Israel Matzav

Israel's Jewish population decreased between 2000-2005

YNet is reporting that according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Israel's Jewish population decreased between 2000 and 2005.

According to Central Bureau of Statistics data published on Tuesday, the population of the State of Israel at the end of 2005 was comprised of 6,990,700 people, of which 5,313,800 were Jewish (76 percent of the entire population), and 1,377,100 were Arab (19.7 percent) according to data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The data also showed that since 2000, the Jewish population has decreased by 1.8 percent, while the Muslim population has increased during the past five years by 1.1 to 1,140,600.

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The Israeli population is considered relatively young. Children aged 0-14 make up 28 percent of the population, compared to 17 percent in other western countries. On the other hand, Israel’s older population bridges the gap, with adults aged 65 and above comprising 10 percent of the population, compared to 15 percent in other western countries.

In comparing between religions, the Jewish population in Israel is the ‘oldest’, and the Muslim population is the ‘youngest’. Adults aged 65 and over make up 11.8 percent of the Jewish population, compared to 2.8 percent of the Muslim population.

Conversely, children aged 0-14 comprise 42.6 percent of the Muslim population in Israel, compared to 25.6 percent of the Jewish population. The average age in the Jewish population in Israel stands at 30.6, while it stands at a much lower number of 18.6 for Muslims.

The birth rate in Israel has decreased over the past two years by about 4 percent, from 2.95 in 2003, to 2.84 in 2005.

For those of you who care about a Jewish majority, it's time to make aliya. The good news is that the rate of Arab population growth has actually slowed, according to an interview with Yoram Ettinger that I heard on the radio today.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:00 AM