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.

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.

Europe's Jewish population in 1939 was around 9.5 million people, and it is estimated that six million of these were ultimately killed by 1945. The persecution of German Jews escalated during the interwar period, particularly after Hitler's ascent to power in 1933, and again after Kristallnacht in 1938. However, the scale of this increased drastically following the German invasions of Poland in 1939 and the USSR in 1941, when Germany annexed regions with some of the largest Jewish populations in Europe. Extermination Camps As part of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question", the Nazi occupiers established six extermination camps in present-day Poland; these were Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek***, Sobibor, and Treblinka. Prisoners, mostly Jews, were transported from all over Europe to these camps. Upon arrival, the majority of victims were sent directly to purpose-built chambers or vans, where they were murdered with carbon monoxide or Zyklon B gas. A relatively small number of prisoners were also forced to dispose of the victims' bodies, which often included their own family members, friends, or persons known to them. Most of the deceased were incinerated, and many of the camp records were destroyed; this means that precise figures for the number of deaths in extermination camps will never be known. It has been estimated that at least 2.7 million Jews were murdered in these six camps; over two thirds of these were killed at Auschwitz or Treblinka. Einsatzgruppen After extermination camps, the most common method of murder was through mass shootings. The majority of these shootings were not carried out by regular soldiers, but specialized task forces known as "Einsatzgruppen". Each group was just a few hundred men each, but they were responsible for some of the largest individual acts of genocide in the war. The largest of these took place at Babi Yar, near Kyiv in 1941, where almost 35,000 victims were beaten, humiliated, and then shot over a two day period. The Einsatzgruppen were most active in the annexed Soviet territories (although additional regiments were active in Poland and the Balkans), and their ranks were often bolstered by local volunteers. It has been estimated that Einsatzgruppen were responsible for the genocide of more than two million people in fewer than six years.

Compared to other Jewish communities in Greece, the community of Volos had much less Holocaust victims. This is mainly due to the fact that many Jewish families fled and found shelter at the mountainous villages of Pelion. This research, during which 9 testimonies were recorded, sought to record their experience while they were in "self-exile" at Pelion and upon their return back to the city.

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.

In 1808, as it was preparing for a major new war against Napoleonic France, the armed forces of the Habsburg Monarchy were augmented by two additional recruitment systems. In parallel to the creation of a trained reserve, which significantly increased the manpower available to the regular army, a popular levy was raised in the Austro-Bohemian crown lands. With a strength of nearly 150 battalions, the Landwehr was intended primarily for national defence. Its individual battalions were formed on a strictly territorial basis, ensuring men from the same area would serve together. In March 1809, when general mobilisation was declared, members of the Landwehr were asked to offer themselves as war volunteers. In the Kingdom of Bohemia, six battalions of such volunteers were drawn out of a total of 50 Landwehr battalions. To emphasise that they were wartime formations and not part of the standing army, these volunteer battalions were formally designated either as Freikorps or as Freiwillige. The Bohemian Freikorps was named Legion Erzherzog Carl in honour of the Austrian commander-in-chief, Generalissimo Archduke Charles. Unlike the regular army and the Landwehr, the bulk of the Legion was made of genuine volunteers. The unit sustained heavy combat casualties, but relatively few of its soldiers were taken prisoner, deserted, or went missing. Despite the defeat of the Austrian army, the Legion's battalions maintained their combat effectiveness to the very end of the war.

Based on all available manpower reports preserved in the Austrian State Archives, this database covers all 16 documented Jewish soldiers of the Legion EH Carl. Apart from one veteran non-commissioned officer who was transferred from the regular army, the remaining Jewish soldiers volunteered from their respective Landwehr battalions or were exempt civilians who signed up directly into the unit. The detailed monthly tables enable the reconstruction of their entire service itineraries, almost on a daily basis. When considered together, the Jewish soldiers of the Legion appear to have been enthusiastic fighters. By the end of the war, half of them had either become casualties or had been promoted to non-commissioned officers. Contrary to many regular army and Landwehr units, the EH Carl Legion did not experience disciplinary disintegration. It was, therefore, able to retain most of its men during the retreats from Bavaria and from the Battle of Wagram. Hence, most of its Jewish soldiers survived the war and were honourably discharged when the Legion was dissolved in January 1810.

