Thirty-six percent of world Jewry currently lives in Israel--
a sixfold rise since 1948, according to the Central Bureau of
Statistics and a demographics project at the Hebrew
University.
In the last year alone, the population increased by some
135,000, bringing the number of Jews in Israel to 4.8
million. There are approximately 13.1 million Jews in the
world, according to the Hebrew University's Department of
Contemporary Jewry, headed by Sergio DellaPergola.
In 1948 there were 650,000 Jews in the nascent state,
representing 6 percent of the 11.5 million Jews then alive.
By the early 1970s the Jews in Israel accounted for 21
percent of world Jewry (2,582,000 out of 12,643,000).
Professor DellaPergola notes that the Jewish people has
increased minimally in the past 50 years. The additional two
million Jews translate into an average annual growth rate of
one-third of one percent.
One telling statistic of the study was that in the coming
decades most Jewish young people will live in Israel. Today,
half of the Jews under the age of 5 live in Israel and half
abroad.
Of the group between the ages of 5 and 15, 43 percent live in
Israel and 57 percent abroad, while 47 percent of the 16-24
group are in Israel and 53 percent abroad.
The gap grows larger as age increases: Of those 75 years old
and older, 22 percent live in Israel and 78 percent
abroad.
Overall, Israel's population in 1999 has grown by 38,000 to
stand at 6,076,000.
Last year's growth totaled 2.3 percent, down very slightly
from the previous year, when it was 2.4 percent, but still
higher than most Western countries.
A much larger decline was registered in the number of new
immigrants who arrived in Israel over the past year--55,000,
down from 67,000 between 1997 and 1998.
That decrease was partially offset by an increase in the
number of births, which totaled 128,000 during the past year,
4,000 more than in the year before. About 68 percent of the
population gain last year stemmed from natural increase, up
five percent from the previous year. The rate of population
increase during the past year in Judea, Samria and Gaza
settlements was nearly double the rate in the central region,
which was itself the fastest growing area within the Green
Line, figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics
revealed.
The settlements grew by 7.1 percent in 1998, compared to 3.6%
in the central region, 3.1% in the south, and 2% in
Jerusalem. The rate of growth in the settlements decreased
from 9% in 1997 and 9.4% in 1996. Last year the central
region overtook in growth rate the southern region, which
from 1991-1996 had seen the highest population rise because a
higher proportion of new immigrants had settled there. For
the first time, the northern region passed the one million
mark with 1,027,000 residents. Its population increased 2.5%
compared to 2.8% in 1997.
In non-Jewish areas, the population increase was greater than
the national average, reaching 5.8% in Rahat, a Negev Beduin
township. The largest non-Jewish city is Nazareth, which grew
2.8% to 57,000 residents.
The big cities--with over 100,000 residents--are declining at
a rate of half a percent per year, and their total share of
Israel's population is 43.5% compared to 44% in 1997.
Only three big cities--Ashdod, Rishon Lezion and Petah Tikva--
have grown at a rate above the national average. Tel Aviv and
Haifa grew at a rate considerably lower than the national
average.
The country's fourth largest city is Rishon Lezion, followed
by Beersheba. Some medium towns with populations between
50,000-100,000 have grown faster than the national average,
like Lod, at four percent, Ra'anana, Hadera and Ashkelon.
Among towns with fewer than 50,000 residents, Beit Shemesh
and Ma'aleh Adumim showed a nine percent increase in
population, and a 4.9% rise in Pardess Hanna-Karkur.
Kibbutzim continue to decline, but villages not connected
with the kibbutz or moshav movement, experienced an eight
percent increase in population.
The demographic data show that the natural growth rate of
Jews in Israel is far lower than that of the country's
Arabs.
The Muslim population in Israel, which constitutes the
majority of the Arabs, is growing by 3.4 percent a year, the
Druze by 2.4 percent and the Christians by 1.7 percent.
The natural increase of the Jewish population is about 1.2
percent annually, with another 0.8 percent added by
immigration.