How many Jews are there in the world?
Every 514th person in the world is Jewish
According to a study carried out by demographers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the global Jewish population reached 13.75 million last year. 43 percent of this number live in Israel.
At the same time, the number of world Jews increased by 88 thousand people over the past year. Based on the data obtained by scientists, it turns out that every 514th person on the planet is a Jew, that is, Jews make up 0.2 percent of the entire global population.
The country with the largest Jewish population in the world is Israel, home to 43 percent of world Jewry. A month ago, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Israel's total population was almost 8 million. 73 percent of this number are natives of the country.
There are 5,978,600 Jews living in Israel, representing 75 percent of the state's total population.
During the previous Jewish year, the population of Israel increased by 96 thousand people, mainly due to natural growth. During this period, 16,892 repatriates entered the country - most from Russia (3,678), Ethiopia (2,666), the USA (2,363), Ukraine (2,051) and France (1,775).
About 40 percent of Israelis live in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, which is the most densely populated and urbanized region of the country. 17% live in the north of the country, 14% in the south. Jerusalem and Haifa together account for 12% of the country's population, and Judea and Samaria - 4%.
The largest Jewish community of the Diaspora lives in the United States - about 5.3 million. A number of demographers believe that the size of the “extended Jewish population” of the United States is much higher and reaches 6.5-7 million (thus surpassing Israel). Next in descending order of the number of Jews are France (600 thousand), Canada (390), Great Britain (350), Argentina (280), Russia (228), Australia (120), Germany (118), Brazil, Ukraine and South Africa ( about 100 thousand in each state).
In the Diaspora, the Jewish population is not, as a rule, evenly distributed throughout the country, but is concentrated in the largest metropolitan areas. About 2 million Jews live in the New York metropolitan area (that is, more than in any country in the world, with the exception of the United States and Israel). The largest centers of concentration of the Jewish population (more than 100 thousand each) are also Los Angeles, Miami (together with other cities of South Florida), Paris, Philadelphia, Chicago, Buenos Aires, Boston, San Francisco, London, Toronto, Washington , Baltimore, Montreal and Moscow.
Interestingly, there are two cities outside of Israel where the majority of the population is Jewish. These are the suburbs of Montreal (Canada) Hempstead and Cote-Saint-Luc. True, the population of each of these cities does not exceed 20 thousand people.
According to the 2010 census, there were 157 thousand Jews in Russia. According to demographers, the Jewish population is slightly higher and amounts to about 230 thousand people. About 55 percent of Russia's Jewish population is concentrated in four regions: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Leningrad regions.
Palestinians are losing the demographic war
72% of Palestinians aged 15-49 try to avoid pregnancy. The same can be said for 78% of women in Morocco, 71% in Jordan, 69% in Egypt and Libya, 68% in Syria, 63% in Iraq and 61% in Yemen.
The article is based on research by Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt, senior demographer at the American Enterprise Institute. The study was published in June of this year.
Eberstadt writes: “Across the Muslim world, birth rates are falling dramatically. According to the UN, all 48 Muslim-majority states have experienced fertility declines over the past three decades. Fertility declines in Islamic countries are greater than the global average. Six out of eight The largest declines in fertility in the post-war era were recorded in Muslim countries, four of them in the Arab world. No other region in the world - neither fast-growing Southeast Asia nor rapidly modernizing East Asia - comes close to a similar situation. This is a worthy close attention to the decline in the birth rate in the Muslim world. It is one of the most important demographic trends of our time."
The current demographic trend in Islamic countries and its catastrophic consequences were described in detail in the work of American analyst David Goldman, “Why Civilizations Die (and Islam too),” which can be read in the article “How Civilizations Die: Why the Islamic Womb Stopped Giving Birth.”
While the Jewish birth rate in Israel in 2012 was 3 children per woman and rising, all Middle Eastern countries except Yemen, Iraq and Jordan are below 3 and falling. The birth rate in Iran is 1.8 (worse than in many European countries), in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states - 2.5, in Egypt and Syria - 2.9. The birth rate among Israeli Arabs is less than three children per woman and continues to decline. In 2012, the Jewish birth rate in Israel was 77%, up from 69% in 1969. While the birth rate among religious Jews has declined slightly, the birth rate among secular Jews continues to rise.
Under these conditions, the Palestinian Authority goes to any lengths to inflate the number of its subjects in Judea and Samaria. According to Israeli analyst Yoram Ettinger, the number of Palestinian Arabs in the territories is overestimated by a million people. The Palestinian Authority, contrary to international standards, counts 400 thousand Palestinians permanently living abroad as residents. The 300 thousand Arabs of East Jerusalem are counted twice - both in the Israeli and Palestinian registers. Autonomy deliberately understates mortality data and overstates fertility data, ignores emigration, etc.
The current Jewish majority in Israel and the West Bank - 66% of all residents, if the current demographic trend continues, will turn into an absolute majority - more than 80% by 2035.
Yesterday, 00:38
Jews marked on the map of the USA
The American demographic website PopulationMapping.com has published detailed maps that allow you to learn a lot about the geography of the settlement of US Jews. These maps were compiled by geographer Joshua Komenets for the Mandel L. Berman Institute's Data Bank of North American Jews. On the maps you can see that American Jews are distributed very unevenly throughout the country. What can these maps tell us about the future of American Jews?
Similar studies have been conducted before, but provided more limited information. The census, conducted by the US Bureau of Population Statistics, recorded the number of people who spoke Hebrew or Yiddish and were born in Israel, but not their religious affiliation. Previous maps were based on sources containing more general information, such as the American Jewish Year Book. Komenets, using sources such as bulletins from the Bureau of Population Statistics and the Data Bank of North American Jews, as well as conducting his own research, was able to tell much more about the number and geography of settlement of American Jews.
