A new demographic report published Tuesday by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) offers a sobering look at the future of Holocaust remembrance: by 2040, only a small fraction of survivors will still be alive.
Titled Vanishing Witnesses, the report is based on extensive data collected since 1952 and provides a global population analysis of Holocaust survivors. According to the report, nearly half of the world’s remaining survivors will pass away within the next six years, and 70 percent within a decade. As of October 2024, more than 200,000 survivors live in 90 countries, with Israel home to the largest concentration—approximately 110,100 individuals.
That number is expected to drop dramatically. By 2030, Israel’s survivor population is projected to fall by 43 percent, to just 62,900. The United States, with 34,600 survivors in late 2024, is expected to see a 39 percent decline in the same period. In former Soviet Union countries, the decrease is even steeper: from 25,500 to 11,800—down 54 percent.
The median age of survivors globally is 87, and 61 percent are women. Approximately 1,400 survivors are over 100 years old.
'This is the moment to hear their voices'
Claims Conference President Gideon Taylor said the findings highlight the urgency of preserving survivors’ testimonies while it is still possible. “This report provides clear urgency to our Holocaust education efforts,” he said. “Now is the time to hear first-hand testimonies from survivors, invite them to speak in our classrooms, places of worship and institutions. It is critical, not only for our youth but for people of all generations to hear and learn directly from Holocaust survivors. This report is a stark reminder that our time is almost up, our survivors are leaving us and this is the moment to hear their voices.”
Greg Schneider, the organization’s executive vice president, echoed the call to action. “We have known that this population of survivors would be the last, our final opportunity to hear their first-hand testimonies, to spend time with them, our last chance to meet a survivor. These are our final years to honor them, make sure they are living in dignity, care for them and provide for their needs. The work we do negotiating with the governments of Europe on behalf of survivors is critical to their existence — nothing could be more important, more urgent, as we see what little time we have left to ensure their wellbeing.”
Tziona Koenig-Yair, associate executive vice president in Israel, stressed the historical and moral imperative of documenting every account. “Their stories are an irreplaceable piece of our collective history. We must ensure that the lessons we've learned from the horrors they experienced remain etched in human memory forever,” she said. “This is the order of the day—care for them, ensure they live out their lives in dignity stolen from them in their youth, and preserve their testimony so that future generations never have to endure those atrocities again.”
Survivors speak out
Among the voices featured in the report is 110-year-old Nechama Grossman, one of the world’s oldest Holocaust survivors, who lives in Arad, Israel. Her son, Vladimir Shvetz, said, “She lived through the worst of humanity and she survived. She raised her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren, to teach them that unchecked hatred cannot win. We must remember her story, remember the Holocaust, remember all the survivors; learn from it so that her past does not become our future.”
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Leonard Zaicescu, a 98-year-old survivor of the Iasi death trains in Romania, declared: “As long as I am still alive and have strength, I will do everything I still can so that future generations will learn about what happened."
Pinchas Gutter, one of the last survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, emphasized the urgency: “It’s sobering to see exactly how few of us Holocaust survivors are left. We have an important piece of history that only we hold and only we can tell. I hope in the time we have, we can impart the learning from the Holocaust so that the world will never again have to endure that level of hate."
Malka Schmulovitz, a 109-year-old survivor from Lithuania living in Florida, added: "My age tells me we are running out of time. We all have a testimony that needs to be shared. We all want to be sure that this generation of young people and the ones that come after them, hear and understand what truly happened during the Holocaust; if only so that we do not see it repeated.”
In addition to Vanishing Witnesses, the Claims Conference released its updated global demographic report Holocaust Survivors Worldwide: A Demographic Overview, showing over 200,000 survivors in 90 countries as of 2025.
Founded in 1951, the Claims Conference has secured more than $95 billion in compensation from Germany. In 2025 alone, the organization will allocate roughly $530 million in survivor compensation and $960 million for welfare services including home care, medicine, and food.