Population of Israel Nearly 9.3 Million

On the last day of 2020, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) announced that the size of the population is nearly 9.3 million, representing growth of 151,000 people, or 1.7 percent, during the year.

The statistics reveal that there are now 6.870 million Jews (74% of the population), 1.956 million Arabs (21% of the population) and 456,000 ‘others’ (5% of the population).

Details include 176,000 babies born; 31,000 people moved into the country; 6,000 people moved out and 50,000 people who died – with just 1 in 15 of those deaths related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Of the 176,000 babies born during the year, 73.8% were born to Jewish families, 23.4% to Arab families and 2.8% to other ethnic groups. While the Jewish birth rate corresponded to the population, the Arab birth rate was 2% higher whilst that of the other ethnic groups was 2% lower.

The death rate caused by the coronavirus peaked in July, after Israel had emerged from its first lockdown. But it has been declining again since the country’s second lockdown in the Autumn.

Immigration into Israel was significantly lower than in 2019, heavily influenced by the coronavirus pandemic. Israel closed its borders several times during the year to restrict the spread of the virus.

Consequently, only around 20,000 people made aliyah in 2020, compared to 34,000 in 2019. The highest numbers of people making aliyah came from Russia (38.1%), Ukraine (15.1%), France (11%) and the US (10.7%).

So, Aliyah continues despite the pandemic restrictions. Just in the last month we saw the start of ‘Operation Rock of Israel’ destined to bring 2,000 Ethiopians Jews to the country.

Ethiopian Jews arriving in Israel earlier in December (photo by: Israel GPO)