no Jewish parents and all non-Jewish household members who live with Jews. Counting all those who are eligible for Israeli citizenship under Israel's Law of Return, in addition to Israeli Jews, raised the total to 25.5 million. [1] [2]

Two countries account for 81% of those recognised as Jews or of sufficient Jewish ancestry to be eligible for citizenship in Israel under its Law of Return: the United States with 51% and Israel with 30% (including the West Bank with 2%). An additional 16% is split between France (3%), Canada (3%), Russia (3%), the United Kingdom (2%), Argentina (1%), Germany (1%), Ukraine (1%), Brazil (1%), Australia (1%), and Hungary (1%), while the remaining 3% are spread around approximately 98 other countries and territories with less than 0.5% each. With over 7 million Jews, Israel is the only Jewish-majority country and the only explicitly Jewish state. [3]

In 1939, the core Jewish population reached its historical peak of 17 million. Due to the murder of approximately six million Jews during the Holocaust, this number was reduced to 11 million by 1945. [4] [5] [6] The population grew to around 13 million by the 1970s and then recorded almost no growth until around 2005, due to low fertility rates and assimilation of Jews. [5] From 2005 to 2018, the world's Jewish population grew 0.63% annually on average, while world population overall grew 1.1% annually in the same period. [7] This increase primarily reflected the rapid growth of Haredi and some Orthodox sectors, who remain a growing proportion of Jews. [8]

Israel

Recent Jewish population dynamics are characterized by continued steady increase in the Israeli Jewish population and flat or declining numbers in other countries (the diaspora). Jewish immigration to Palestine began in earnest following the 1839 Tanzimat reforms; between 1840 and 1880, the Jewish population of Palestine rose from 9,000 to 23,000. [9] In the late 19th century, 99.7% of the world's Jews lived outside the region, with Jews representing 2–5% of the population of the Palestine region. [10] [11] Through the first five phases of Aliyah, the Jewish population rose to 630,000 by the inception of the state of Israel in 1948. By 2014 this had risen to 6,135,000, [12] while the population of the diaspora has dropped from 10.5 to 8.1 million over the same period. [13] Current Israeli Jewish demographics are characterized by a relatively high fertility rate of 3 children per woman and a stable age distribution. [14] The overall growth rate of Jews in Israel is 1.7% annually. [15] The diaspora countries, by contrast, have low Jewish birth rates, an increasingly elderly age composition, and a negative balance of people leaving Judaism versus those joining. [13] Immigration trends also favour Israel ahead of diaspora countries. The Jewish state has a positive immigration balance (called aliyah in Hebrew). Israel saw its Jewish numbers significantly buoyed by a million-strong wave of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, [16] and immigration growth has been steady (in the low tens of thousands) since then. [17]

Rest of the world

In general, the modern English-speaking world has seen an increase in its share of the diaspora since the Holocaust and the foundation of Israel, while historic diaspora Jewish populations in Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East have significantly declined or disappeared. [18] France continues to be home to the world's third largest Jewish community, at around 500,000, [19] [20] but has shown an increasingly negative trend. As a long-term trend, intermarriage has reduced its "core" Jewish population and increased its "connected" and "enlarged" Jewish populations. More recently, migration loss to Israel amongst French Jews reached the tens of thousands between 2014 and 2017, following a wave of anti-Semitic attacks. [21] [22] According to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey, over the next four decades the number of Jews around the world is expected to increase from 14.2 million in 2015 to 16.4 million in 2060. [23]

Debate over United States numbers

The number of Jews in the United States has been much debated because of questions about counting methodology. In 2012, Sheskin and Dashefsky put forward a figure of 6.72 million based on a mixture of local surveys, informed local estimates, and US census data. They qualified their estimate with concern over double counting and suggested the real figure may lie between 6 and 6.4 million. [24] Drawing on their work, the Steinhardt Social Research Institute released their estimate of 6.8 million Jews in the United States in 2013. [25] These figures are in contrast to Israeli demographer Sergio Della Pergola's number of 5,425,000, also in 2012. [26] He has called high estimates “implausible” and “unreliable”. However, he revised the United States Jewish number to 5.7 million in subsequent years. [27] [26] This controversy followed a similar debate in 2001 when the National Jewish Population Survey released a United States Jewish estimate as low as 5.2 million only to have serious methodological errors suggested in their survey. [26] In sum, a confidence interval of a million or more people is likely to persist in reporting the number of Jewish Americans.

