Worldwide Jewish population nears pre-Holocaust numbers

The worldwide Jewish population is approaching the size it was before the Holocaust, a new report by an independent Jerusalem-based think tank says.

The report, compiled by the Jewish People Policy Institute, indicates that there are 14.2 million Jews worldwide as of early 2015. Add in various “subgroups” (such as immigrants to Israel and American “partial Jews”) and the number approaches 16 million — which nears the pre-World War II global Jewish population of 16.6 million, Ynet reported on Friday.

After Israel, which is home to 6,103,200 Jews, the United States has the second-highest Jewish population at 5,700,000.

The JPPI report says that the last decade (2005-2015) has seen an eight percent increase in the Jewish population, or the biggest increase since the end of World War II. According to Ynet, the JPPI based these numbers on “halacha criteria for those living in Israel and self-identification for those living outside of Israel.”

See the list of countries and regions with the highest Jewish populations below.

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Israel– 6,103,200
United States– 5,700,000
France– 475,000
Canada- 385,300
Latin America– 383,500
Britain– 290,000
Russia– 186,000
Germany– 118,000
Australia– 112,500
Africa– 74,700
South Africa– 70,000
Ukraine– 63,000
Hungary– 47,900
Iran– 20,000
Asia– 19,700
Romania– 9,400
New Zealand– 7,600
Morocco– 2,400