The world's Jewish population has had a complex and tumultuous history over the past millennia, regularly dealing with persecution, pogroms, and even genocide. The legacy of expulsion and persecution of Jews, including bans on land ownership, meant that Jewish communities disproportionately lived in urban areas, working as artisans or traders, and often lived in their own settlements separate to the rest of the urban population. This separation contributed to the impression that events such as pandemics, famines, or economic shocks did not affect Jews as much as other populations, and such factors came to form the basis of the mistrust and stereotypes of wealth (characterized as greed) that have made up anti-Semitic rhetoric for centuries. Development since the Middle Ages The concentration of Jewish populations across the world has shifted across different centuries. In the Middle Ages, the largest Jewish populations were found in Palestine and the wider Levant region, with other sizeable populations in present-day France, Italy, and Spain. Later, however, the Jewish disapora became increasingly concentrated in Eastern Europe after waves of pogroms in the west saw Jewish communities move eastward. Poland in particular was often considered a refuge for Jews from the late-Middle Ages until the 18th century, when it was then partitioned between Austria, Prussia, and Russia, and persecution increased. Push factors such as major pogroms in the Russian Empire in the 19th century and growing oppression in the west during the interwar period then saw many Jews migrate to the United States in search of opportunity.

Throughout history, the displacement and migration of Jewish populations has been a repeating theme. In ancient times, the worlds Jewish population was concentrated in the Middle East, especially around Judaism's spiritual homeland in present-day Israel. However, the population distribution of the world's Jewry began to shift in the Middle Ages, with an increasing share living in Europe. Initially, Western Europe (particularly France, Italy, and Spain) had the largest Jewish populations, before they then migrated eastward in later centuries. Between the 18th and mid-20th centuries, over half of the worl'd Jews lived in Europe, with over 80 percent of these living in Eastern Europe.

Poland had become a refuge for Jews fleeing persecution in the Middle Ages, although shifting borders and foreign influence meant that long-term security was never fully attained, and a series of pogroms in the Russian Empire in the 1800s, and rising anti-Semitism in Central Europe in the early-1900s contributred to waves of migration to the United States and Israel during this time. After the Holocaust saw the genocide of up to six million Jews (over one third of the world's Jewish population), the share of Jews living in Europe dropped drastically, and emmigration outside of Europe increased. Today, the United States has the world's largest Jewish population in the world at around 7.3 million people, just ahead of Israel with 7.1 million.

The worldwide Jewish population experienced a marked decline during the 20th century due to the murder of six million Jewish people during the Holocaust, the genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II. While there were almost 17 million Jewish people alive before the Holocaust, or the Shoah as it is known in Hebrew, after the war this was only around 11.5 million people. By using several different fertility scenarios, demographers have been able to reconstruct what the Jewish population would be in modern times if the genocide of Jewish people had not happened. In scenarios where there was a low or very low fertility rate, the Jewish population in 2000 would be in the range of 26 to 33 million people, double what it was in reality. In a scenario where the population growth rate was the same as that observed in the Jewish population after WWII, which was extremely low, the global Jewish population would have risen to over 20 million people.

The two countries with the greatest shares of the world's Jewish population are the United States and Israel. The United States had been a hub of Jewish immigration since the nineteenth century, as Jewish people sought to escape persecution in Europe by emigrating across the Atlantic. The Jewish population in the U.S. is largely congregated in major urban areas, such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, with the New York metropolitan area being the city with the second largest Jewish population worldwide, after Tel Aviv, Israel. Israel is the world's only officially Jewish state, having been founded in 1948 following the first Arab-Israeli War. While Jews had been emigrating to the holy lands since the nineteenth century, when they were controlled by the Ottoman Empire, immigration increased rapidly following the establishment of the state of Israel. Jewish communities in Eastern Europe who had survived the Holocaust saw Israel as a haven from persecution, while the state encouraged immigration from Jewish communities in other regions, notably the Middle East & North Africa. Smaller Jewish communities remain in Europe in countries such as France, the UK, and Germany, and in other countries which were hotspots for Jewish migration in the twentieth century, such as Canada and Argentina.