In general, the picture of Jewish residence in the United States turned out to be familiar and reflects the well-known history of their migrations. The largest Jewish populations are concentrated on the East and West coasts - from Washington to Boston and from San Diego to San Francisco. Many Jews also live in the old industrial centers of Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis and Minneapolis. Recently, following the sun and new prospects, many Jews have moved to cities in the South and Far West - Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston and, of course, Florida. In 22 US urban counties, more than 40 thousand Jews live each; at 13 - more than 100 thousand.
The data obtained looks much more interesting if you analyze it from a historical point of view. In 1960, the American Jewish Year Book reported that there were 5.37 million Jews in the United States. According to Komenets, this figure has now grown to 6.74 million. At the same time, the share of Jews in the US population, which has grown over the years from 179 to 310 million, has decreased slightly.
The geography of the settlement of the Jewish population also changed noticeably. In 1960, 110 thousand Jews lived in the entire state of Florida. Now there are so many of them in Miami-Dade County alone. What happened to the 22 thousand Jews living in Kansas City (Missouri) in 1960? Now there are only about 5 thousand Jews in this city. And the 150 Jews of Armor, Oklahoma, who lived there in 1960? In 1890, the state's first synagogue was opened here. There are now two Jews living in the entire area, and the synagogue closed in 2004.
Komenets' maps and the data he collected allow us to touch the destinies of a huge number of people who decided to come, stay, or move on. Why, moving around the country, do Jews concentrate in some places, while in others there are almost none left?
History may answer why Jews live throughout New York State, from Brooklyn (561 thousand people) to Allegheny County (9 people). What kind of lives do 100 Jews in Livingston County, New York, or 50 Jews in Stewart County, Tennessee live? What do they bring to the lives of those around them as Jews and simply as people? And what does the fact that there is not a single Jew there affect the lives of Comanche, Texas, and Roberts, South Dakota counties? These questions help us see people's destinies through dry statistics.
New maps may be useful for more than just satisfying curiosity. From them we can learn that American Jews do not live only on the coasts and in large cities.
The geography of settlement determines the fate of the community. There is a question of "critical mass". Jewish culture, without contact with a relatively large community, is difficult to preserve and maintain even for the most devoted families. This requires infrastructure - schools, synagogues and kosher grocery stores. Of course, kosher food can be ordered online, and modern minyans are also often assembled online. But can individuals or small communities maintain Jewish culture over time? The entire history of American Jews gives a negative answer to this question.
The question of the relationship between Jews and American society as a whole is also important. The fact that most Jews are concentrated in a couple of dozen large cities means that many ordinary Americans have never encountered Jews in real life. Apparently, the concentration of the Jewish population in the largest cities will only increase. And high urbanization is always accompanied by assimilation.
There are no guaranteed formulas that would increase or even maintain the size of the Jewish population in the United States. This is only possible if the Jews themselves, regardless of their region of residence, put Jewish values at the forefront.
Material prepared by Dmitry Yerusalimsky
By 1948, at the time of the creation of the State of Israel, there were already 650 thousand people living in it, while in those days there were 11.5 million Jews all over the world.
The number of Jews reached the 14 million mark by 1992; now there are 14 and a half million Jews living on the planet. Of these, 6 and a half million are in Israel.
The birth rate in Israel in 2016 was 3.11 per 100 people (181,405 newborns). Since 1980, the birth rate in Israel has increased by 92%. In 2016, 73.9% of newborns were born to Jewish mothers, the average age of women at the birth of their first child is 27.6 years, at the birth of the second - 29.6 years. The third child is born when his mother is on average 31.9 years old.
The number of Jewish people in the world reached 14,310,000 people. 54% of the world's Jewish population lives today outside of Israel, only 46% - in their historical homeland. 98% of Jews are concentrated in 17 countries (including Israel). Here's where the largest Jewish communities exist today, according to Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs:
Among the countries of the American continent, the largest number of Jews live in the USA - 5,700,000,
Canada - 385,000
Mexico – 67,000
Panama – 10,000
Argentina – 230,000
Uruguay – 17,000
Chile – 18,000
The largest community in Europe - 585,000 Jews - lives in France.
UK - 270,000
Spain – 30,000
Switzerland – 19,000
Italy - 28,000
Germany – 150,000
Belgium – 30,000
Holland – 29,900
Sweden – 15,000
Hungary – 47,000
Russia - 186,000
Ukraine – 63,000
Belarus – 11,000
Türkiye - 17,000
Australia - 112,000
South Africa - 70,000.
Of course, this is not the entire list; Jewish communities today exist in many other countries.
As of January 1, 2016, the number of Jews in the world was 14.5 million, which is still less than in 1939 (16.6 million). Moreover, over the 70 post-war years, the Jewish population on planet Earth grew at a rate of 0.33% per year.
At the same time, the number of Jews in the Diaspora has decreased by more than a quarter compared to 1948. At the time of the declaration of independence in 1948, 606 thousand people lived in Israel.
In 1948-1952, when Jews were able to freely enter Israel, the country's Jewish population increased from 600 thousand to 1.5 million people. And in total, since the founding of the Jewish state (from 1948 to 2015), 3.2 million people have repatriated to Israel. Two main waves of repatriation can be distinguished: the first - from 1948 to 1951 and the second - from 1990 to 1999 (1.35 million people, or 42% of all repatriates).
Moreover, from the creation of the state until the end of 2015, about 720 thousand Israelis emigrated from Israel, including those who died abroad.
And as of January 1, 2016, 6.5 million Jews lived in Israel, which is 44% of the total Jewish population.
