Shortly before Rosh Hashanah, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has published current figures on the country’s population. According to the data, approximately 10.3 million people now live in Israel. Over the course of a year, the population has grown by around 124,000 people, or 1.2 percent.
Around 7.8 million residents are Jewish or belong to population groups referred to by the statistics bureau as “Others.” Their share of the Israeli population stands at 78.3 percent. Around 2.17 million residents are Arab, accounting for 21.7 percent. In addition, approximately 304,000 foreign nationals live in Israel.
The continued growth of Israel’s population is primarily due to the fact that significantly more children are born than people die. Last year, around 182,000 children were born, while approximately 50,000 people died.
Israel thus continues to differ markedly from many other Western countries. The average birth rate stands at 2.88 children per woman. By comparison, the average across OECD countries is just 1.41 children per woman.
Life expectancy in Israel also remains high. Men live to an average age of 81.4 years, women to 85.9 years.
Immigration, however, tells a different story. Around 24,000 new immigrants came to Israel last year. A further approximately 4,000 people entered the country through family reunification. Around 21,000 Israelis who had been living abroad returned to Israel.
In contrast, approximately 57,000 Israelis left the country. Overall, Israel therefore recorded a negative migration balance, reducing population growth by around 8,000 people.
Nevertheless, Israel’s population continues to grow. The primary driver remains the consistently high number of births.
Israel also occupies a special demographic position globally. At the beginning of 2026, there were just under 15.9 million Jews worldwide. Around 46 percent of them today live in Israel.
Since the founding of the state in 1948, a total of around 3.51 million people have immigrated to Israel. From a young state with only around 806,000 inhabitants at the time, it has grown into a country of now more than 10.3 million people.
As Israel celebrates Rosh Hashanah this evening and the new Jewish year begins, the statistics bureau’s figures show one thing above all: the country continues to grow. Year after year, tens of thousands of new residents are added, and the high number of births remains the most important driver of this development.
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