As it welcomes in 2021, Israel’s population rises to 9,291,000
Statistics show increase of 151,000 people since last year; 176,000 babies born, 20,000 people immigrate, 50,000 people die; 1 in 15 deaths in 2020 were from COVID-19
People wearing a face mask walk in the Jerusalem city center on November 29, 2020, as Israel steps out of its coronavirus lockdown and rolls back restrictions. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
Israel’s population now numbers nearly 9.3 million, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) announced Thursday, hours before the end of 2020 and the start of the new year.
According to the CBS, Israel’s population grew by 151,000 people, or 1.7 percent, since last year and now stands at 2.91 million people.
There are currently 6.870 million Jews, accounting for 74% of the population, while the 1.956 million Arabs in Israel make up 21% of the population. Another 456,000 people defined as “others” make the remaining 5%.
Over the course of the past year, 176,000 babies were born and 20,000 people immigrated from Jewish Diaspora. Some 11,000 others moved to the country, including returning citizens, while some 6,000 residents left.
Some 50,000 people died this year. One in 15 deaths was coronavirus-related.
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People wait to receive a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, December 29, 2020 (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
The CBS said that the pandemic played a part in raising the number of deaths by some 6,000 relative to the number for 2019.
“In the first months after the coronavirus pandemic reached Israel, the number of deaths from COVID-19 was relatively low, as was the percentage of
deaths from the virus out of the total number of deaths. This percentage was on an upward trend since the middle of July, though at the end of October there was a decrease in the percentage of deaths from the virus out of the total number of deaths,” the annual report said.
The CBS noted the drop in immigration figures compared to last year.
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The 20,000 people who came to Israel in 2020 constitute a 40% drop from the 33,247 new immigrants who arrived last year, according to the figures.
International travel has been greatly impacted by the virus spread, as countries — including Israel — at times closed their borders to foreigners in an effort to curb infections, or ordered quarantine for travelers. But new immigrants to Israel were still allowed to come.
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