In 2020, the Pew Research Center's Jewish Americans 2020 study estimated there were 5.8 million adult Jews in the United States and 1.8 million children of at least one Jewish parent being raised as Jewish in some way, for a total of 7.5 million Jews, 2.5% of the national population. [28] According to Sergio Della Pergola's narrower definition, which count children and adult Jews without religious affiliation only if they have two Jewish parents, this corresponds to 4.8 million Jewish adults and 1.2 million Jewish children in 2020. [29] The American Jewish Population Project at Brandeis University, which synthesizes survey data from the 50 states and DC, estimates there are 7.63 million American Jews, 6 million adults and 1.6 million children. [30]

By country

Jewish population by country (1,000s, 2020) [31]

Below is a list of Jewish populations in the world by country. All data below, except the last column, are from the Berman Jewish DataBank at Stanford University in the World Jewish Population (2020) report coordinated by Sergio DellaPergola at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. [31] The Jewish DataBank figures are primarily based on national censuses combined with trend analysis:

Table

CountriesCore populationConnected populationEnlarged populationEligible populationNational
official
TotalpctpmpTotalpctpmpTotalpctpmpTotalpctpmp
Flag of Israel.svg  Israel [lower-alpha 1] 6,340,60040729,0906,559,30036754,2386,778,00032779,3866,778,00028779,3867,200,000
[32] (2024)
Flag of the United States.svg  United States 5,700,0003617,3208,000,0004424,30910,000,0004830,38612,000,0005036,4636,300,000
[33] (2024)
Flag of France.svg  France [lower-alpha 2] 440,0002.86,910550,0003.18,483650,0003.110,026750,0003.211,568
Flag of Palestine.svg  Palestine [lower-alpha 3] 432,8002.8140,280437,8002.4141,901442,7002.1143,489442,7001.9143,489
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 393,0002.510,500450,0002.512,023550,0002.614,695700,0002.918,702398,000
[34] (2024)
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom [lower-alpha 4] 292,0001.94,370330,0001.84,939370,0001.85,537410,0001.76,136312,000
[35] [36] [37] (2024)
Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 175,0001.13,990260,0001.45,779310,0001.56,891360,0001.58,002
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 155,0000.991,060320,0001.82,188460,0002.23,146600,0002.54,103157,673
[38] (2010)
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 118,0000.754,660130,0000.725,134145,0000.695,726160,0000.676,31999,956
(2021) [39]
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 118,0000.751,420150,0000.831,805225,0001.12,708275,0001.23,30983,430
[40] (2011)
Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 92,0000.59440120,0000.67574150,0000.71717180,0000.76861107,329
[39] (2011)
Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 52,3000.3389065,0000.361,10675,0000.361,27685,0000.361,44649,469
[41] (2016)
Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 47,2000.304,83075,0000.427,675100,0000.4810,233130,0000.5513,30310,965
[39] (2011)
Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 45,0000.291,07090,0000.502,140140,0000.673,329200,0000.844,756103,878
[42] (2001)
Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 40,0000.2532045,0000.2536050,0000.2440065,0000.2752067,476
[39] (2010)
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 29,8000.191,25043,0000.241,56353,0000.252,18863,0000.262,8130.1%
[43] (2016)
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 29,0000.182,53035,0000.193,05340,0000.193,49045,0000.193,926
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 27,0000.1745034,0000.1956041,0000.2067648,0000.20791
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland 18,5000.122,16022,0000.122,56925,0000.122,91928,0000.123,26916,763
[39] (2011)
Flag of Uruguay.svg  Uruguay 16,0000.104,69020,0000.115,68524,0000.116,82228,0000.127,959
Flag of Chile.svg  Chile 16,0000.1084020,0000.111,05024,0000.111,26028,0000.121,47014,976
[39] (2002)
Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 15,0000.0961,46020,0000.111,94725,0000.122,43330,0000.132,920
Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 14,5000.09218019,0000.1123421,0000.10025923,0000.097284
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 13,0000.08328016,0000.08934519,0000.09040922,0000.092474
Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 10,3000.0661,16014,0000.0781,57717,0000.0811,91520,0000.0842,2528,140
[39] (2001)
Flag of Panama.svg  Panama 10,0000.0642,37011,0000.0612,60712,0000.0572,84413,0000.0553,081
Flag of Iran.svg  Iran 9,5000.06111010,5000.05812212,0000.05713913,0000.0551519,826
[39] (2016)
Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 8,9000.05746013,0000.07267217,0000.08187920,0000.0841,0343,519