The Jewish population in Israel grew by an average of 1.9% per year in 2014-2015. Over 5 years (2010-15), the number of Jews in Israel increased by 9.2%, and in the Diaspora it decreased by 0.5%.
From 1990 to 2015, the number of Jews in the Diaspora decreased by 10%, while in Israel their number increased by 60%. The main reason for the decrease in the Jewish population of the Diaspora is growing assimilation. For example, in 1970, 17% of Jewish US citizens entered into interethnic marriages. In 2012 - 58%.
If current trends continue, the number of Jews in Israel will equal the number of the Jewish Diaspora by 2026.
Besides the Jewish population in Israel, the other largest community by size is the Jewish community in the United States. Moreover, if the data on the population of Israel are accurate, then the number of the Jewish population in the United States, like any other community, is an estimate.
There are now 5.3 million adult Jews living in the United States (of which 5% were born in the USSR). 1.3 million Jewish children in the United States receive at least partial Jewish education. The Jewish birth rate in the United States is 1.9%, which is high by European standards. But this is the average temperature in the hospital. The fact is that among religious Jews, a large family is the norm. And there are more religious Jews living in the United States than in Israel.
35% of American Jews belong to Reform Judaism. 18% are conservative, and 10% are orthodox. 30% of American Jews consider themselves Jews, but do not associate themselves with any religious movement. And 22% of American Jews are atheists of varying degrees of conviction.
If we proceed from the Israeli “Law of Return”, according to which “Everyone who has a Jewish grandparent has the right to acquire Israeli citizenship,” then at least 9 million US citizens have the right to return to their historical homeland in Israel .
At least 90% of American Jews are Ashkenazi. The most prominent Sephardic community in the New York area (more than 25,000 Syrian Jews) lives in Brooklyn and New Jersey, most of their ancestors arriving here from Aleb in the early 20th century.
In Israel, it is generally accepted that the number of Ashkenazim and Sephardim in the country is approximately equal. It is hardly possible to accurately calculate this, since marriages between Ashkenazim and Sephardim are an everyday occurrence.
About 130,000 repatriates from Ethiopia live in Israel - both Jews and members of their families, as well as the so-called. "Falashmura", that is, descendants of baptized Ethiopian Jews. Ethiopian men practically do not enter into mixed marriages. Every fifth Ethiopian woman enters into a mixed marriage (with Jewish Israeli citizens of non-Ethiopian origin).
The Ethiopian districts are Kiryat Nordau in Netanya, Kiryat Moshe in Rehovot and Ramat Eliyahu in Rishon Lezion.
The total fertility rate (TFR) for American Jews is 2.1 children per woman. But this is exactly the average temperature for the United States. Because the Orthodox, who have an average of 4.1 children per family in the United States, number half a million in this country. Other American Jews have an average of 1.8 children per woman per family.
Moreover, two thirds of American Jews who do not adhere to religious traditions enter into interethnic marriages.
Most American religious Jews live in New York City. And in New York, mainly in Brooklyn: Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and Borough Park. Brooklyn's Hasidic communities are growing at a very rapid pace. In religious Jewish families it is customary to have 5-10 children.
The largest community of Bukharan Jews after the Israeli one (50 thousand people) lives in New York. They live compactly in Queens. In the area of Bukharian Jews there is Sergei Dovlatov way.
As for Israel, in 2014, 75% of Israeli Jews were “sabras” - that is, born in Israel. In 2014, the country's population increased by 162 thousand people (2%). During this time, 176 thousand people were born in Israel, 44 thousand people died, and 32 thousand new immigrants arrived.
According to the Bureau of Statistics, in 2016, for the first time in the history of the Jewish State, the birth rate among Jewish and Arab women was equal. The fertility rate in both sectors is 3.13 children per woman.
In Israel in 2014 there were 14 cities with a population of more than 100,000 people, and six of them had a population of over 200 thousand. These are Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Rishon Lezion, Ashdod and Petah Tikva.
More than 40% of Israel's population lives in the center of the country: 17% in the Tel Aviv district and another 24% in the neighboring districts of Gush Dan and Sharon. The periphery, including the north and south of the country, is home to 31% of the population. Another 28% live in areas considered an intermediate zone between the periphery and the center - these are the areas of Haifa and Jerusalem (each with 12% of the population) and the area of Judea and Samaria, which contains 3% of the population.
In Israel there are 5 urban agglomerations besides the greater Tel Aviv, which are called “Gush Dan”.
5 settlements that have actually merged into one city and have independent status are:
1. Shfela area (the cities of Ness Ziona, Rehovot, Rishon LeZion, Beer Yaakov and Yavne);
2. The Sharon area (Ramat Hasharon, Herzliya, Raanana, Kfar Saba and Hod Hasharon) - by the way, the most prestigious area of the country;
3. Suburbs of Haifa - “Krayot” (Kiryat Motzkin, Kiryat Bialik, Kiryat Haim and Kiryat Yam);
4. Agglomeration in the south of the Haifa district (Zichron Yaakov, Pardes Hana-Karkur, Harish and Or Akiva).
5. Jerusalem and surroundings. Jerusalem is the most populous city in Israel. According to the Central Statistics Service for 2013-2014, the population of Jerusalem was 829,900 people - of which 307,600 were Arabs (37%), 522,300 were Jews (63%). Population growth in 2013, according to the Central Statistics Service, amounted to 14,600 people, while 7,400 people left Jerusalem.
"East Jerusalem" Israel refers to all the Arab neighborhoods of the city. That is, “East Jerusalem” is considered to be Jabl Mukabr and Abu Tor, located in the east of the city, Shuafat, Beit Hanina and Kafr Aqab, located in the north of the city, Silvan in the historical center of the capital of Israel, and even Beit Safafa, located in the south of the city , but north of the Jewish district of Gilo.
