As the Jewish world prepares to usher in the year 5780, Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics published its annual population data for the country, which show that this past year, the population reached 9.092 million people and is expected to increase to 10 million by 2024.
According to demographic projections, when Israel celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2048, it will have a population of 15 million.
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According to the CBS data, 43.2% of the population is secular, with 12.8% defined as "traditional," 11.3% "religious," and 10.1% ultra-Orthodox. Another 22.1% define themselves as "traditional but not very religious."
Heading into the new year, Israel's Jewish population numbers 6.74 million, or 74.2% of the total population. The Arab population numbers 1.91 million, or 21% of the population. Another 4.8%, or just over 440,000 Israelis, made aliyah under the Law of Return but are not listed as Jewish by the Interior Ministry's Population Administration.
Since Rosh Hashanah 2018, Israel's population grew by 184,000 (2.1%), a growth rate that has remained fairly stable in recent years. This past year also saw an all-time high birth rate for Israel, with 196,000 babies born. The average Israeli woman gives birth to 3.09 children.
According to the numbers, Israel also has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world, approximately 3 out of every 1,000 births.
A total of 45,000 Israelis died this year. Women live longer, on average, than men, with the average life expectancy for women in Israel reaching 84.8, compared to 80.9 for men. The most common cause of death in Israel? Cancer: This past year, 25.2% of Israelis who died succumbed to the disease. Heart disease, which claimed 14.8% of Israeli deaths this past year, was the second-most common cause of death.
The CBS listed 2,587,100 households and families in Israel, with an average number of 3.28 members. Some 2 million households are defined as "traditional" families (a mother, a father, and children), while the rest are made up of unmarried partners (including same-sex couples).
Divorce rates held steady, with one out of three married couples in Israel divorcing. This past year saw 50,029 couples marry and 14,741 divorce.
However, a high birth rate is not the only factor that affects Israel's population growth. the CBS numbers, some 38,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel this past year, compared to 35,000 the previous year. Since Israel was founded, 3.3 million people have immigrated here from abroad.
How is the Jewish population outside of Israel doing? According to estimates published by Professor Sergio Della Pergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the American Jewish Year Book 2019, the global Jewish stood at some 14.8 million ahead of Rosh Hashanah.
Of this year's nearly 15 million Jews, an estimated 8.1 million live outside of Israel, including 5.7 million in the United States.
Part of this article was reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