[39] (2011)
Flag of Belarus.svg  Belarus 8,5000.05490017,0000.0941,80025,0000.122,64733,0000.143,49413,705
[44] (2019)
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 7,5000.0481,5108,5000.0471,7119,5000.0451,91310,5000.0442,1145,274
[39] (2018)
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan 7,2000.04672010,5000.0581,05015,5000.0741,55020,5000.0862,0509,084
[44] (2009)
Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela 6,0000.03821010,0000.05535012,0000.05742014,0000.0594909,500
[45] [46] (2010)
Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 6,4000.0411,1007,5000.0421,2898,5000.0401,4619,5000.0401,633
Flag of India.svg  India 4,8000.03136,0000.03347,5000.03659,0000.03864,650
[47] (2011)
Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia 4,5000.0292,3508,0000.0444,17812,0000.0576,26716,0000.0678,3568,210
[48] (2019)
Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 4,5000.0291207,0000.03918710,0000.04826713,0000.0553472,488
[49] (2011)
Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 4,1000.0263805,2000.0294826,0000.0295567,0000.029649
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 3,9000.0253705,0000.0284746,5000.0316178,0000.0347591,427
[50] (2021)
Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 3,3000.0212963,5000.0193344,0000.0193825,0000.0214782,910
(2021) [51] - 15,000 [52]
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China [lower-alpha 5] 3,0000.01923,2000.01823,4000.01623,6000.0153
Flag of Uzbekistan.svg  Uzbekistan 2,9000.018906,0000.0331868,0000.03824810,0000.04231094,689
[53] (1989)
Flag of Ireland.svg   Ireland 2,7000.0175503,6000.0207335,0000.0241,0196,5000.0271,3241,921
[54] (2016)
Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 2,6000.0174803,6000.0206654,6000.0228496,0000.0251,108601
[55] (2019)
Flag of Kazakhstan.svg  Kazakhstan 2,5000.0161404,8000.0272696,5000.0313649,5000.0405325,281
[39] (2009)
Flag of Costa Rica.svg  Costa Rica 2,5000.0164902,8000.0165493,1000.0156083,4000.014666
Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania 2,4000.0158604,7000.0261,6847,5000.0362,68810,5000.0443,7631,229
[39] (2011)
Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 2,1000.013402,8000.016533,5000.017674,5000.01986
Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco 2,1000.013602,5000.014712,8000.013803,1000.01389
Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 2,0000.0132904,0000.0225806,0000.0298708,0000.0341,1601,162
[56] (2011)
Flag of Moldova.svg  Moldova 1,9000.0125403,8000.0211,0807,5000.0362,13210,0000.0422,8421,601
[39] (2014)
Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 1,9000.0121,4302,7000.0152,0323,5000.0172,6344,5000.0193,3871,921
[57] (2019)
Flag of Peru.svg  Peru 1,9000.012602,4000.013763,0000.014953,5000.015111
Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 1,7000.0114202,4000.0135933,1000.0157663,8000.016939536
[39] (2011)
Flag of Georgia.svg  Georgia 1,5000.00963803,0000.0177605,0000.0241,2677,5000.0321,9001,417
[39] (2014)
Flag of Puerto Rico.svg  Puerto Rico 1,5000.00964902,0000.0116532,5000.0128173,0000.013980
Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 1,4000.00892002,1000.0123002,8000.0134003,5000.015500578
[39] (2011)
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 1,3000.00832401,6000.00892951,9000.00903512,2000.00924061,093
[58] (2017)
Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1,3000.00832401,6000.00892952,0000.00953692,5000.011462761
[59] (2021)
Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 1,0000.0064901,2000.00671081,4000.00671261,6000.0067144
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1,0000.0064101,2000.0067121,4000.0067141,6000.006716
Flag of Paraguay.svg  Paraguay 1,1000.00701501,3000.00721771,6000.00762181,9000.00802591,100
[39] (2002)
Flag of Guatemala.svg  Guatemala 9000.0057501,2000.0067671,5000.0071831,8000.0076100
Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 9000.00571601,0000.00551781,2000.00572131,4000.0059249
Flag of Ecuador.svg  Ecuador 6000.0038308000.0044401,0000.0048501,2000.005060
Flag of Gibraltar.svg  Gibraltar 8000.005122,8609000.005025,7181,0000.004828,5751,1000.004631,433763
[39] (2012)
Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg 7000.00451,1309000.00501,4531,1000.00521,7761,3000.00552,099
Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg  Bolivia 5000.0032407000.0039569000.0043721,1000.004688
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg  Bosnia and Herzegovina 5000.00321408000.00442241,1000.00523081,4000.0059392262
[60] (2013)
Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba 5000.0032401,0000.0055801,5000.00711202,0000.0084160
Flag of the United States Virgin Islands.svg   U.S. Virgin Islands 5000.00323,8106000.00335,7157000.00336,6688000.00347,620
