Israel

Israeli Population Surpasses 8.3 Million

Tuesday, April 21, 2015 8:51 pm | 2 Minute Read

Israel’s population surpassed 8.3 million in 2014. Many of them can be found on the highways at any given time. A view of the traffic jams all over Israel, as people drove to friends and family ahead of Rosh Hashanah. (Flash90)

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics released its annual pre-Independence Day report on the national demographics on Tuesday, which said that the current population stands at approximately 8,345,000.

The population today is over ten times what it was at the establishment of the state, 67 years ago, when the country had about 806,000 residents.

The Jewish population now stands at approximately 6,251,000 residents, representing 74.9 percent of the total population. The Arab population is at approximately 1,730,000 residents, representing 20.7% of the population. The remaining approximately 364,000 residents (4.4% of the total population) are made up of non-Arab Christians, members of other religions, and those with no religion listed in the population registry.

The CBS stated that the growth rate of the population over the past year was 2.0%, equivalent to about 364,000 residents. During this time, some 176,000 babies were born in Israel and approximately 44,000 people passed away. An estimated 32,000 people moved to Israel over the course of the past year.

In 2014, nearly 75% of the Jewish population in Israel was born in Israel. In 1948, only 35% of the Jewish population in Israel was born in what had until then been known as Palestine.

In 1948, only the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo had over 100,000 residents. Today, 14 cities across Israel have over 100,000 residents. Of those, six cities have over 200,000 residents: Yerushalaim, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Haifa, Rishon Lezion, Ashdod, and Petach Tikvah.

This article appeared in print on page 32 of the April 22nd, 2015 edition of Hamodia.