The remaining 25 entries cover all the documented Jewish soldiers who served in other volunteer formations of the Austrian army during the 1809 War. Similar to Bohemia, volunteers were raised from the 24 Landwehr Battalions of Moravia and Silesia. The service record of the Mährische-Schlesische Freiwillige was similar to that the Legion EH Carl. Its three battalions fought well, as did its eight Jewish soldiers. Very different was the experience of the three Free Battalions from Galicia where not enough local volunteers came forward. After failing to reach the desired strength at the start of the war, these units first took foreign mercenaries and deserters and then, when many of these ran away, had to resort to conscripts. The fifteen Jewish soldiers of the Galician battalions were just that - a combination of transferees from the regular army, foreigners (including a deserter from the French army), and later in the war, conscripts. Almost half of them had deserted before the battalions were disbanded. The Bukovina Freikorps actually had two stages: a popular levy, which was badly defeated by the advancing Poles and which was subsequently re-organised as an army-run Freikorps manned primarily by second echelon troops: border guards, garrison troops, and members of the deserter cordon. Each of these formations had a Jewish soldier. Both were volunteers, and one of them even came with his own horse.

It should be made clear that the 41 individual entries in this dataset cannot give a full picture of the Jewish presence in volunteer formations in 1809. Unusually, the enlistment papers of the six battalions of the Wiener Freiwillige, by far the best-known volunteer formation of the Austrian army, did not record the religion of the recruits. Any Jew who served in that unit would not be known to us. Furthermore, the experience of the Jewish members of the volunteer formations should be seen in wider context. It was colourful but unrepresentative. There were probably hundreds of Jews in the Landwehr and several thousands in the regular army. Collective enthusiasm to volunteer pro-actively for military service to prove a point, which occurred in Jewish communities of the Habsburg Monarchy later on and particular during the First World War, was still very far away.

For more information on the Austrian Volunteer Formations during the 1809 War, see:

Alfons von Wrede, Geschichte der k. und k. Wehrmacht, 5 Vols., (Vienna: Seidel, 1898–1905), Vol. 2, pp. 459-66.

For more information on the Legion EH Carl, see:

Anton Ernstberger, Böhmens Freiwilliger Kriegseinsatz gegen Napoleon 1809, Veröffentlichen des Collegium Carolinum 14, (Munich: Robert Lerche, 1963), pp. 9-55.

Addressing vaccine hesitancy requires culturally adaptable tools. This study aimed to provide a better understanding of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Israel’s ultraorthodox Jewish community, where vaccine hesitancy is prevalent. We developed and validated a COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy questionnaire and explored correlates of intention to receive the fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in this population. A mixed-methods study employing an exploratory sequential design was conducted in May-September 2022. Building on qualitative data, a questionnaire was developed and validated in a cross-sectional study when the fourth dose was recommended to all adults. Thematic analysis identified several factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine decision-making, predominantly religious authority alongside health information sources, perceived vaccine safety, effectiveness, and trust in state authorities. In the cross-sectional study, 96/106 (90.6%) participants were vaccinated against COVID-19; 5.2%, 25.0%, 65.6%, and 4.2% received 1, 2, 3, and 4 doses, respectively. Intention to receive the fourth dose (yes/maybe) was reported by 46%. A factor analysis yielded several scales expressing perceptions regarding COVID-19, with Cronbach’s Alpha mostly between 0.689 and 0.887. Correlates of intention to receive the fourth dose were age ≥ 50 years: OR = 12.45 (95% CI 1.42–108.93), male-sex: 4.97 (1.47–16.81), perceiving the vaccine as important/effective and safe: 4.11 (1.29–13.13), utilizing ultraorthodox communication channels: 5.86 (1.58–21.73), and the number of previously received doses: 3.14 (1.31–7.53). Complementary evidence emphasized the role of religious authority and information sources (ultraorthodox communication channels) and balancing perceived vaccine safety and effectiveness and disease risk in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Israel’s ultraorthodox Jewish population.

Multispectral data for three Torah fragments from the Stadtmuseum Harburg. The fragments were found in a private estate. They likely come from Torah scrolls from the Harburg Synagogue, which were stolen, torn, and inscribed with hate propaganda and anti-semetic insults on the Reichspogromnacht in Harburg on November 9, 1938. The anti-semetic insults were later removed mechanically, and this project worked to recover the missing text to better understand the history of these fragments. The Torah fragments and their multispectral data were presented as part of an exhibit on the 1938 Reichspogromnacht in Harburg at the Stadtmuseum. Dataset contains raw image data as well as processed images.

Images in preview are compressed and of lower quality. They are mainly intended to serve as thumbnails. Original hiqh quality TIF images can be found in the Color and PROCESSED folder below (zip file). For information about filenames and folderstructure as well as MSI system related info, please read the "Brief Description of Datasets for Multispectral Imaging."

This is the first attempt to record the Jewish soldiers who became casualties in the numerous Wars between the Habsburg Monarchy and Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Jewish military service in the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian army from the mid-19th century onwards, especially during the First World War, is well known and documented. By contrast, nothing comparable has been done for the very first Jewish soldiers in modern history. The time has come to set the record straight!