Flag of Kyrgyzstan (2023).svg  Kyrgyzstan 4000.0025607000.00391051,0000.00481501,5000.0063225455
[61] (2018)
Flag of Nicaragua.svg  Nicaragua 2500.0016362500.0014362500.0012362500.001136181
[62] (2017)
Flag of the Bahamas.svg   Bahamas 2000.00135105000.00281,2757000.00331,7859000.00382,295191
[39] (2010)
Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 3000.0019105000.0028177000.0033239000.003830
Flag of the Netherlands Antilles (1986-2010).svg   Netherlands Antilles 4000.00251,2505000.00281,5637000.00332,1889000.00382,813
Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 5000.00321803000.00171084000.00191445000.0021180506
[39] (2011)
Flag of Suriname.svg  Suriname 2000.00133304000.00226606000.00299908000.00341,320181
[63] (2012)
Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 2000.001333000.001744000.001965000.00217
Flag of Turkmenistan.svg  Turkmenistan 2000.0013304000.0022606000.0029908000.00341201,537
[64] (1995)
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 2000.0013104000.0022206000.0029308000.003440
Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia 1000.00064303000.0017905000.00241507000.0029210127
[65] (2011)
Flag of Bermuda.svg   Bermuda 1000.000641,5402000.00113,0803000.00144,6204000.00176,160135
[39] (2010)
Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana 1000.00064402000.0011803000.00141204000.0017160
Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.svg  DR Congo 1000.0006412000.001123000.001434000.00174
Flag of Cyprus.svg  Cyprus 3000.001965004000.002265005000.002465006000.00256500
Flag of Barbados.svg   Barbados 1000.000643502000.00117003000.00141,0504000.00171,400103
[39] (2011)
Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg  Dominican Republic 1000.00064102000.0011203000.0014304000.001740
Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt 1000.0006412000.001123000.001434000.00174
Flag of El Salvador.svg  El Salvador 1000.00064202000.0011403000.0014604000.001780
Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 1000.0006415000.002841,0000.004882,5000.01120
Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia 1000.0006402000.001113000.001414000.00171
Flag of Malta.svg  Malta 1000.000642002000.00114003000.00146004000.0017800
Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia 1000.00064402000.0011803000.00141204000.0017160
Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria 1000.0006402000.001113000.001414000.00172
Flag of North Macedonia.svg   North Macedonia 1000.00064502000.00111003000.00141504000.001720066
[66] (2021)
Flag of Madagascar.svg  Madagascar 1000.0006432000.001173000.0014104000.001714
Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines 1000.0006412000.001123000.001434000.00173
Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 1000.00064502000.00111003000.00141504000.001720099
[39] (2001)
Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 1000.0006422000.001143000.001464000.00178
Flag of Tajikistan.svg  Tajikistan 1000.0006452000.001193000.0014144000.001718
Flag of the Republic of China.svg  Taiwan 1000.0006442000.001183000.0014134000.001717
Flag of Uganda.svg   Uganda 7,189
[67] (2014)
Flag of Aruba.svg   Aruba 354
[39] (2018)
Flag of Mauritius.svg   Mauritius 43
[39] (2018)
Flag of Syria.svg   Syria 38
[44] [68] (2020)
Flag of Anguilla.svg   Anguilla 16
[39] (2018)
Flag of the Faroe Islands.svg   Faroe Islands 12
[69] (2020)
Flag of Iceland.svg   Iceland 55
[70] (2020)
Flag of Montenegro.svg  Montenegro 12
[39] (2018)
Flag of the British Virgin Islands.svg   British Virgin Islands 11
[39] (2018)
Flag of Liechtenstein.svg  Liechtenstein 26
[71] (2020)
Flag of the Falkland Islands.svg   Falkland Islands 1
[39] (2018)
Flag placeholder.svg  World 15,700,0001001,92018,030,9001002,34121,005,7001002,72723,809,1001003,091
pct = percent of total world population
pmp = per million people in country
  1. Including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, not including the Judea & Samaria.
  2. Figures includes France and Monaco. See: History of the Jews in France and History of the Jews in Monaco .
  3. Judea and Samaria total population[ when? ] (without East Jerusalem): 2,548,700; Gaza: 1,839,900; Total: 4,388,600. The West Bank also includes 404,600 Jews and 8,600 non-Jewish Israelis, for a total of 413,200 Jews and others. The Jewish population of the West Bank consists of Israeli citizens living in Israeli settlements who are treated as residents of Israel under Israeli law. The reported West Bank total of 2,961,900 includes Palestinian, Jewish and other residents.
  4. Including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
  5. Figures include mainland China and Hong Kong SAR. See: History of the Jews in China and History of the Jews in Hong Kong .

