Israeli population tops 9.5 million, is set to reach 10 million by end of 2024

Israel has just over 9.5 million residents, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) says in data released to mark the upcoming Rosh Hashanah holiday, the start of the Jewish new year.

According to the statistics, 9.593 million people live in Israel.

Of those, 7.069 million (74%) are Jewish, 2.026 million (21%) are Arab and 498,000 (5%) are neither.

The government agency says the population is expected to reach 10 million by the end of 2024.

The population of Israel grew by around 187,000 people since Rosh Hashanah 2021, the CBS says, a rate of 1.8% — a slight increase over last year.

Throughout the year, 177,000 babies were born in Israel. Some 53,000 people died, around 4,000 of them as a result of the coronavirus.

About 63,000 people were added to the population in the immigration balance, of which about 59,000 are new immigrants — a massive jump compared to previous years, fueled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.