Israel at 63: Population of 7,746,000

Independence Day 2011: Central Bureau of Statistics data indicate 75% of population are Jewish, 178,000 babies born in past year, 24,500 immigrants made aliyah

Ynet|Published: 05.08.11 , 17:34

On Israel's 63rd anniversary its population stands at 7,746,000 people, a 2% increase (150,000 residents) compared with 2010. In comparison, on the night of its establishment, the State of Israel consisted of only 806,000 residents.

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New data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Sunday indicate that nearly 5,837,000 of the population are Jewish (75.3%).

The Arab population stands at 1,587,000 people (20.5%) and the remaining 4.2% are immigrants and their children, who are not listed as Jewish by the Interior Ministry. They comprise 322,000 residents.

Since last year's Independence Day, exactly 178,000 babies have been born in Israel, and 43,000 people have died. Approximately 24,5000 immigrants arrived in the country, while nearly 12,000 chose to leave Israel.

Another 7,500 people joined the general population, but CBS data do not state where they came from.

Immigrants make aliyah (Archive photo: AFP)

Over 70% of the Jewish population are native-born Israelis, and more than half of them are at least second generation Israelis. In contrast, only 35% of the population were native-born in 1948.

Also in 1948, there was only one city with more than 100,000 residents – Tel Aviv-Yafo.

In the present day there are 14 cities with more than 100,000 residents each, six of which have more than 200,000 people, including: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Haifa, Rishon Lezion, Ashdod and Petah Tikva.