Remnant and vanished populations

The above table represents Jews that number at least a few dozen per country. Reports exist of Jewish communities remaining in other territories in the low single digits that are on the verge of disappearing, particularly in the Muslim world, as their reaction to the birth of Israel in 1948 was the persecution of Jews in nearly all Muslim lands; these are often of historical interest as they represent the remnant of much larger Jewish populations. For example, Egypt had a Jewish community of 80,000 in the early 20th century that numbered fewer than 40 as of 2014, mainly because of the forced expulsion movements to Israel and other countries at that time. [72] Despite a 2,000-year history of Jewish presence, there are no longer any known Jews living in Afghanistan, as its last Jewish residents Zablon Simintov and Tova Moradi, fled the country in September [73] and October 2021, [74] [75] respectively.

In Syria, another ancient Jewish community saw mass exodus at the end of the 20th century and numbered fewer than 20 in the midst of the Syrian Civil War. [76] The size of the Jewish community in Indonesia has been variously given as 65, 100, or 18 at most over the last 50 years. [77] [78] In Yemen due to the ongoing civil war, the Yemenite Jews have faced persecution by the Houthis, who have demanded they convert to Islam or face mandatory expulsion from the country. The Israeli military has conducted operations evacuating the population and moving them to Israel. [79] On 28 March 2021, 13 Jews were forced by the Houthis to leave Yemen, leaving the last four elderly Jews in Yemen. [80] [81] According to one report there are six Jews left in Yemen: one woman, her brother, three others, and Levi Salem Marahbi (who had been imprisoned for helping smuggle a Torah scroll out of Yemen). [82]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Israel</span>

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.

In the 20th century, approximately 900000 Jews migrated, fled, or were expelled from Muslim-majority countries throughout Africa and Asia. Primarily a consequence of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the mass movement mainly transpired from 1948 to the early 1970s, with one final exodus of Iranian Jews occurring shortly after the Islamic Revolution in 1979–1980. An estimated 650000 (72%) of these Jews resettled in Israel.

This is a list of notable events in the development of Jewish history. All dates are given according to the Common Era, not the Hebrew calendar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Agency for Israel</span> Zionist non-profit organization established in 1929

The Jewish Agency for Israel, formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aliyah</span> Immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally described as "the act of going up", moving to the Land of Israel or "making aliyah" is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism. The opposite action — emigration by Jews from the Land of Israel — is referred to in the Hebrew language as yerida. The Law of Return that was passed by the Israeli parliament in 1950 gives all diaspora Jews, as well as their children and grandchildren, the right to relocate to Israel and acquire Israeli citizenship on the basis of connecting to their Jewish identity.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Jews</span> American nationals and citizens who are Jewish

American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 3% identify as Sephardic, and 1% identify as Mizrahi. An additional 6% identify as some combination of the three categories.

Jewish population centers have shifted tremendously over time, due in modern times to large scale population movements, and in earlier times due to a combination of population movements, religious conversions and religious assimilation. Population movements have been caused by both push and pull factors, with the most notable push factors being expulsions and persecutions, in particular the pogroms in the Russian Empire and the Holocaust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Magic Carpet (Yemen)</span> 1949–1950 transfer of Yemeni Jews to Israel

Operation Magic Carpet is a widely known nickname for Operation On Wings of Eagles, an operation between June 1949 and September 1950 that brought 49,000 Yemenite Jews to the new state of Israel. During its course, the overwhelming majority of Yemenite Jews – some 47,000 from Yemen, 1,500 from Aden, as well as 500 from Djibouti and Eritrea and some 2,000 Jews from Saudi Arabia – were airlifted to Israel. British and American transport planes made some 380 flights from Aden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Broadcasting Service</span> American English-language Jewish-oriented television network

Jewish Broadcasting Service (JBS) is an American Jewish television network. JBS programming includes daily news reports from Israel, live event coverage and analysis, and cultural programming of interest to the North American Jewish community. The network is a full-time HD and SD channel. It is an English-language network produced by the non-profit organization Jewish Education in Media (JEM). The goal of this organization is to reach out to less-affiliated Jews and bring them closer to a Jewish religion and Identity.

The First Aliyah, also known as the agriculture Aliyah, was a major wave of Jewish immigration (aliyah) to Ottoman Palestine between 1881 and 1903. Jews who migrated in this wave came mostly from Eastern Europe and from Yemen, stimulated by pogroms and violence against the Jewish communities in those areas. An estimated 25,000 Jews immigrated. Many of the European Jewish immigrants during the late 19th-early 20th century period gave up after a few months and went back to their country of origin, often suffering from hunger and disease.