The average for 2013 based on 21 countries was 4.3 percent. The highest value was in Israel: 76.2 percent and the lowest value was in Hungary: 0.2 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2013. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The Holocaust was the systematic extermination of Europe's Jewish population in the Second World War, during which time, up to six million Jews were murdered as part of Nazi Germany's "Final Solution to the Jewish Question". In the context of the Second World War, the term "Holocaust" is traditionally used to reference the genocide of Europe's Jews, although this coincided with the Nazi regime's genocide and ethnic cleansing of an additional eleven million people deemed "undesirable" due to their ethnicity, beliefs, disability or sexuality (among others). During the Holocaust, Poland's Jewish population suffered the largest number of fatalities, with approximately three million deaths. Additionally, at least one million Jews were murdered in the Soviet Union, while Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Yugoslavia also lost the majority of their respective pre-war Jewish populations. The Holocaust in Poland In the interwar period, Europe's Jewish population was concentrated in the east, with roughly one third living in Poland; this can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when thousands of Jews flocked to Eastern Europe to escape persecution. At the outbreak of the Second World War, it is estimated that there were 3.4 million Jews living in Poland, which was approximately ten percent of the total population. Following the German invasion of Poland, Nazi authorities then segregated Jews in ghettos across most large towns and cities, and expanded their network of concentration camps throughout the country. In the ghettos, civilians were deprived of food, and hundreds of thousands died due to disease and starvation; while prison labor was implemented under extreme conditions in concentration camps to fuel the German war effort. In Poland, six extermination camps were also operational between December 1941 and January 1945, which saw the mass extermination of approximately 2.7 million people over the next three years (including many non-Poles, imported from other regions of Europe). While concentration camps housed prisoners of all backgrounds, extermination camps were purpose-built for the elimination of the Jewish race, and over 90% of their victims were Jewish. The majority of the victims in these extermination camps were executed by poison gas, although disease, starvation and overworking were also common causes of death. In addition to the camps and ghettos, SS death squads (Einsatzgruppen) and local collaborators also committed widespread atrocities across Eastern Europe. While the majority of these atrocities took place in the Balkan, Baltic and Soviet regions, they were still prevalent in Poland (particularly during the liquidation of the ghettos), and the Einsatzgruppen alone are estimated to have killed up to 1.3 million Jews throughout the Holocaust. By early 1945, Soviet forces had largely expelled the German armies from Poland and liberated the concentration and extermination camps; by this time, Poland had lost roughly ninety percent of its pre-war Jewish population, and suffered approximately three million further civilian and military deaths. By 1991, Poland's Jewish population was estimated to be just 15 thousand people, while there were fewer than two thousand Jews recorded as living in Poland in 2018.

This statistic shows the top 25 countries in the world with the largest number of Jewish population in 2010. In 2010, there were living about 5.7 million Jews in the United States.

Population: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region: Birobidzhan: Non Working Age: Age 0 to 15 data was reported at 14.500 Person th in 2019. This records a decrease from the previous number of 14.700 Person th for 2018. Population: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region: Birobidzhan: Non Working Age: Age 0 to 15 data is updated yearly, averaging 13.600 Person th from Dec 2003 (Median) to 2019, with 17 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 14.700 Person th in 2018 and a record low of 12.900 Person th in 2007. Population: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region: Birobidzhan: Non Working Age: Age 0 to 15 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal State Statistics Service. The data is categorized under Russia Premium Database’s Demographic and Labour Market – Table RU.GA023: Population: by City: Far East Federal District.

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.

In the Middle Ages, it is believed the largest Jewish populations in the world were found in Asia, particularly across the Middle East. Of the estimated total Jewish population of 1.2 million people, over 80 percent are thought to have lived in Asia, while 13 percent lived in Europe, and the remaining six precent lived in (North) Africa. The largest populations were found on the Arabian peninsula, as well as Iran and Iraq, while the Near East (here referring to the Levant region) had a much smaller population, despite being the spiritual homeland of the Jewish people.

These figures are based on the records of Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish traveller from the Middle Ages who provided one of the most comprehensive collections of population statistics from the period. Benjamin's writings not only recorded the number of Jews living across this part of the world, but also gave an insight into societal structures and the ordinary daily lives within Jewish communities in the medieval period. The source providing these figures, however, has adjusted some of the statistics to account for known populations that were missing from Benjamin of Tudela's records, especially in Europe and Asia.

