The Central Bureau of Statistics has released data on Israeli society towards 2020 • In the last decade there has been an increase in the population of 2 million people • This year 177,000 babies were born • And what is the average age for first birth? • For the full data

• Photo by Jonathan Zindel

At the start of 2020, Israel's population numbers 9,136,000, of which 6,772,000 are Jews, representing 74.1% of the total population, according to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

The Arab sector constitutes 21% of the population (1,916,000), and 488,000 people, which is 2% of the population - include new immigrants who are not registered in the Ministry of the Interior's population register as Jews, but immigrated to the State of Israel by virtue of the Law of Return.

A decade of growth: Israel's population has grown by almost two million people

Since 2009, and over the coming decade, the Israeli population has grown by nearly 2 million. During 2019, approximately 177,000 babies were born - 74% of them for Jewish mothers, 23.2% for Arab mothers and 2.8% for other mothers.

By comparison, ten years ago, at the beginning of the second decade of the 20th century, about 160,000 babies were born in Israel: 73% of them for Jewish mothers, 22% for Arab mothers and 5% for others.

During 2019, there were approximately 169,000 people added to Israel's population, a 1.9% increase, compared to more than 2% a year's population growth rate in the previous decade. Most of the increase (78%) of the Israeli population was due to natural growth, and the rest (22%) of the international migration balance. During 2019, some 34,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel, and 9,000 immigrants. The following year, approximately 45,000 Israelis died, and another 6,000 descending Israelis died abroad.

Leaders are still on the rise: About half of the immigrants came from Russia

The main countries from which immigrants came in 2019 were Russia (46.6%), Ukraine (18.8%), USA (7.7%) and France (6.9%). Most immigrants, about 27,100, came from Europe (80.8%), about 4,600 - from America and Oceania (13.7%), about 1,400 from Asia (4.1%) and about 500 from Africa.

Among the Jewish population, 86% of the population increase was due to natural increase (168,205 persons). Among the Arab population, the rate of increase from natural increase is 94% (37,840 persons), and among the rest of the population, only 14% of the increase is due to natural increase, and the rest is from immigration.

The outlook: Increasing longevity

While the percentage of people aged 65 and over now stands at 11.8% of the population in 2064, this percentage will be 15.5%, while the percentage of persons aged 75 and over now stands at 4.8% of the population in 2064, this will reach 8.8%. While the percentage of people aged 90 and over now stands at only 0.6% of the population in 2064, it will reach 1.7%.

It also shows that the Jewish population is aging at a higher percentage than the Arab population.

While only 27.1% of the Jewish population is 0-14 years old, in the Arab population this percentage reaches 32.3%.

Mean age for first child: 27.7 years

The average age of first birth in Israel is 27.7 years (lower than the average of 29.1 years in the OECD). In the Arab population, the average age of the first child is 24.6 years. In the Jewish population, the average age of birth is 28.6 years. The data also show that fertility in the general population of Israel is on the rise, on average, about three children per woman. In the Jewish population, Jewish fertility is on the rise, with an average of 3.3 children per woman.

In addition, the figures in Israel indicate that life expectancy is rising steadily: life expectancy in the Jewish population of men is 81.5 years, and women 85.2 years. Life expectancy in the Arab population is lower: men 78 years on average, women 82.3 years on average. The average life expectancy in Israel has risen by more than three years in the past decade.