As of 2024, the population of Israel reached about 9.8 million permanent residents in total. About 7.7 million were registered as Jews or other non-Arab populations. Furthermore, some 2.1 million Arabs lived in the country.

Israel's population is aging steadily, with the median age projected to rise from 29 years in 2020 to 32 years by 2050. This demographic shift reflects global trends of increasing life expectancy and declining birth rates, though Israel maintained a relatively young population compared to many developed nations. The country's unique religious and cultural makeup contributed to regional variations in age distribution, presenting both opportunities and challenges for policymakers. Which region has the oldest population? As of 2023, over a quarter of Israelis were under the age of 14 years. The largest age group in the country being four-year olds and below. Interestingly, significant regional differences existed within the country when it came to age distribution and aging. While the median age in the Jerusalem district was below 24, Tel Aviv was the oldest region with an average age of over 34 years, highlighting significant demographic variations across different areas. How does religion influence demographics? Religious affiliation played a role in Israel's age structure and demographics. Muslims are the youngest religious group with a median age of 24 years, while Christians of Arab ethnicity are the oldest, at 35 years. Jews, the largest religious-ethnic group, had a median age of almost 32 years, but within the Jewish demographic, age and fertility varied greatly between people based on religiosity. These differences play a significant role in the country's population and future growth patterns.

The total population in Israel was estimated at 9.8 million people in 2023, according to the latest census figures and projections from Trading Economics. This dataset provides - Israel Population - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Chart and table of Israel population from 1950 to 2025. United Nations projections are also included through the year 2100.

As of 2023, the Central district was the most populated region in Israel, with some 2.4 million inhabitants. The Northern and Tel Aviv districts followed, with approximately 1.6 million and 1.5 million people, respectively. On the other hand, Israeli localities in the West Bank, recorded the lowest number of permanent residents that year of 504,700 people.

The annual population growth in Israel increased by 0.1 percentage points (+5.08 percent) compared to the previous year. Therefore, the population growth in Israel reached a peak in 2023 with 2.06 percent. Annual population growth refers to the change in the population over time, and is affected by factors such as fertility, mortality, and migration.Find more key insights for the annual population growth in countries like Kuwait and Syria.

Israel IL: Birth Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data was reported at 21.200 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 21.300 Ratio for 2015. Israel IL: Birth Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 22.600 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 28.000 Ratio in 1971 and a record low of 20.800 Ratio in 2005. Israel IL: Birth Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Israel – Table IL.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Crude birth rate indicates the number of live births occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

Abstract

IPUMS-International is an effort to inventory, preserve, harmonize, and disseminate census microdata from around the world. The project has collected the world's largest archive of publicly available census samples. The data are coded and documented consistently across countries and over time to facillitate comparative research. IPUMS-International makes these data available to qualified researchers free of charge through a web dissemination system.

The IPUMS project is a collaboration of the Minnesota Population Center, National Statistical Offices, and international data archives. Major funding is provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Additional support is provided by the University of Minnesota Office of the Vice President for Research, the Minnesota Population Center, and Sun Microsystems.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

Household

UNITS IDENTIFIED: - Dwellings: Not available in microdata sample - Vacant units: Not available in microdata sample - Households: Yes - Individuals: Yes - Group quarters: Includes but not identified - Special populations: No special populations

UNIT DESCRIPTIONS: - Households: A group of persons living together in the same dwelling who prepare most of their meals together. Generally, this term is identical with members of a family who live in the same dwelling. A person living alone is considered to be a household. - Group quarters: An administrative unit that provides dormitory facilities and usually food services to at least five individuals.

Universe

Permanent residents of Israel, including those who were abroad on the census date but had been absent from Israel no longer than one year continuously. Jewish persons living in Jewish localities in administered territories.

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Sampling procedure

MICRODATA SOURCE: Central Bureau of Statistics - Israel

SAMPLE DESIGN: Systematic sample of every 5th household after a random start. 1-in-2 sample drawn from that by MPC.

SAMPLE UNIT: Household

SAMPLE FRACTION: 10%

SAMPLE SIZE (person records): 315,608

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The census was conducted in two stages and for each one there a separate enumeration form. In the first stage (A), the entire population was enumerated. The stage A questionnaire was designed to cover all households and every member in the houusehold.

In 1995, Israel had a Jewish population of approximately 4.5 million people, of whom approximately 1.75 million were born abroad. Over one million of these immigrants were born in Europe, with over 650,000 of these born in the former Soviet Union. Despite Poland having the largest Jewish population in the world in the pre-WWII years, the number of Polish Jewish migrants and descendents in Israel was relatively small in 1995 when compared to the USSR due to the impact of the Holocaust.

Outside of Europe, Morocco had the largest number of Jewish immigrants and descendents in Israel by 1995. Morocco had the largest Jewish population in the Muslim world when Israel was founded in 1948, with over 250,000 people. Many Moroccan Jews sought to emigrate to Israel at this time, but often faced resistance from authorities and local populations who believed the Jews would join in the fight against the Arab forces seeking to establish a Muslim state in Palestine. The government of Morocco then officially prohibited emigration to Israel after gaining independence from France in 1956, however this policy was reversed in 1961 whereby the Moroccan government began facilitating Jewish emigration to Israel in return for payments from Jewish organizations in the U.S. and Israel. By the 1970s, Morocco's Jewish population had fallen to less than 15 percent of its size in 1948.

