76 percent Jewish
Photo: Oren Agmon
_a.jpg "Photo: Eli Elgarat")
Immigrants contribute to population growth
Photo: Eli Elgarat
59 years, 7,150,000 residents in Israel
As Israel approaches Independence Day, population is nine times higher than in 1948; millions more live in big cities
As Israel's 59th Independence Day approaches, the country's population stands at 7,150,000 residents, almost nine times its population of 806,000 at the time of the state's creation in 1948.
According to the Central Statistics Bureau, 5,415,000 (76 percent) are Jewish, 1,425,000 (20 percent) are Arab and 310,000 (4 percent) are other.
Since last April, 148,000 babies were born and 18,400 immigrants came to Israel. This resulted in an overall population increase of 121,000 people in the past year.
In 1948, Tel Aviv – with 248,500 residents - was the only city in Israel with over 100,000 residents. Today, 44 percent of Israelis live in a city with a population greater than 100,000.
Israel's five largest cities – Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Jerusalem, Haifa, Rishon Letzion, and Ashdod – each have over 200,000 residents. The combined population of these five cities constitutes a quarter of the national population.
Nowadays, only 5 percent of Israel's population lives in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, as opposed to 28 percent living there in 1948. Haifa's relative population has also decreased, constituting only 4 percent of the population in 2006 as opposed to 11 percent of the population in 1948.
Jerusalem has maintained a constant 10 percent representation throughout the years, while Rishon Letzion grew from one percent to 3 percent of the national population. Ashdod was not a city in 1948.
Eight percent of Israel's populace (581,900 residents) lives in villages. 119,700 of these live on kibbutzim – this is less than 2 percent of the general population. In 1948, six percent of all Israelis lived on kibbutzim.
