The population of Jerusalem is approaching 1 million, a review published by the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research ahead of Jerusalem Day, showed.
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On Tuesday, JIPS researchers presented President Reuven Rivlin with a statistical review of the capital for 2021, which showed that Jerusalem continues to be the largest city in Israel. At the end of 2020, the capital's population comprised 952,000 residents.
The average age in Jerusalem, 24, was much lower compared to the national average, 30. In Tel Aviv, the average age was 36, in Haifa, 38.
At the same time, the Jewish population in the capital is statistically older than the Arab one. In 2019, the average Jewish resident was 26 years old and the Arab resident was 22.
According to JIPS data, Jerusalem experienced a negative net migration last year, with 8,200 residents having left the city. Most of those who move to and from Jerusalem are Jews.
By March, the capital reported 130,200 coronavirus cases, or 139 cases per 1,000 residents, a number much higher than the national average, 91.2, but lower than the average in other ultra-Orthodox cities, like Beit Shemesh, 162.
The number of vaccinated stood at 355,300 or 570.3 per 1,000 residents, lower than the national average of 729, but higher compared to other Haredi cities.
According to data, Jerusalem is the second-largest economy in Israel, after Tel Aviv. Some 344,300 Jerusalemites are employed, which is 9% of all those employed in the country. The high-tech industry, in particular, has grown exponentially since 2015. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem had the most PhD students in the country.
"The statistical yearbook contains important information pertaining to all of Jerusalem's strata, all its neighborhoods. East and west, old and new, religious and secular, Jewish and Arab," Rivlin said.
"Jerusalem's future is also the future of the State of Israel. It is here, in the city that comprises the full range of Israel's demography in all its richness, that we need to find a way to create a dialogue, to connect, to cooperate," he added.
"The year of COVID-19 and recent events demonstrate just how much Israel's capital is a multi-faceted and multi-varied city," JIPS Director-General Lior Schiller said.
"Developments and events in Jerusalem have political significance and make an impact throughout the entire country. In many respects the developments and trends in the city are a prelude to what will transpire throughout Israel in the coming decades. In this sense Jerusalem is Israel's 'national laboratory."
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