Paid Services Rendered to Population: Prev Year=100: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data was reported at 99.300 Prev Year=100 in 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 108.600 Prev Year=100 for 2021. Paid Services Rendered to Population: Prev Year=100: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data is updated yearly, averaging 101.400 Prev Year=100 from Dec 1995 (Median) to 2022, with 28 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 117.900 Prev Year=100 in 1998 and a record low of 58.500 Prev Year=100 in 1995. Paid Services Rendered to Population: Prev Year=100: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal State Statistics Service. The data is categorized under Russia Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table RU.HG009: Paid Services Rendered to Population: Volume Index: by Region: Previous Year=100.

Contemporary Jews comprise an aggregate of ethno-religious communities whose worldwide members identify with each other through various shared religious, historical, and cultural traditions1,2. Historical evidence suggests common origins in the Middle East, followed by migrations leading to the establishment of communities of Jews in Europe, Africa, and Asia - in what is termed the Jewish Diaspora3-5. This complex demographic history imposes special challenges in attempting to address the genetic structure of the Jewish people6. While many genetic studies have shed light on Jewish diseases and origins, including those focusing on uniparentally- and biparentally-inherited markers7-16, genome-wide patterns of variation across the vast geographic span of Jewish Diaspora communities and their respective neighbors have yet to be addressed. Here we use high-density bead arrays to genotype individuals from 14 Jewish Diaspora communities, and compare these patterns of genome-wide diversity with those from 69 Old World non-Jewish populations, of which 25 have not been previously reported. These samples were carefully chosen to provide comprehensive comparisons between Jewish and non-Jewish populations in the Diaspora, as well as with non-Jewish populations from the Middle East and North Africa. Principal component and structure-like analyses identify previously unrecognized genetic substructure within the Middle East. Most Jewish samples form a remarkably tight sub-cluster that overlies Druze and Cypriot samples, but not samples from other Levantine populations or paired Diaspora host populations. In contrast, Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) and Bene Israel Indian Jews cluster with neighbouring autochthonous populations in Ethiopia and western India, respectively; despite a clear paternal link between the Bene Israel and the Levant. These results cast light on the variegated genetic architecture of the Middle East, and trace the origins of most Jewish Diaspora communities to the Levant. 466 samples are analysed on three different Illumina platforms.

Population: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data was reported at 144,389.000 Person in 2024. This records a decrease from the previous number of 145,802.000 Person for 2023. Population: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data is updated yearly, averaging 179,058.000 Person from Dec 1989 (Median) to 2024, with 36 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 220,231.000 Person in 1991 and a record low of 144,389.000 Person in 2024. Population: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal State Statistics Service. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Russian Federation – Table RU.GA002: Population: by Region.

Population: Male: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data was reported at 68,353.000 Person in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 69,194.000 Person for 2022. Population: Male: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data is updated yearly, averaging 85,682.000 Person from Dec 1989 (Median) to 2023, with 35 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 108,009.000 Person in 1991 and a record low of 68,353.000 Person in 2023. Population: Male: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal State Statistics Service. The data is categorized under Russia Premium Database’s Demographic and Labour Market – Table RU.GA009: Population: Male: by Region.

Population: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region: Birobidzhan: Working Age data was reported at 41.100 Person th in 2019. This records a decrease from the previous number of 41.300 Person th for 2018. Population: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region: Birobidzhan: Working Age data is updated yearly, averaging 47.300 Person th from Dec 2003 (Median) to 2019, with 17 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 50.300 Person th in 2003 and a record low of 41.100 Person th in 2019. Population: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region: Birobidzhan: Working Age data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal State Statistics Service. The data is categorized under Russia Premium Database’s Demographic and Labour Market – Table RU.GA023: Population: by City: Far East Federal District. Labour Force population includes men aged 16-59 years old and women aged 16-54 years old Население трудоспособного возраста - мужчины 16-59 лет, женщины 16-54 года

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Population: Urban: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data was reported at 102,435.000 Person in 2024. This records a decrease from the previous number of 103,295.000 Person for 2023. Population: Urban: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data is updated yearly, averaging 120,394.000 Person from Dec 1989 (Median) to 2024, with 36 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 142,531.000 Person in 1990 and a record low of 102,435.000 Person in 2024. Population: Urban: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal State Statistics Service. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Russian Federation – Table RU.GA011: Population: Urban: by Region.

