On the eve of Holocaust Martyrs ‘and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, the Central Bureau of Statistics publishes today (Monday) interesting data on the number of Jews in Israel and around the world, and although the number of Jews before the Holocaust was higher than today, it seems that we are on the right track.
According to the data, as of the end of 2020, the number of Jews in the world was 15.2 million. For comparison, in 1939, on the eve of World War II, the number of Jews in the world was 16.6 million, of whom 449,000 were in Israel (3%).
Naturally, the Holocaust gave its signals in the demographic data of the Jewish people. In 1948, on the eve of the establishment of the state, the number of Jews in the world was 11.5 million, of whom 650,000 were in Israel (6%). One third of the Jewish people were murdered in the Holocaust and to this day the gaps in the demographic data are considerable. At the end of 2021, the number of people living in Israel and recognized by the Holocaust Survivors’ Rights Authority was about 165,000.
Soldiers at Yad Vashem Photo: Yonatan Sindel / Flash90
We have land and we have a home
So where do we live? Of the 15.2 million Jews in the world, 9.6 million are Jews in Israel, making Israel the largest Jewish concentration in the world. 6 million live in the US. Across Europe, 445,000 Jews live in France – the largest Jewish community in Europe, 393,000 live in Canada, 292,000 live in the UK, 175,000 in Argentina, 150,000 in Russia and 118,000 in Germany. Another 118,000 Jews live On the other side of the globe, in Australia.
And of course, it is impossible without an internal division. As mentioned, 6.9 million Jews live in Israel, constituting about 45% of the Jews in the world. 5.4 million were born in Israel compared to 1.5 million people born abroad – about one million Jewish citizens of Israel were born in Europe and America, 284.4 thousand were born in Africa and about 153.7 thousand were born in Asia.
It is important to note that for the purpose of collecting data from around the world, population definitions for all countries except Israel refer to a Jewish “core” population, which includes people who define themselves as Jews or people born to Jewish parents and who do not have a religious or ethnic identity.