Despite the coronavirus pandemic affecting much of the world for the majority of the year, Israel still managed to welcome approximately 20,000 new immigrants in 2020 according to newly released Jewish Agency figures.
The figure represents a 59-percent decrease from 2019, which saw some 34,000 immigrants, the highest annual figure for the past decade.
According to the Jewish Agency, the newcomers hailed mostly from North America and France much like the previous year.
According to the organization's long-term forecasts, some 250,000 people will immigrate to Israel in the next three to five years.
“Since the beginning of the year, the Jewish Agency has received around 160,000 inquiries about immigration to Israel and has opened about 41,000 new aliyah application cases, including 28,000 cases from Western countries. [We have seen] a 41-percent-increase in filings by younger adults aged 18 to 35 from Western countries,” the Jewish Agency explained.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomes Jews who immigrated from Ethiopia to Israel
(Photo: GPO)
Meanwhile, more than 300 Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel in Operation Rock of Israel this month, the Jewish state's attempt to repatriate most of Ethiopia's remaining Jews.
Thousands of Ethiopian Jews are still stranded in the war-ravaged region, with many waiting for decades now to immigrate, despite their families already living in Israel.