Israel’s Population Reaches 8.4 Million

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the population of Israel reached 8,412,000, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBI) said in its annual report. That’s an increase since last year of 1.9%, or about 158,000.

The Jewish part of that total figure was 6.3 million (74.9%), the Arab population 1.746 million (20.7%), and 366,000 (4.4%) from other groups.

There were 28,000 new immigrants, an increase of about 35% over the previous year and the highest number in a decade. Most came from Ukraine (about 26% fleeing the civil war), from France (about 25% fleeing anti-Semitism), from Russia (about 21%), and from the U.S. (about 9%).

Immigrants came from all over the world from 97 countries in all, including Andorra, Angola, Namibia, Paraguay, the Philippines, and Slovakia.

The CBI also released figures on the number of homes built in Yehudah and Shomron, which increased 54.8% in the first half of this year, compared with the first six months of last year.

This article appeared in print on page 9 of the September 11th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.