The current database was compiled from the personal records of the War Archive (Kriegsarchiv) of the Austrian State Archives. At that time, the Habsburg army did not publish casualty lists other than mentioning the names of the most senior officers. To find individual Jewish soldiers who became casualties, one must identify serving Jewish soldiers in the regular musters and revision papers. Those found so far can be seen in the database Jewish Soldiers of the Habsburg Army (1788-1820), which should be used in parallel with this one. The current database offers an outtake with a separate list of Jewish soldiers who were killed, wounded, missing in action, or taken prisoner. The first version has 253 entries. These are arranged chronologically based on the date the soldier first became a casualty. The name of the battle or the action shows at the top of the table. Under each such action, up to four sub-categories are given:

1. K/KIA (Killed in Action) – Soldier killed outright in combat. Readers might be surprised how few such cases appear in the database. There are several possible reasons. Firstly, since 1781 the Habsburg manpower reports began to omit the rubric Vor Feind geblieben (left in front of the enemy) denoting soldiers killed in battle. This was part of a broader rationalisation of military records in the early days of Joseph II’s rule. Whichever was the cause of their death, all fatalities were now perceived as irrecoverable manpower wastage. Soldiers who died in service were now simply marked as gestorben. Identifying combat deaths is only possible by looking at monthly reports called Standes- und Diensttabellen. Even then, the number of combat deaths remains extraordinarily low. It appears that the Habsburg army formally recorded a soldier as ‘killed in action’ only if the body was identified. For this to happen, the army had to remain in control of the battlefield – in other words, the battle had to be won. For much of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period, this was rarely the case on the Austrian side. It appears that most combat deaths in the period landed in the rubric as ‘missing-in-action’.

2. W/WIA (Wounded in Action) – Muster rolls did not record wounds at all. Monthly tables did so very rarely. The latter were intended primarily as financial documents to record the source of the men’s pay. When a soldier entered hospital, his pay was issued from the hospital fund whose accounts were later reimbursed by the man’s regiment. While dates of hospitalisation were meticulously recorded, the cause of hospitalisation was not mentioned. In most cases, identifying wounded soldiers can only be done indirectly. When dozens or hundreds of men from the same unit were hospitalised on the same day directly after a major battle, it can be reasonably assumed that these were combat casualties. A sure way of identifying a wounded soldier was through the medical evaluation papers (Superarbitrierungs-Liste), which were filed for men no longer fit for wartime service. These papers always mentioned combat wounds, as this was a major argument in favour of making the soldier eligible for admission into the invalids. Unfortunately, the survival rate of these documents is variable and the majority simply do not exist. This database employs two categories for wounded soldiers. When medical papers or hospitalisation date allows clear identification, a soldier is entered into the database as a certain case. When broader context allows (such as wartime service and numerous other hospitalisations from the same company on the same day, suggesting a skirmish), such men are entered as probable cases.

3. P/POW (Prisoner of War) – Unlike the previous two rubrics, the Habsburg military records usually mentioned soldiers taken prisoner (Kriegsgefangen/ In Kriegsgefangenschaft gefallen). The reason was again financial. Firstly, returning men had to be issued with backpay. Secondly, from the Third Coalition War onwards, reciprocal wartime prisoner swaps (Cartel) were discontinued, but the system remained in place to ensure that mutual settlement of accounts between two belligerent armies could happen after the war. This is not the only reason why prisoners make the largest single category in our database. For much of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period, entire Austrian army corps were forced to surrender (for instance in Ulm in 1805). This happened so often that musters from 1806 and 1811 sometimes blankly omitted case of POWs, based on the assumption that nearly every soldier fell prisoner in the previous war. Therefore, for regiments who fought in Germany and Austerlitz in 1805, and in Bavaria and Deutsch-Wagram in 1809, one must also consult the monthly tables.

4. M/MIA (Missing in Action) – Recorded as Vor Feind vermisst or vermisst for short, this category denotes men who were missing when the battle ended. Anything could have happened to them. Some were dead (see rubric one), but others were taken prisoner, were lost, or deserted. The army recorded such missing men for the same reason as prisoners of war – to settle their backpay in future if necessary.

The total for each category of casualties is given at the bottom of the table for every war fought by the Habsburg army from 1792 to 1815. At the right hand side of the table are the grand totals for each category marked in red. At the end of every personal record are fields showing what happened to the soldier after he became a casualty. Wounded could recover or perish in hospital, while the prisoners and the missing could return. The same soldier could appear in the database more than once as he could be taken prisoner, be wounded or go missing several times. Only for those killed in action could the record be closed. For those who survived, the final fate was noted where known: discharge (including sub category), invaliding, desertion, or non-combat death. Men still in service when last mentioned in the documents are noted as ‘serves’. Whether complete or not, a detailed service record for each soldier as as I could reconstruct it from the sources is available in the database Jewish Soldiers of the Habsburg Army (1788-1820).