However, neither Gilo, nor eastern Talpiot, nor Ramot, nor Pisgat Ze'ev, nor other Jewish neighborhoods built after the Six-Day War in the territories liberated during this war are classified by Israel as “East Jerusalem”.
The Arab population of East Jerusalem are not citizens of Israel, but have the status of “Permanent Residents of Israel,” although in official directories they are included in the column “Arab population of Israel.”
Under certain circumstances, this status can be lost (and along with it, work permits, benefits and health insurance). In total, about 14 thousand people have been deprived of this status since 1967. As of 2014, 300 thousand Arabs (60% of the population of these areas and 99% of the Arab population of Jerusalem) and 20 thousand Jews lived in the areas of Jerusalem annexed in 1967. In Jerusalem as a whole, from the beginning of 2010 to June 15, 2016, 8,964 permits for housing construction were issued, of which about 1,080 were for housing construction in the Arab areas of the city.
In 1969-1988, 174 thousand repatriates came to Israel from the USSR. Plus, as of March 1, 2015, about 860 thousand people aged 18 years and older who were born in the former USSR and arrived in Israel for permanent residence in 1989 – 2014 had Israeli citizenship. In this case, we are talking only about Israeli citizens who received Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.
In addition, every year 5 thousand people receive Israeli citizenship by marrying Israeli citizens. The overwhelming majority are citizens (or rather, female citizens) of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
150 thousand Russian citizens permanently reside in Israel. In this case, we mean persons who simultaneously have both Israeli and Russian citizenship (or Russian citizenship and an Israeli residence permit).
In addition to Jews, national minorities live in Israel. The bulk of Israeli Muslim Arabs (all of them Sunni) live in Wadi Ara. Wadi (lowland) Ara is an area in the lower Galilee in which large Arab cities and towns are located, in particular Umm el-Fahm, Taibeh, Qalansua, Jaljuliyya and others, often merging with one another.
Another minority, Christian Arabs. 161,000 Israelis (2% of the population) profess Christianity. 80% of them are Christian Arabs. In Nazareth (Nazareth) there are about 22.4 thousand people, in Haifa - 14.6 thousand, in Jerusalem - 11.9 thousand, in Shfaram - 9.6 thousand. In general, in Palestine, as throughout the Arab world, the number of Christians is rapidly declining. Christians in Bethlehem after World War II accounted for 85 percent of the population; today they are about 10 percent; in Jerusalem, their numbers have dropped from 55 percent at the beginning of the twentieth century to two percent today; in Nazareth, Christians are now less than 25 percent.
In Israel, there is also a migration of the Christian population from Arab to Jewish settlements. The reason is that they perceive Israel as their own state, whose fate they want to share. Christians have no other choice - Muslims persecute them and do not allow them to exist in their midst. So, either go somewhere to a Christian country or become loyal citizens of Israel.
Arameans. The authorities divide the Israelis who speak Aramaic dialects into three groups: about 10 thousand Maronites (two thousand of them are former Tsadal soldiers), one and a half thousand Orthodox Maronites and about five hundred Catholic Maronites. Aramaic Christians live in the Gush Halav (Jish) region, but separate small communities exist in Haifa, Nazareth, Acre and Jerusalem.
In the old city of Jerusalem there is an Armenian district.
In addition to Christians, about 150 thousand Druze live in Israel. Daliyat al-Karmel (20 thousand people) is the largest Druze city in Israel. It is located in the Haifa district. In addition, 23 thousand Druze live in the Israeli-owned Golan Heights (in 4 villages: Bukata, Masada, Ein Kinya and Majal Shams), but they do not have Israeli citizenship.
In the north of the country there are two villages - Kfar Kama and Rehaniya, where about 3 thousand Circassians live compactly.
Rajar is the only Alawite village in Israel. It was captured, along with four Druze villages, during the Six Day War. The Alawites living in the village willingly accepted Israeli sovereignty and all received Israeli citizenship.
But the largest national minorities in Israel are Muslims of different nationalities (Bedouins and Palestinians). The term itself, “Palestinian people,” was coined in the USSR in 1964, as part of the rationale for the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). According to its authors, the “Arab people of Palestine” meant the Arabs living in Palestine. It was first used in the introductory part of the Palestinian Charter (declaration of political demands), written in Moscow in the same 1964. The charter was approved by 422 members of the Palestinian National Council, who were carefully selected by the KGB."
The “Palestinian people” originally meant the entire Arabic-speaking population of Palestine. Currently, this term refers to the Sunni population of Palestine of non-Bedouin origin.
At the end of 2016, the Muslim population of Israel was 1.52 million (or 17.7% of the total population).
The largest community of Muslims (320 thousand) lives in east Jerusalem, making up 36.2% of the total population of the city and 21% of the Muslim population of Israel, as well as in Arab cities in northern Israel (Wadi Ara region): Sakhnin, Bak al- Gharbia, Um el-Fahkm, the Arab part of Nazareth and other smaller ones.
Haifa, Lod and Jaffa have significant Arab communities, although the vast majority of the population in these cities is Jewish.
About 150 thousand Bedouins live in the south of Israel. 60 thousand in the main Bedouin city of Rahat, as well as small Bedouin settlements, mainly around Beersheba.
In 2013, the total fertility rate for Muslim women was 3.4 children per woman, up from 4.7 children per woman in 2000. In recent years, the overall birth rate among Muslims has decreased: while in 2000, on average, there were 4.7 children per Muslim woman, in 2016 this figure was 3.29 children. But this is still more than in other sectors: there are 3.16 children per Jewish woman, and 2.05 children per Christian woman. The lowest birth rate among the Druze is 2.21 children per Druze woman.
