On the eve of Israel’s 75th Independence Day, the country’s population has grown to nearly 10 million citizens – 9.727 million – according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
The population is young: about 28 percent are children up to age 14, and some 12 percent are aged 65 and older.
Nearly three-quarters of the Israeli population (73.5 percent – 7.145 million) is Jewish, according to the figures released Monday.
More than two million Arabs are Israeli citizens and call the Jewish State ‘home’ — specifically, 2.048 million, or 21 percent – including Muslims, Arab Christians and Druze.
Another 534,000 citizens, 5.5 percent of the population, are members of other ethnic and religious groups, such as non-Arab Christians and others.
Since last year’s Independence Day, Israel’s population has grown by 216,000 (an increase of 2.3 percent). During this period, about 183,000 babies were born, about 79,000 immigrants arrived, and about 51,000 persons died.
At the time of the establishment of the State of Israel, the population of Israel was 806,000. It has increased by a factor of 12 since then.
Since the State’s founding, more than 3.3 million immigrants have arrived in Israel, about 1.5 million (43.7 percent) of them having arrived since 1990.
Since the establishment of Israel, about 149,000 immigrating citizens (toshav chozeret, or someone born to an Israeli citizen abroad) have also settled in the country.
