Ahead of Jewish new year, Israeli population nears 10 million

As Rosh Hashanah draws near, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) released a report on Wednesday detailing current population data, estimating the total Israeli population at 9.915 million.

The Jewish population is estimated to be 7.632 million or 77% of the population.

The Israeli Arab population is estimated to be at 2.067 million, which is almost 21% of the population.

Summarizing the findings, the Jerusalem Post reported that “secular individuals make up the largest portion of the population (43.5%)…followed by non-religious traditionalists (18.9%), religious traditionalists (13%), religious (12.5%), and lastly, ultra-Orthodox (11.3%).”

According to the study, the annual population growth rate dropped from 2.2% in 2022 to 1.6% this year.

While Western nations are struggling to achieve a replacement-level fertility rate, Israel distinguishes itself as the only developed country that not only maintains but also surpasses it.

As of June, Israel’s fertility rate was 2.9 children per woman.

This is largely due to the high fertility rate within Israel's ultra-Orthodox community.

In 2020, the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel had a fertility rate of 6.6 children per woman. That year, “the rate among Arab women was 3.0, and among secular women, it was 2.0,” the Times of Israel reported.

The United States, by contrast, had a fertility rate of about 1.6 children per woman as of 2023, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control.