Accordingly, the growth rate of the country's Muslim population as a whole is also decreasing: from 3.8% in 2000 to 2.4% in 2013. The highest rates of population growth are observed among the Bedouins, whose number is approaching 200 thousand. The increase in the birth rate among Jews was 1.7%, among Druze 1.5% and among Christians - 1.6%. Living mainly in the north of the country, Palestinians in their demographic behavior are also rapidly approaching the standards of the Jewish population.
The birth rate among Jewish families in Israel is increasing, while among Israeli Arabs it is decreasing. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2013, the total fertility rate in Israel increased by 0.2 percent (a total of 171,207 babies were born). In the Jewish sector, 127,409 children were born last year, which is 1.3% more than in 2012 (125,409). And in families professing Islam, 34,766 children were born, which is 5.5% less than in 2012 (36,766).
Overall, 39,028 Israeli Arab babies were born in 2013, down 3.5% from 40,433 babies born in 2012. In 2013, 2,602 children were born into Arab families of the Christian faith, and 2,350 children were born in the Druze sector.
In 2015, for the first time, the number of children born to Arab (Israeli citizens) and Jewish mothers was equal. 3.1 children per woman in both groups. Arab fertility is falling, falling to below three children per mother, while Jewish fertility is rising to three and a half. Due to the strong increase in the Jewish population, the number of inhabitants in Israel is growing by a million every seven years. The Arab birth rate in Judea and Samaria has already dropped to 2.7 children per mother and continues to decline.
On average, 21 out of every 1,000 Jewish women gave birth in 2013. In 2000, the figure was 18.3 per 1,000. The average birth rate among Arab women, by contrast, fell to its lowest level on record: 24.8 per 1,000, compared with a peak of 35 births per 1,000 women in the same year. year.
The proportion of Jews in the 0-14 age group increased from 25.8% of the total Jewish population in 2000 to 27.2% in 2015. The share of the same age group among Israeli Arabs decreased from 41% in 2000 to 34% in 2015.
The average birth rate in secular Jewish families is two children, in the national-religious camp - 4.3, in the ultra-religious environment - 6.5.
Another, in my opinion, interesting fact. Judea and Samaria are home to 60 thousand settlers who are citizens of the United States of America, which is 15% of their total number. This is despite the fact that a total of 170 thousand repatriates from the United States live in Israel. Every tenth American settler in Judea and Samaria has a Ph.D.
The average life expectancy for women in Israel as of 2012 is 83.6 years, for men - 79.9 years.
There are about 50,000 foreign workers permanently in Israel working in the field of providing care to the sick and elderly. Most of these workers come from the Philippines. There are also a varying number of Thai citizens employed in agriculture and Chinese and other nationals employed in construction.
In addition, tens of thousands of residents of Israeli-occupied territories are given the right to work, mainly in construction and agriculture. But their number is constantly changing. And they do not live in Israel, but come to work in the morning and go home in the evening.
In principle, Israel does not accept refugees. Refugees in Israel: 250 Vietnamese when they arrived in the country in the 1970s, a hundred Bosnians in 1993, 112 Albanian Muslims in 1999 and 6,000 Lebanese Christians in 2000.
But approximately 300 thousand illegal immigrants live in the country (not counting illegal immigrants - residents of the territories occupied by Israel).
There have been five years in Israel's short history when emigration from the country was greater than repatriation. This happened in 1954, 1976, 1982 and 1986-87.
In recent years, the number of emigrants (people who have not been in Israel for a year, but have previously lived in the country continuously for more than 90 days) from Israel is 0.7 people for every thousand inhabitants - this is a record low for OECD countries.
In 2000, this coefficient for Israel was 3.8 people per thousand inhabitants, for Switzerland it was 6.9, for Ukraine - 10.5 people. As of January 1, 2014, 680 thousand Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs (who, by the way, make up approximately a third of the emigrant flow) permanently live abroad.
Of these, 280 thousand were born in Israel, and 400 thousand received Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return. Approximately 300,000 Israeli emigrants live in the United States. Of these, 64% are Jews.
Today there are about 15 million Jews living in the world. Of these, only 43% are concentrated in the territory of their historical homeland, Israel. The vast majority of the remaining 57% live today in 17 countries: in the USA (their number exceeds 5 million people (39%), which is more than in other countries), Canada, France, Great Britain, Spain, Russia, Germany, Australia and a number of other countries. Despite this distribution, experts argue that numerical equality between Israeli Jews and the global diaspora is possible and will occur by 2026, provided that the current trend of “returning” to their historical homeland continues.
In this article we find out how many Jews currently live in Russia.
Late 20th century
The Jewish population was in a suppressed state in our country for a long time. And Brandeis University professor Jonathan Sarna, who devoted many years of his life to studying the history of the Jewish people in the United States, wrote after a trip to Russia in 1986: “All Jewish life in Moscow was driven underground. The study of Hebrew has been declared illegal, most Jewish meetings are banned, the Choral Synagogue (the only synagogue officially permitted in the capital) is filled with spies, and the most prominent representatives of the Jewish people are declared criminals and are in a hurry to leave Mother Russia forever.”
What has changed today?
With the advent of the new millennium, attitudes towards Jews have improved significantly. Now, coming to Russia, Professor Sarna notes that Jewish practice is found everywhere. At least four Jewish schools exist in Moscow. Jewish children are taught a range of religious and general education subjects, including Hebrew. In 2005, on the basis of the Center for Jewish Studies and Jewish Civilization at Moscow State University, the Department of Jewish Studies was created, whose employees study the history of Jews, Jewish languages, literature, politics and economics.