The Second Aliyah was an aliyah that took place between 1904 and 1914, during which approximately 35,000 Jews, mostly from Russia, with some from Yemen, immigrated into Ottoman Palestine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Kazakhstan</span>

The history of the Jews in Kazakhstan connects back to the history of Bukharan and Juhuro Mountain Jews. Kazakh Jews have a long history. At present, there are approximately several thousand Jews in Kazakhstan.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel–Italy relations</span> Bilateral relations

Israel–Italy relations are the foreign relations between the State of Israel and the Italian Republic. Italy recognized Israel on 8 February 1949, after the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948. Italy has an embassy in Tel Aviv, two consulate-generals in West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem, and 4 honorary consulates in Beersheba, Eilat, Haifa and Nazareth. The Italian ambassador in Israel since 2021 is Sergio Barbanti. Israel has an embassy in Rome and the current Israeli Ambassador is Dror Eydar. Both countries are members of the Union for the Mediterranean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jews</span> Ethnoreligious group and nation

The Jews or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites of the ancient Near East, and whose traditional religion is Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly interrelated, as Judaism is an ethnic religion, although not all ethnic Jews practice it. Despite this, religious Jews regard individuals who have formally converted to Judaism as part of the community.

The Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ) is a cross-disciplinary organization of individuals whose research concerns the Jewish people throughout the world founded in 1971.

Moroccan Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Moroccan Jewish communities who now reside within the state of Israel. The 2019 Israeli census counts 472,800 Jews born in Morocco or with a Moroccan-born father, although according to the World Federation of Moroccan Jewry, nearly one million Israeli Jews are Moroccan or of Moroccan descent, making them the second-largest community in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Paraguay</span> Chronological overview of the Jewish population in Paraguay


The history of the Jews in Paraguay has been characterised by migration of Jewish people, mainly from European countries, to the South American nation, and has resulted in the Jewish Paraguayan community numbering 1,000 today.

This article lists Jewish population estimates by scope, by year, by country and by geographical area.

