21,000 new immigrants in the past year
Photo: CD Bank
Independence Day 2006: 7 million Israelis
On the eve of Israel's 58th Independence Day, Central Bureau of Statistics reports that over seven million citizens reside in country: 76 percent Jews, 20 percent Arabs, and 4 percent immigrants who are not registered as Jews
On the eve of Israel's 58th Independence Day, the Israeli population stands at around 7,026,000 inhabitants – compared to 806,000 residents who lived in Israel in 1948, according Central Bureau of Statistics data.
How it all began: Ben-Gurion declares independence in 1948 (Photo: GPO)
The data also shows that 5.639 millions are "Jews and others", which constitute 80 percent of the population. 5,333,000 of them are Jews (76 percent) and 306,000 (4 percent) "others" who are actually new immigrants and their families who are not registered as Jews in the Interior Ministry. The Arab population numbers 1.387 million, which is about 20 percent of the Israeli population.
In the past year the Israeli population has grown by 118,000 people. The majority of the increase (104,000) is due to natural births (births versus deaths). During this one year period some 138,000 births were recorded in Israel. During that same period, 21,000 new immigrants made aliyah to Israel.
Living mostly in cities
In 1948, Tel Aviv was the only city with over 100,000 people, with 248,000 people. Today, 44 percent of the Israeli population lives in cities with over 100,000 residents, a total of 3,102,200 people.
Israel has five cities with a population of over 200,000 residents each: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv- Jaffa, Haifa, Rishon Letzion, and Ashdod. All five cities are home to one quarter of the Israeli population.
From 1948 to 2005 Jerusalem showed a tremendous growth in population, from 84,000 residents in 1948 to 718,000 in 2005. Tel Aviv has 378,000 residents compared to 248,500 in 1948, Haifa with 267,000 compared with 98,600, and Rishon Letzion with 219,800 people in 2005 compared with only 11,100 in 1948.