As for synagogues and religious communities, there are currently 15 of them throughout Moscow. In general, this number of religious centers is sufficient to meet the needs of Jews living in the Russian capital. But what is their number throughout the country? How many Jews live in Russia?
Not an easy question
In order to answer the question posed above, it is necessary to turn to census data for several years. However, there is a problem here. It turns out to be difficult to say exactly how many Jews there are in Russia. Why? First of all, because the most striking indicator in this matter is matzo - the traditional Jewish flatbread - or more precisely, the number of its buyers. However, this indicator is quite relative and does not show how many Jews there really are in Russia.
Another factor in the assessment is the number of people who identify as Jewish and those who discover their Jewish roots on their mother's side. Such people are usually called But what if, when assessing “by feeling” how many Jews live in Russia today, we also take into account those whose Jewish roots can be traced through their father? Obviously, the established indicator can be exceeded at least twice!
Official figures
Let us now turn to census data for previous years.
Analyzing official indicators, we can conclude that the size of the Jewish population of Russia is gradually declining and today is about 180 thousand people. It is important to note that the downward trend began in the late 80s, when a significant number of Jews emigrated to Israel from the territory of the former USSR. Representatives of ethnic communities living in Moscow believe that many Jews who remained in the Soviet Union renounced or hid their identities in order to avoid persecution by the Soviet authorities and save lives.
According to the last Soviet census, which was conducted in 1989, the number of Jews is estimated at 570 thousand people. Of these, 176 thousand lived in Moscow, 107 thousand lived in St. Petersburg. In the photo above these data are presented as percentages.
A slight increase in the number of Jewish people in the territory of the former USSR occurred in the first years after the collapse of the Union. This is primarily due to the fact that people are no longer so afraid to openly communicate their Jewish roots.
But, according to data for 2001, the number of Jews decreased to 275 thousand people, which means that in percentage terms their number decreased by more than 50%.
Census results for the period 1989 to 2001 are presented in the table below.
How many Jews are there in Russia today?
According to the results of the 2002 census, it was possible to establish that Jews at that time made up only 0.16% of the total Russian population, and the Jewish community continued to decline.
How many Jews are there in Russia in 2002? Officially, 233 thousand people were recorded. Then the rate of decline remained virtually unchanged, and by 2010 only about 158 thousand representatives of the Jewish people remained in Russia.
Currently, about 180 thousand Jews live in the Russian Federation. At the same time, fewer and fewer people are willing to identify themselves as Jews. More than 80% of representatives of this people living in our country prefer to marry non-Jewish spouses. But what percentage of Jews are in Russia? Relative to the total number of this people around the world, the number is not at all large: only 1.3% live here.
Revival of Jewish culture
Jewish life and culture began to experience a certain revival with the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the early 1990s, Russian Jews began to show interest in learning more deeply about their religious heritage. In January 1996, the main event in the life of the Jewish community was the publication in Russia of the Russian translation of the Talmud. This was the first publication of a holy book since the reign of the Bolsheviks, which marked the beginning of the preparation of a whole series of Talmudic translations that allowed Russian Jews to once again turn to the study of the religion of their ancestors. Previously, there was nothing like this in Soviet Russia.
At the same time, in 1996, the first synagogue in Moscow since the 1917 revolution was founded. In honor of this event, the British newspaper Time published an article with the following words: “Six years ago, Jews were still being beaten in Minsk. Now there are three religious communities organized there: a Sabbath school, a youth movement and a voluntary charity organization.”
Finally, it cannot be denied that, in part, it was Jews who played a significant role in the process of economic recovery in post-Soviet Russia.
Jews and politics
Do you know how many Jews are in power in Russia? If we take into account that economics is somehow connected with politics, then we can say with confidence that this number is very significant. Suffice it to remember that at least six of Russia’s most famous oligarchs had Jewish roots:
- Boris Berezovsky.
- Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
- Alexander Smolensky.
- Mikhail Fridman.
- Rem Vyakhirev.
It should be noted that an important factor in the revival of Jewish life in our country is the “pro-Jewish” sentiments of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Chief Rabbi of Russia has fairly close ties with the head of state and explains that V. Putin’s views and attitude towards Jewry were formed over a long period, starting from his childhood, since the future president grew up in a rather poor family and spent a lot of time with his neighbors -Jews. Occupying the post of deputy mayor of Leningrad, V. Putin tried to help Jews in various matters. He gave permission to open the first Jewish school in the city. Later, when construction of the Jewish Museum began in Moscow, he donated his monthly salary to this cause. Today, the name of the Russian President is indicated on one of the museum’s stands as a thank you for the assistance provided to the Jewish community.
Jews and opposition
However, this does not limit the involvement of Jews in the political life of Russia. “Almost all the leaders of the liberal opposition are either entirely Jewish or have Jewish assistants,” says Michael Edelstein, a lecturer at Moscow State University.
Thus, opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who died in 2015 under mysterious circumstances, had Jewish roots: he was a purebred Jew, although he considered himself a Christian.
Another famous opposition politician is Jewish on his father’s side. In 2001, he founded the Open Russia Foundation in support of liberal values. Two years later, Khodorkovsky was arrested on corruption charges and sent to prison. He was soon released and emigrated to Europe.
In this case, it is important to emphasize that, as a rule, many Russian businessmen are not afraid of being accused of corruption, which cannot be said about Jews. They often find themselves at the crossroads of government repression. This is explained by the fact that despite some revival of Jewry in Russia and the obvious pro-Jewish sympathies of Vladimir Putin, anti-Semitic sentiments are still strong in the country, which at times escalate and cause alarm.
What are the causes of Russian anti-Semitism is a serious question, but this is not the topic of this article. Today we found out how many Jews there are in Russia.
