The population of Israel is edging toward 10 million, making it a dozen times larger than it was on the day the Jewish state was established, according to figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Monday ahead of the country’s 75th Independence Day celebrations.
There are 9,727,000 people living in Israel, the CBS said. Of those, 7,145,000 are Jewish, or 73.5 percent, along with 2,048,000 Arabs (21%) and 534,000 members of other minorities (5.5%).
Since last year, the population grew by 216,000 people, an increase of 2.3%. There were 183,000 babies born and 79,000 new immigrants arrived, while 51,000 people died.
Over a quarter of Israelis, 28%, are children aged 14 or under, while 12% are over the age of 65.
When the state was founded on May 14, 1948, there were 806,000 people living in the country, meaning it has grown twelve-fold over the decades.
The years in between have seen 3.3 million new immigrants arrive in the country. Nearly half of them — 43%, or 1.5 million — arrived since 1990.
This year, we want to do more to bless Israel and the Jewish people.
We know that as we bless Israel this year, God will bless us, just as He promised in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Now is the time to bless Israel and the Jewish people.
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