Kosher Beef Market Outlook

The global kosher beef market size was estimated to be approximately USD 8 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach around USD 12.7 billion by 2032, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1% during the forecast period. The growth of the kosher beef market can be attributed to rising consumer awareness about the benefits of kosher food, which is perceived as being cleaner, healthier, and adhering to stricter quality standards compared to conventional food products. This perception has led to an increase in demand not only among Jewish consumers but also among non-Jewish consumers who are interested in the perceived health benefits and quality assurance that kosher certifications provide.

One of the primary growth factors in the kosher beef market is the increasing demand for high-quality, ethically sourced meat products. Kosher beef meets strict dietary laws and is slaughtered using humane practices, which appeal to a growing number of consumers who are concerned about animal welfare. Furthermore, kosher meat is subject to rigorous inspection and quality checks, providing an added layer of safety and assurance to consumers. This has attracted health-conscious and ethically-minded consumers, expanding the market beyond its traditional Jewish demographic. As consumers globally become more discerning about their food sources, the demand for kosher beef is expected to continue to rise.

Another significant growth factor is the expanding global Jewish population, which inherently drives the demand for kosher products. As the Jewish community grows, particularly in regions like North America and certain parts of Europe, there is a corresponding increase in the demand for kosher foods, including beef. Additionally, the market is further bolstered by cultural and religious practices that necessitate the consumption of kosher foods during Jewish holidays and special occasions. This cultural significance helps sustain the market demand throughout the year, contributing to steady growth prospects for kosher beef producers and retailers.

The rising popularity of specialty diets and the trend towards diverse culinary experiences are also contributing to the growth of the kosher beef market. Consumers are increasingly exploring different food cultures and cuisines, with kosher foods being a part of this trend. Kosher beef, known for its unique preparation and taste, is becoming an attractive choice for food enthusiasts and culinary professionals alike. This is particularly evident in urban areas with diverse demographics, where kosher beef has found its way into gourmet restaurants and specialty foodservice establishments. As a result, the culinary appeal of kosher beef is playing a significant role in expanding its market reach.

The concept of Halal Meat, much like kosher, is rooted in religious dietary laws and has seen a surge in demand globally. Halal meat adheres to Islamic dietary guidelines, ensuring that the meat is not only permissible but also prepared in a manner that is humane and ethical. This includes specific slaughtering practices and a focus on cleanliness and purity. The growing Muslim population worldwide, along with increased awareness among non-Muslim consumers about the ethical and health benefits of halal meat, has contributed to its rising popularity. As consumers become more conscious of their food sources and ethical considerations, the demand for halal meat is expected to continue its upward trajectory, paralleling the growth seen in the kosher market.

From a regional perspective, North America holds a significant share of the kosher beef market, driven by a large Jewish population and a high level of consumer awareness about kosher foods. The United States, in particular, boasts a well-established kosher food industry, which continuously innovates to meet the diverse dietary needs of its population. In contrast, regions like Asia Pacific are witnessing a surge in demand owing to increasing globalization and the spread of Jewish culture and cuisine. Markets in Europe and the Middle East & Africa are also expected to experience growth, albeit at a slower pace, as awareness and availability of kosher products increase. Latin America, while traditionally less exposed to kosher foods, presents untapped potential for growth as consumer preferences evolve.

Product Type Analysis

In the kosher beef market, product type plays a critical role, with fresh, frozen, and processed kosher beef being the prim

The Jewish population of Europe decreased dramatically during the 20th century, as millions of Jews were killed during the Holocaust of the Second World War, while millions of others emigrated to escape persecution (notably to Israel and the U.S.). Some estimates suggest that the total number of Jews in Europe in 1933 was approximately 9.5 million people, with the majority of these living in Eastern Europe. Jews were a minority in most countries, however they still made up a significant portion of the population in countries such as Hungary, Poland and Romania. Following the war however, the Jewish populations in these countries dropped drastically, and by the end of the century they made up just 0.1 percent or less in several countries.

Population: Working Age: Urban: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data was reported at 60,821.000 Person in 2022. This records an increase from the previous number of 60,772.000 Person for 2021. Population: Working Age: Urban: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data is updated yearly, averaging 78,026.000 Person from Dec 1989 (Median) to 2022, with 34 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 83,028.000 Person in 1991 and a record low of 60,199.000 Person in 2020. Population: Working Age: Urban: FE: Jewish Autonomous Region data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal State Statistics Service. The data is categorized under Russia Premium Database’s Demographic and Labour Market – Table RU.GA013: Population: Working Age: by Region.