STATISTICS KNOW EVERYTHING: JEWS IN THE USA AND THE WORLD
Pavel ZAVLIN, Chicago
I, an economist, love and honor this science. My last job in Russia was as head of the St. Petersburg sector of the Center for Research and Statistics of Science under the Ministry of Science of the Russian Federation and the Russian Academy of Sciences. So, I’m familiar with statistics firsthand
In the last decade, the Jewish population of the United States has decreased by 7% and now stands at 52 million. people, of which 185,000 people call themselves “Jews by choice.” Calculating the exact number is not such an easy task.
The easiest thing, it seemed, was in the former Soviet Union, where the notorious fifth column in the passport worked in favor of demographers, but even there the data on the number of Jews turned out to be untrue. Thus, after the mass immigration of Jews to Israel, the USA, Germany, Canada and Australia, according to official statistics, there should have been no one left in the former USSR. But Jewish life in post-Soviet states continues. The question of who is considered a Jew is not off the agenda. Today it is especially acute due to the influx of immigrants from different parts of the world. ,
Countries: Israel - 5 95о LLC, USA - 5 300 000, France 490 000, England - 290 000, Argentina 240 300, Ukraine - 180 000, Germany - 10о 000
Cities: Tel Aviv - 2,700,000, New York - 2,100,000, Los Angeles - 585,000, Miami - 535,000, Paris - 350,000
There is a funny situation in Russia: Andrei Burovsky, the author of a study on Jews, believes that 1 million people feel like Jews to some extent, since Jewish blood flows in their veins (!?). It has become beneficial to be Jews - you can emigrate without problems, charitable assistance is provided,
In the USA, United Jewish Communities (UJC) published information from a study conducted in 2005-2006. The average age of the Jewish community is getting older, and at a faster rate, compared to the U.S. population as a whole. As of 2007, this is 45 years (which is 6 years older than ten years ago), while the average age in the country as a whole is 37 years. The age group under 17 years old makes up 16% of the country's Jewish population, and the group over 65 years old makes up 23%. Compared to other ethnic and national groups in the United States, Jews marry later and have fewer children on average. Today, the level of reproduction in American Jewish families is below the level that is necessary for full quantitative replacement of the population. The number of children per Jewish family has undergone great changes. In 1976 it was 2.12 per Jewish woman, and in 2006 it was 1.45. Among Orthodox Jews, this figure is significantly higher - up to 4.4 children. There are 870,000 children under the age of 18 living in families created by mixed marriages after 1990. 21% of them are raised as Jews, 44% are raised in another religion, 30% are raised in the absence of religious rules and norms. Even of those who were raised as Jews, only 10-15% enter into marriages with Jews.
This means that almost all children from mixed marriages are lost as Jews.
In 2007 - 2008, the study was repeated on a smaller group than the previous one. The key discovery in this study was the problem of mixed marriages. This issue is very sensitive and problematic for Jewish communities." The number of mixed marriages in the community continues to grow at a very rapid pace. Their level has now reached 74%. It was found that 47% of all Jews have entered into mixed marriages since 1997, and more than two-thirds of children are not raised in the Jewish tradition. If in 1965 there were 9% of mixed marriages, in 1970 - 13%, in 80 - 38%, in 90 - 43%, in 2003 - 47%, then in 2007 - 72 %. and in 2010 -74%. Eliach Bergman, assistant director of the Harvard Population Research Center, predicted that if the direction of trends in the Jewish community does not change, the community will shrink by 85-95% by 2076.
During the survey, 63% of American Jews said they felt an “emotional connection to Israel,” although only one in three to four of all Jews living in the country had visited their historical homeland. Only 26% of American Jews, according to the survey, go to synagogue, and even fewer - just 18% - light candles on Fridays to observe Shabbat. The breakdown within Jewish believers is as follows: 39% attend Reform synagogues, 33% Conservative, 21% Orthodox, 3% Reconstructive and 4% profess other varieties of Judaism.
Below are the most interesting data from this study. : Jewish population of the USA - 5.2 million people. (almost 40% of the number of Jews in the world) and 1.8 million “Jewish non-Jews” come from mixed marriages, but do not consider themselves Jews. The number of Jewish families is 2.9 million. The percentage of Jews who are married (at the beginning of 2007) is 57%. Percentage of Jewish women who do not have children aged 18 to 24 years - 90%; 25-29 - 70%; 30-34 - 54%; 35-39 - 36%; 40-44 - 26%. The average number of children per Jewish woman is 1.4, and the number of children a woman must bear to maintain population balance is 2.1.
The percentage of Jews who entered into mixed marriages from 1996 to 2006 is 47%. The percentage of Jews who entered into mixed marriages in 2006 was 72%. and in 2010 - 74% The percentage of mixed families where children are raised in Jewish traditions is 26%. The percentage of Jews who regularly attend synagogues is 19%. The percentage of Jewish children attending Jewish day schools or yeshivas is 23%. .
“Jews are smarter than other nations,” Humperding and Cochran et al. showed. “This happened during the genetic-evolutionary process,” the authors say. And this is only if Humperding and Cochran are right... But whether they are right or wrong, the fact remains that scientists remind us that “the history of the last two hundred years is decorated with many Jewish names of scientists, thinkers, representatives of the intellectual world, such , like Oppenheimer, Einstein, Freud, Marx, Kafka, Bellow, Levy, Strauss, Allen, Dylan...” The row, of course, is not very even, but statistics are also given: Despite the fact that Jews make up only 0.25% of the world's population, they account for 32% of all Nobel Prizes and 50% of world chess champions. . This is explained by the genotype formed by natural selection in the struggle for survival. Of those constantly persecuted, it was mainly Jews with a high IQ who survived. and the only work to which they were allowed was moneylender, tax collector, accountant, etc., which required intelligence and resourcefulness. This is in no way racism. Racism is the recognition of one nation that stands above all others and is called upon to dominate others.