References

  1. "Jewish Population Rises to 15.7 Million Worldwide | The Jewish Agency". www.jewishagency.org. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  2. "Global Jewish population hits 15,7 million ahead of new year, 46% of them in Israel". The Times of Israel.
  3. "Israel's Population Crosses 9 Million Mark!". United With Israel. 10 May 2019. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  4. "World Jewish Population - Latest Statistics". Archived from the original on 7 April 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  5. 1 2 "The continuing decline of Europe's Jewish population". 9 February 2015. Archived from the original on 1 April 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  6. "Chart: The decline of Europe's Jewish population". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  7. DellaPergola, Sergio (2019). "World Jewish Population, 2018". American Jewish Year Book 2018. Vol. 118. pp. 361–449. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-03907-3_8. ISBN   978-3-030-03906-6. S2CID   146549764.
  8. "Haredi Orthodox account for bulk of Jewish population growth in New York City - Nation". Jewish Journal. 22 January 2013. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  9. Salmon, Yosef (1978). "Ideology and Reality in the Bilu "Aliyah"". Harvard Ukrainian Studies. 2 (4). [President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute]: 431. ISSN   0363-5570. JSTOR   41035804 . Retrieved 3 February 2023. Jewish influx into Palestine. Between 1880 and 1907, the number of Jews in Palestine grew from 23,000 to 80,000. Most of the community resided in Jerusalem, which already had a Jewish majority at the beginning of the influx. [Footnote: Mordecai Elia, Ahavar Tziyon ve-Kolel Hod (Tel Aviv, 1971), appendix A. Between 1840 and 1880 the Jewish settlement in Palestine grew in numbers from 9,000 to 23,000.] The First Aliyah accounted for only a few thousand of the new-comers, and the number of the Biluim among them was no more than a few dozen. Jewish immigration to Palestine had begun to swell in the 1840s, following the liberalization of Ottoman domestic policy (the Tanzimat Reforms) and as a result of the protection extended to immigrants by the European consulates set up at the time in Jerusalem and Jaffa. The majority of immigrants came from Eastern and Central Europe - the Russian Empire, Romania, and Hungary - and were not inspired by modern Zionist ideology. Many were motivated by a blend of traditional ideology (e.g., belief in the sanctity of the land of Israel and in the redemption of the Jewish people through the return to Zion) and practical considerations (e.g., desire to escape the worsening conditions in their lands of origin and to improve their lot in Palestine). The proto-Zionist ideas which had already crystallized in Western Europe during the late 1850s and early 1860s were gaining currency in Eastern Europe.
  10. The estimated 24,000 Jews in Palestine in 1882 represented just 0.3% of the world's Jewish population: see On, Raphael R. Bar. "ISRAEL'S NEXT CENSUS OF POPULATION AS A SOURCE OF DATA ON JEWS." Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies / דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעי היהדות ה (1969): 31*-41*. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23524099.
  11. Mendel, Yonatan (5 October 2014). The Creation of Israeli Arabic: Security and Politics in Arabic Studies in Israel. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 188. ISBN   978-1-137-33737-5. Note 28: The exact percentage of Jews in Palestine prior to the rise of Zionism is unknown. However, it probably ranged from 2 to 5 per cent. According to Ottoman records, a total population of 462,465 resided in 1878 in what is today Israel/Palestine. Of this number, 403,795 (87 per cent) were Muslim, 43,659 (10 per cent) were Christian and 15,011 (3 per cent) were Jewish (quoted in Alan Dowty, Israel/Palestine, Cambridge: Polity, 2008, p. 13). See also Mark Tessler, A History of the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1994), pp. 43 and 124.
  12. Yaakov Levi (5 May 2014). "Israel Population Now 8.3 Million - 75% Are Jewish". Israel National News. Archived from the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  13. 1 2 DellaPergola, Sergio (2016), "World Jewish Population, 2015", in Dashefsky, Arnold; Sheskin, Ira M. (eds.), American Jewish Year Book 2015, vol. 115, Springer International Publishing, pp. 273–364, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-24505-8_7, ISBN   9783319245034
  14. "Fertility Rates, by Age and Religion". Statistical Abstract of Israel. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 11 September 2012. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  15. "Data: Arab Growth Slows, Still Higher than Jewish Rate". Israel National News. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  16. Post-Soviet Aliyah and Jewish Demographic Transformation Archived 5 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine - Mark Tolts.
  17. "Immigration to Israel by Year". Jewish Virtual Library. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  18. "Demography". Jewish Virtual Library. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  19. European Jewish Congress. "The Jewish Community of France". Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  20. "La communauté juive de France compte 550.000 personnes, dont 25.000 à Toulouse". France info. 19 March 2012. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  21. "France tops list for Jewish emigration to Israel". RFI. 6 September 2014. Archived from the original on 8 September 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  22. "Why 5,000 Jews emigrated from France to Israel last year". The Local Europe AB. 9 January 2017. Archived from the original on 10 January 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  23. "The Changing Global Religious Landscape". 5 April 2017. Archived from the original on 13 May 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  24. Sheskin, Ira; Dashefsky, Arnold (2 November 2012). Dashefsky, Arnold; Sheskin, Ira (eds.). "Jewish Population in the United States, 2012" (PDF). Current Jewish Population Reports. Storrs, Connecticut: North American Jewish Data Bank. Archived from the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  25. Tighe, Elizabeth; et al. (September 2013). "American Jewish Population Estimates: 2012" (PDF). Brandeis University: Steinhardt Social Research Institute. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  26. 1 2 3 "US Jewish Population is Anywhere Between 5.425 Million and 6.722 Million". Jewish Political News and Updates. 18 February 2013. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  27. DellaPergola, Sergio (2016). Dashefsky, Arnold; Sheskin, Ira (eds.). "World Jewish Population, 2016". Current Jewish Population Reports. 116. The American Jewish Year Book (Dordrecht: Springer). Archived from the original on 30 September 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  28. Cooperman, Alan; Alper, Becka A.; Schiller, Anna (11 May 2021). Jewish Americans in 2020 (PDF). Pew Research Center. pp. 50–51. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  29. Cooperman, Alan; Alper, Becka A.; Schiller, Anna (11 May 2021). Jewish Americans in 2020 (PDF). Pew Research Center. p. 52. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  30. Saxe, Leonard; Parmer, Daniel; Tighe, Elizabeth; de Kramer, Raquel Magidin; Kallista, Daniel; Nussbaum, Daniel; Seabrum, Xajavion; Mandell, Joshua (2021). American Jewish Population Estimates 2020: Summary & Highlights. American Jewish Population Project at Brandeis University.
  31. 1 2 DellaPergola, Sergio (2022). "World Jewish Population, 2020". American Jewish Year Book 2020. Vol. 120. pp. 273–370. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-78706-6_7. ISBN   978-3-030-78705-9. S2CID   245642037. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  32. "Latest Population Statistics for Israel".
