Israeli population rises to 9.795 million on Rosh Hashanah eve

There are 9,795,000 people living in Israel, a rise of almost 200,000 in the past year, the Central Bureau Statistics said Wednesday, as it released new data to mark the upcoming festival of Rosh Hashanah.

Of those, 7,181,000 are Jewish, or 73 percent, along with 2,065,000 Arabs (21%) and 549,000 members of other minorities (6%).

Of the Jewish population aged 20 and over, 44.2% classified themselves as secular or nonreligious, 21% as traditional but not very observant, 11.7% as traditional and observant, 11.5% as religious and 10.8% as ultra-Orthodox aka Haredi.

The population of Israel is edging toward 10 million and is expected to reach that landmark by the end of 2024, then 15 million by the end of 2048 (100 years after the founding of the State of Israel) and 20 million by the end of 2065.

Since last year, Israel’s population grew by about 194,000 people — a growth rate of 2%.

Around 172,000 babies were born and 66,000 new immigrants arrived, while 48,000 people died.

Mourners carry the body of Sheikh Sami Abed al-Latif, who was shot and killed, during his funeral in Kafr Qara, on September 3, 2023 (Jamal Awad/Flash90(

The CBS also newly released some statistics from previous years.

In 2021, 22.8% of deaths were from cancer, 12.6% were from heart disease and 9.5% died from COVID-19.

That year, the average net household income was NIS 16,649, with monthly expenditures averaging at a very close NIS 15,122.

The data showed that women still on average earned far less than men — the average gross income of a self-employed woman was 53.9% that of men, and female employees earned on average just 66.1% of the salaries of men.

The data also showed that there were 147 people killed in violent circumstances in 2022, a fall of 15% from a year earlier.

However, that figure has already been greatly exceeded this year so far.