In conclusion, I would like to note two points. In his speeches, Ariel Sharon often cited data from the research of his close friend, the mathematician Dov Weisglass, who argued: if the Jews had not been expelled by the Romans and were not persecuted for the next 2000 years, then there would be at least 500-800 million in our modern world Jews, and they could compete in population with the Chinese and Indians.
I will give statistics characterizing the role of Jews in the life of the United States. There are 108 Jewish billionaires in the country (according to Forbes), or 30% of the total, which is 1 in 49,000 American Jews. On average, there are 1 billionaires in the United States in 800,000 people. In some states the picture is even more expressive. In the richest state of California, there are 90 billionaires for 36 million residents, and Jews, making up 2% of the state's population, make up 31 billionaires. In the state of New York (19 million inhabitants - 49 billionaires), Jews make up 5% of the population and among them are 34 billionaires or 70%. all billionaires
Now let’s move from money to “mind”. There are 156 Nobel Prize laureates in the field of science in the United States (an average of 1 per almost 2 million inhabitants), of which 71 are Jewish, or 1 laureate per 80,000.
Now about power. Currently, there are 12 Jews out of 100 members in the US Senate. Until the 1950s, there were practically no such people in the Senate. Then in the 1950s - 2, 1960s - 3, 1970s - 6, 1980s - 8. Today their share in the Senate has increased 6 times! This means their increasingly complete integration into the highest political elite of society. Among the state governors there are 2 Jews. Such a large participation of Jews naturally causes anti-Semitism. Churchill has a famous aphorism - “We are not anti-Semites, because we do not consider ourselves stupider than the Jews.”
However, all this mass of rich people, bosses and powerful people of this world practically does nothing to help the Jews and Israel. Moreover, they shun their fellow tribesmen
PS I cited the article http://www.kontinent.org/article_rus_4966ab0c9b0a8.html in an abbreviated form, the material is mainly about the USA. At the same time, since the book was published in 2007, I corrected some figures using the data I have from 2012 - 2013, in order to be more accurate and closer to today. True, the changes compared to the original are minor and do not in any way affect the essence of the article,
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Mandel Baerman Institute and the North American Jewish Data Bank have published an interesting report that analyzes the total size, distribution and demographic trends of the world's Jewish population. Some of the figures in it are interesting, so we would like to provide a brief summary of the report. Any further questions can be resolved by reading the report itself.
Any study of the size of any nation, and especially the Jewish one, faces difficulties: who can be considered part of the nation? The vague definition and various interpretations of what a nation or people are in this case encounter additional difficulties - religious affiliation with Judaism as a factor in inclusion or exclusion from various samples. The Institute identifies several circles of affiliation - “having Jewish ancestors”, “legitimate in accordance with the law on repatriation”, “extended core of the nation”, “core of the nation”. However, in each of these circles there are exceptions. As a result, the institute is building a model based on the common sense understanding of “what is a Jew?” Let's move on to the numerical indicators available for 2010.
According to them, the total number of Jews in the world is 13,428,300 people. Of these, the majority live outside Israel: Jews of the Diaspora make up 7,724,600 people, while Jews living in Israel number 5,703,700. There are almost as many Jews living in North America, the USA and Canada, as there are in all of Israel (5,650,000).
1,455,900 Jews live in Europe. Of these, 297,100 live on the territory of the Soviet Union.
The total Jewish population of the world continues to grow successfully, although somewhat slower than the total world population. At the end of the war their number was exactly 11 million. Let's leave the problem of numerical measurement of the Holocaust alone - it is clear that the true number of its victims will remain a mystery. The statistics available in the report only go back to 1945, and pre-war statistics do not indicate any significant adjustment in wartime Jewish population numbers that differed from other nations.
Countries with the largest Jewish populations:
Israel (explainable)
USA
France
Canada
Great Britain
Russian Federation
Argentina
Germany
Australia
Brazil
Ukraine
South Africa
Hungary
Mexico
Belgium
Holland
Italy
Chile
It is interesting that the institute’s data fundamentally contradicts the data of the listed countries. For example, the number of Jews in Germany, according to this report, is 119 thousand people. At that time, it is known that from 1990 to 2004 two hundred thousand Jews entered the country. In Russia – 205 thousand, according to the report. And according to census data - about 190. It is interesting that, according to Jewish sources, emigration does not have as strong an impact on the number of Jews in Russia as before: it is balanced by the return of Jews to Russia. Fifty percent of Russian Jews live in Moscow, 20% in St. Petersburg, the rest in cities with a population of over a million. The small town tradition died with urbanization.
Finally, about the concentration of Jews in different countries. The leader in the number of Jews per thousand population is Israel (explainable). Without the Gaza Strip and the West Bank - 775 people per 1000. Next is the United States, where there are 17.1 Jews per 1000 people. In Canada – 11, in France – 7.7. In Russia there are 1.5 Jews per 1000 people.
It is interesting to sort the cities of the world according to the population of Jews.
Tel Aviv (2,979,900)
New York (2,007,850)
Jerusalem (703,600)
Los Angeles (684,950)
Haifa (671,400)
As we can see, the majority of the world's Jewish population lives in the cities from the top list - 52.5%.
South Florida (metropolis)
Beer Sheva
San Francisco
Paris
Chicago
Philadelphia
Boston
Washington, DC
London
Toronto
Buenos Aires
Atlanta
Moscow (95,000)
Baltimore
San Diego
Denver
Phoenix
Cleveland
Montreal
These cities together with the previous ones cover 80% of the number of Jews in the world.