  33. "Section 1. Population". www.census.gov. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  34. "Data tables, 2024 Census". Statistics of Canada. October 2024. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  35. "DC2107EW - Religion by sex by age". Nomis - official labour market statistics. Archived from the original on 8 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  36. "Scotland's Census 2011 - National Records of Scotland" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  37. "'I've undertaken three Jewish heritage walks in Northern Ireland and 200 people from all sections of wider society took part. One of them told me it was a pleasure to do something in Belfast which related to neither Protestant or Catholic history...'". Belfast Telegraph. 3 December 2018. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  38. "Приложение 2. Национальный состав населения по субъектам Российской Федерации". Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  39. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 "Population by religion, sex and urban/rural residence". Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  40. "Personen nach Religion (ausführlich) für Deutschland". Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  41. "The Jews of South Africa in 2019" (PDF). p. 102. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  42. "The distribution of the population by nationality and mother tongue". Statistics of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  43. "De religieuze kaart van Nederland, 2010–2015" (in Dutch). 22 December 2016. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  44. 1 2 3 "Population by national and/or ethnic group, sex and urban/rural residence". Archived from the original on 1 November 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  45. "Cuadro 8. Autodefinición en materia religiosa (GIS XXI, 2011)" (PDF). p. 216. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  46. "Jewish community in Venezue... JPost - Jewish World - Jewish News". archive.is. 5 September 2012. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  47. "For India's Jewish Community, Wait for Minority Status Continues". 28 July 2017. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  48. "Latvijas iedzīvotāju sadalījums pēc nacionālā sastāva un valstiskās piederības (Datums=01.07.2019)" (PDF) (in Latvian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  49. "Tabl. 4.2. Ludność według rodzaju i kolejności identyfikacji narodowo-etnicznych w 2011 roku" (PDF). Statistics of Poland. p. 91. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 October 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  50. "Religious composition: 2021 census" (in Czech). Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  51. INE. "Indicador". tabulador.ine.pt. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  52. Cohen, Adi (24 May 2023). "Tchau Israel! Tens of thousands of Israelis call this country their new home". Haaretz. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  53. "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года. Национальный состав населения по республикам СССР". Demoscope.ru. Archived from the original on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  54. "EY036: Actual and Percentage Change in Population Usually Resident and Present 2011 to 2016 by Sex, Religion, CensusYear and Statistic". Archived from the original on 19 September 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  55. "Bilancia podľa národnosti a pohlavia - SR-oblasť-kraj-okres, m-v [om7002rr]" (in Slovak). Statistics of Slovakia. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  56. "Етнически малцинствени общности | NCCEDI". nccedi.government.bg (in Bulgarian). Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  57. "Ethnic composition: 2019 estimation". Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  58. "016 -- Population by religious community, age and sex in 2000 to 2017". Statistics of Finland. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  59. "Members of religious and life stance communities outside the Church of Norway, by religion/life stance. Per 1 January1". Archived from the original on 31 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  60. "1. Stanovništvo prema etničkoj/nacionalnoj pripadnosti - detaljna klasifikacija" . Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  61. 5.01.00.03 Национальный состав населения. [5.01.00.03 Total population by nationality]. Bureau of Statistics of Kyrgyzstan (in Russian, Kyrgyz, and English). 2018. Archived from the original (XLS) on 13 November 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  62. "Tiny Nicaragua Jewish community doubles in size as 114 convert". The Times of Israel .
  63. "Definitieve Resultaten Achtste Algemene Volkstelling (Vol. I)" (PDF). p. 39. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  64. Итоги всеобщей переписи населения Туркменистана по национальному составу в 1995 году.. asgabat.net (in Russian). Archived from the original on 13 March 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  65. "ԱԶԳԱՅԻՆ ՓՈՔՐԱՄԱՍՆՈՒԹՅՈՒՆՆԵՐԸ ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆՈՒ". Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  66. "Попис на населението, домаќинствата и становите во Република Северна Македонија, 2021 - прв сет на податоци" (PDF). p. 8. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  67. "Table A9: Population by Religion, Sex and Residence" (PDF). p. 73. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  68. Национальный состав, владение языками и гражданство населения Республики Таджикистан Том III (PDF) (in Russian and Tajik). Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  69. "CS 10.1.2 Population by religious faith, educational attainment, occupation, country of birth, year of arrival in the country and place of usual residence". Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  70. "Populations by religious and life stance organizations 1998-2023" . Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  71. "Wohnbevölkerung nach Religion und Herkunft, 1990 - 2000". Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  72. "Egypt's Jewish community buries deputy leader". Al Jazeera. 12 March 2014. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  73. Donati, Jessica; Harooni, Mirwais (12 November 2013). "Last Jew in Afghanistan faces ruin as kebabs fail to sell". Reuters. Archived from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  74. Gab, Ben Zion (3 November 2021). "'Last Jew in Afghanistan' loses title to hidden Jewish family". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  75. Zion, Ilan Ben; Press, Llazar Semini Associated (29 October 2021). "Woman now thought to be Afghanistan's last Jew flees country". Independent.ie. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  76. "Syria". Jewish Virtual Library. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  77. CIA World Fact Book
  78. Levenda 2007, pp. 188.
  79. "Israel airlifts 19 of last remaining Yemeni Jews". The Guardian. 21 March 2016. Archived from the original on 5 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  80. Bassist, Rina (29 March 2021). "Houthis deport some of Yemen's last remaining Jews". Al-Monitor. Archived from the original on 18 June 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  81. Joffre, Tzvi (29 March 2021). "Almost all remaining Jews in Yemen deported - Saudi media". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  82. Boxerman, Aaron (30 March 2021). "As 13 Yemeni Jews leave pro-Iran region for Cairo, community of 50,000 down to 6". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 1 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.