Study: Global Jewish population still below pre-Holocaust level

According to a recent study, the global Jewish population has yet to return to its pre-Holocaust level. The study, conducted by Pew Research, analyzed global data from 2010 to 2020.

During that time, “the number of Jews around the world grew by 6%, from an estimated 14 million in 2010 to nearly 15 million in 2020,” the report stated. “That’s fewer than the estimated 16.6 million Jews who were alive in 1939, prior to the Holocaust.”

According to 2024 data from the Jewish Agency, the global population of Jews is now at about 15.8 million, which is still below the estimated Jewish population in 1939.

The Pew Research report also showed that the total number of Jews grew by 18% in the Middle East-North Africa Region, 2% in the Asia-Pacific region, and 1% in North America.

In other regions, however, the Jewish population shrank.

Regarding the distribution of Jews across various regions, only one region increased in its share of the global population.

“The Middle East and North Africa was the only region that saw an increase in its share of the global Jewish population between 2010 and 2020,” the report stated, noting that it “surpassed North America to become the geographic region with the largest Jewish population.”

“This is primarily because Israel added over 1 million Jews to its population between 2010 and 2020, compared with an increase of just 30,000 in the U.S.,” the report explained.

The report defined Israeli Jews according to the religious criteria of Israel’s Ministry of Interior, which includes “children of Jewish mothers as well as people who have undergone formal conversions.”

It defined American Jews as “Americans who identify religiously as Jewish.”

While birth rates across the developed world are under replacement rate, Israel stands out as the only nation other than Monaco to be above replacement rate.

The high birth rates in Israel are particularly common among Haredi women, who were reported last year to have a birthrate of 6.6.

“Has the Jewish people recovered from the loss of those killed in the Holocaust? The answer is no,” Brandeis University professor Jonathan Sarna told to the New York Post. “It takes a long time to replace a third of the population.”