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NEWS
World Jewish Population Up to 13.4 Million
By R. Hoffner
A report by demographer Sergio Della Pergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem shows that for the first time in 30 years the world Jewish population has grown. It should be noted that the definition of "Jew" used by Professor Della Pergola is a sociological one and not a halachic one. According to the report, in 2010 the number of Jews rose by more than 80,000 to a worldwide total of 13.428 million, of which 82 percent live in Israel and the US. In Israel the Jewish population comes to 5.7 million (42.5 percent of all Jews), compared to 5.27 in the US.
The coastal strip from Netanya to Ashdod is home to three million Jews — more than the greater New York City area, which has a population of just over two million Jews. The world's third largest urban concentration of Jews is in Jerusalem, with a population of more than 703,000 Jews. Next is Los Angeles with 685,000 Jews, Haifa with 671,000 and South Florida with 486,000. Paris boasts a Jewish community numbering 284,000.
However, the number of Jews relative to the world population continued to decrease. In 2010 the world population grew by 1.25%, while the Jewish population grew by a mere 0.6%. Only one in every 510 people on the planet is Jewish.
According to the report, today France is home to 483,000 Jews, 119,000 live in Germany and 71,000 in South Africa. In Eastern European countries a very sharp drop in the number of Jews set in this year and the number of deaths exceeded the number of births. Two hundred and five thousand Jews currently reside in Russia. Even South Korea has a small Jewish community of 100.
According to the report, the average rate of intermarriage is over 42% in the Diaspora. In the US 50% of Jews marry gentiles, while in Russia intermarriage is even higher — 70% among women and 80% among men.
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