Israel IL: Population: Male: Ages 25-29: % of Male Population data was reported at 6.965 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 7.044 % for 2016. Israel IL: Population: Male: Ages 25-29: % of Male Population data is updated yearly, averaging 7.489 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8.637 % in 1979 and a record low of 5.952 % in 1968. Israel IL: Population: Male: Ages 25-29: % of Male Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Israel – Table IL.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Male population between the ages 25 to 29 as a percentage of the total male population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; ;

Graph and download economic data for Infra-Annual Labor Statistics: Working-Age Population Total: From 25 to 54 Years for Israel (LFWA25TTILM647N) from Jan 2012 to Jan 2025 about Israel, 25 to 54 years, working-age, and population.

Jews were the dominant religious group in the Israel-Palestine region at the beginning of the first millennia CE, and are the dominant religious group there today, however, there was a period of almost 2,000 years where most of the world's Jews were displaced from their spiritual homeland. Antiquity to the 20th century Jewish hegemony in the region began changing after a series of revolts against Roman rule led to mass expulsions and emigration. Roman control saw severe persecution of Jewish and Christian populations, but this changed when the Byzantine Empire adopted Christianity as its official religion in the 4th century. Christianity then dominated until the 7th century, when the Rashidun Caliphate (the first to succeed Muhammad) took control of the Levant. Control of region split between Christians and Muslims intermittently between the 11th and 13th centuries during the Crusades, although the population remained overwhelmingly Muslim. Zionism until today Through the Paris Peace Conference, the British took control of Palestine in 1920. The Jewish population began growing through the Zionist Movement after the 1880s, which sought to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. Rising anti-Semitism in Europe accelerated this in the interwar period, and in the aftermath of the Holocaust, many European Jews chose to leave the continent. The United Nations tried facilitating the foundation of separate Jewish and Arab states, yet neither side was willing to concede territory, leading to a civil war and a joint invasion from seven Arab states. Yet the Jews maintained control of their territory and took large parts of the proposed Arab territory, forming the Jewish-majority state of Israel in 1948, and acheiving a ceasefire the following year. Over 750,000 Palestinians were displaced as a result of this conflict, while most Jews from the Arab eventually fled to Israel. Since this time, Israel has become one of the richest and advanced countries in the world, however, Palestine has been under Israeli military occupation since the 1960s and there are large disparities in living standards between the two regions.

Key information about Israel population

• The Israel population reached 10.0 million people in Dec 2024, compared with the previously reported figure of 9.9 million people in Dec 2023
• The data reached an all-time high of 10.0 million people in Dec 2024 and a record low of 1.2 million people in Dec 1949

• In the latest reports, Israel Unemployment Rate dropped to 2.6 % in Dec 2024
• Monthly earnings of the Israel population was 3,658.4 USD in Oct 2024
• Israel Labour Force Participation Rate increased to 62.8 % in Dec 2024

Israel IL: Population: Female: Ages 50-54: % of Female Population data was reported at 4.840 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 4.859 % for 2016. Israel IL: Population: Female: Ages 50-54: % of Female Population data is updated yearly, averaging 4.725 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5.816 % in 2004 and a record low of 3.727 % in 1993. Israel IL: Population: Female: Ages 50-54: % of Female Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Israel – Table IL.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Female population between the ages 50 to 54 as a percentage of the total female population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; ;

Israel IL: Population: Total data was reported at 8,712,400.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 8,546,000.000 Person for 2016. Israel IL: Population: Total data is updated yearly, averaging 4,480,000.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8,712,400.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 2,114,020.000 Person in 1960. Israel IL: Population: Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Israel – Table IL.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Sum; Relevance to gender indicator: disaggregating the population composition by gender will help a country in projecting its demand for social services on a gender basis.

Israel IL: Population: Male data was reported at 4,327,436.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 4,241,657.000 Person for 2016. Israel IL: Population: Male data is updated yearly, averaging 2,239,150.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4,327,436.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 1,071,918.000 Person in 1960. Israel IL: Population: Male data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Israel – Table IL.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Male population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all male residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.; ; World Bank staff estimates using the World Bank's total population and age/sex distributions of the United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; Sum;

At the end of 2023, the population of Israel reached almost 9.7 million permanent residents. Jewish residents formed the largest religious group, with just over 7.15 million people. The Muslim population in the country, formed the largest religious minority at over 1.7 million individuals. Conversely, the smallest religious group was that of the Druze with about 151,000 people.

Employment to population ratio, ages 15-24, female (%) (national estimate) in Israel was reported at 45 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Israel - Employment to population ratio, ages 15-24, female (national estimate) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on March of 2025.

Employment to population ratio, ages 15-24, male (%) (modeled ILO estimate) in Israel was reported at 43.57 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Israel - Employment to population ratio, ages 15-24, male - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on March of 2025.

Employment to population ratio, 15+, total (%) (national estimate) in Israel was reported at 62.86 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Israel - Employment to population ratio, 15+, total (national estimate) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on March of 2025.