Israel’s population approaches 9.7 million as 2022 comes to an end

73.6% of residents Jewish, 21.1% Arab; population grows by 2.2% amid surge of immigrants from Russia and Ukraine

By ToI Staff 29 December 2022, 8:00 pm 1 Edit

Ukrainian immigrants to Israel who fled fighting in Ukraine arrive on a rescue flight at Ben Gurion Airport, on March 17, 2022. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

Israel has close to 9.7 million residents, according to an estimate by the Central Bureau of Statistics released on Thursday to mark the end of 2022.

The CBS calculated that of the 9,656,000 people who live in the country, 7,106,000 (73.6 percent) are Jewish, 2,037,000 (21.1%) are Arab, and 513,000 (5.3%) are defined as “others,” including non-Arab Christians, members of other faiths and those listed as not belonging to any religion.

The past year saw the population grow by 2.2%, greater than the figure of 1.8% last year — 62% from natural growth, and 38% from migration.

At the end of last year, the population stood at 9.449 million, and hit 9.593 million on the eve of the Jewish New Year in September.

Some 178,000 babies were born in 2022, 74.8% of them to Jewish mothers and 23.8% to Arab mothers.

About 73,000 new immigrants arrived, 58.1% of them from Russia and 21.3% from Ukraine — the direct effect of Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor. In 2021, the number of immigrants was about a third of that — 25,000.

The CBS also estimated that around 51,700 people died in Israel over the past year.