Keren Hayesod (www.kh-uia.org.il) has published the latest stats on Israel's population:

On the eve of 2008, Israel population reached 7.241 million residents. Of this figure, 75.6 percent are Jewish (5.472 million), 20% are Arab (1.449 million) and 4.4% (320,000) are ‘others’ — immigrants who are not registered as Jews in the Interior Ministry, non-Arab Christians and residents without religious classification.

During 2007, Israel's population increased by 1.7%, just one decimal point less than the population increase noted at the end of 2006. Also, 18,000 immigrants arrived in 2007, and 149,400 babies were born.

Overall, 124,000 residents were added to the country's population during the year. Eighty-eight percent of this figure were a result of natural growth (births minus deaths), and the remaining 12% from the immigration factor - the gap between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants.

I copy the full article below.

Israel turns 60: Latest Population Figures
Keren Hayesod, May 15th 2008, Link

On the eve of 2008, Israel population reached 7.241 million residents. Of this figure, 75.6 percent are Jewish (5.472 million), 20% are Arab (1.449 million) and 4.4% (320,000) are ‘others’ — immigrants who are not registered as Jews in the Interior Ministry, non-Arab Christians and residents without religious classification.

During 2007, Israel's population increased by 1.7%, just one decimal point less than the population increase noted at the end of 2006. Also, 18,000 immigrants arrived in 2007, and 149,400 babies were born.

Overall, 124,000 residents were added to the country's population during the year. Eighty-eight percent of this figure were a result of natural growth (births minus deaths), and the remaining 12% from the immigration factor - the gap between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants.

On its 59th Independence Day, April 24, 2007, the State of Israel's population stood at approximately 7,150,000 inhabitant, which grew by 121,000 since 2006, a rate of 1.8 percent. Since 2003, the growth rate has remained relatively stable. The majority (88 percent) of the increase was due to natural births. There were 148,000 births recorded in Israel in 2006. During that same period, 18,400 new immigrants made aliyah to Israel, accounting for the rest of the growth (12 percent) in Israel's population.

The majority of Israelis (92%) live in urban communities. One-quarter of the Israeli population lives either in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa Rishon Letzion. Jerusalem is the largest city, with 719,900 residents. Most of Israel's population is concentrated in the center of the country around Tel Aviv, which has a population of 378,900.

Among Israel's 14 largest cities is Rishon Letzion, founded in the 1880s, which has grown from 11,000 residents in 1948 to 219,500 in 2007. Its neighbor to the south, Rehovot, also a veteran town, has grown from 12,500 residents in 1948 to 100,300 in 2003. >Ashkelon and Ashdod were founded in 1948 and 1955 respectively as cities on the periphery of the populous center of the country. In 2003, Ashkelon's population was 104,700 and in 2007, Ashdod's is 200,600.

Be'er Sheva, "capital of the Negev" and the largest city in the south, had 183,200 residents in 2003. The third largest city in the country, and the largest city in the north, is Haifa, with 267,000 people.

Of the country's Jewish and non-Arab population , 65 percent were born in Israel. In 1948, only 35 percent of Jews were born in the country.

The Jews and non-Arabs who were not born in Israel number 1,930,000; those who came from the former Soviet Union comprise the largest foreign-born group in Israel. In addition to the 950,000 that came from the former USSR, 157,000 people living in Israel were born in Morocco, 110,000 are from Romania, and 77,000 are originally North American, 70,000 from Iraq, 70,000 from Ethiopia and 64,000 from Poland. Three million people have immigrated to Israel since 1948, more than one million of them since 1990.

Posted by David Melle
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