With more than 1,500 individual entries, this is the inaugural instalment of my research database collated in the framework of the Project Forgotten Soldiers: Jewish Military Experience in the Habsburg Monarchy. This is an open access database, and everyone is welcome to use it according to their own scholarly and personal interests. In 1,189 cases we have official documented records confirming the soldiers were Jewish. In another 313 entries I was able to identify likely Jewish soldiers based on circumstantial evidence cross-referencing names and places of birth, with the presence of confirmed Jewish soldiers drafted into the same units as part of the same recruitment drive. This dataset further includes evidence for 156 spouses and 47 children. While military records do mentions these, their number suggests that the Habsburg army preferred to enlist unmarried men.

The database is structured in a similar way to an official individual entry in the Habsburg military records. These were arranged in tables, with soldiers listed by seniority. Name, place and land of birth are followed by age and religion. This latter rubric allows identifying the bulk of the Jewish soldiers. Also included in the record is marital status, profession (if any), number, names and ages of children (if any), followed by a short summary text of the soldier’s service itinerary. While not always consistent in detail, these texts mention enlistment dates, transfers between units, promotions, desertions, periods as prisoner of war and military awards (if any). I have taken the material from the personal records and added several additional parameters:

• The soldiers are entered into the database according to their date of enlistment. This is followed by a colour-coded table showing their years of service. To see the meaning of the different colours employed, scroll to the legend at the end of the dataset.
• Following the years of service, we see the date when the soldier left service (final year in service for incomplete service records). When known, the reason the soldier left the army is given (discharge/ death/ desertion etc).
• Then come the three most important columns within the table: service record, primary sources and units. At first glance, these columns have only a few letters and numbers, but bring your mouse courser onto the relevant field marked with red triangles. An additional window will then open:

a. Service Record: Shows the entire service record of the soldier arranged by date. I use original German as it appears in the archival records. If you see spelling differences with modern German – they are there for a reason.

b. Primary Sources: Provides the information on all the archival records consulted to reconstruct the service itinerary. The number in the field denotes the number of the archival cartons consulted.

c. Units: Number of units in which a soldier serves. Bringing the cursor on to the field will open their list. Most Jewish soldiers served in the line infantry (IR) and the Military Transport Corps (MFWK or MFK). However, there were also Jewish sharpshooters, cavalrymen, gunners and even a few members of the nascent Austrian Navy.

• The next two columns provide entries of the soldier’s conduct and medical condition, which in Habsburg military jargon was referred to rather callously as Defekten. I note the original medical diagnoses verbatim. When possible to identify, I note the modern medical term.
• General database-wide parameters are then noted in the next part of the table. Among others, it provides information on enlistment type (conscript/ volunteer?), main branches of service (such as Infantry/ Cavalry/ Artillery), and roles within the military (such as non-commissioned officers/ drummers/ medics).
• Concluding this part of the table are columns covering desertions, periods as prisoner of war and awards of the army cannon cross (for veterans of 1813-14) and other military awards.
• The last column provides the original German outtake rubric as to how the soldier left service. In special cases, additional service notes are provides on the right.

How to use this dataset

This depends on what you are looking for. Firstly, download the dataset on to your computer via the link provided below. It is a simple Excel file which is easy to work with. If you wish to find out whether one of your ancestors served in the Habsburg army, use a simple keyword search. Please note that in our period there was no single accepted orthography meaning that some letters were used interchangeably (for instance B/P; D/T). There were also various patronymic suffices used in different parts of the monarchy (-witz in German/ -wicz in Polish/ -vits in Hungarian). Habsburg military clerks were mostly German speakers who often recorded the name phonetically. For instance, Jankel/ Jankl/ Jacob/ Jacobus all denote the same name. A Jewish teenager who identified himself as Moische when first reporting to duty, may have stayed so in the military records for decades, even if he was already a non-commissioned officer whose subordinates referred to as Herr Corporal.

If you study the history of concrete Jewish communities, use the keyword search and the filter option to find entries in the database where this locality is mentioned. Some places like Prague and Lublin could be identified effortlessly. In other cases (and see the above point on German-speaking clerks), place names were recorded phonetically. The military authority usually stuck to official Polish names in Galicia, and Hungarian in the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephan. In reality, a Jewish recruit from Transcarpathian Ruthenia could have his place of birth recorded in Hungarian, Romanian or Rusin. When I could not identify the place in question, I marked it with italics. Do you think you identified something I could not? Excellent! Then please write me, and I will correct the entry in the next instalment of this database.

I should stress that, currently, the database is not statistically representative. I have worked chronologically, meaning that there are disproportionally more entries for Jewish soldiers from the Turkish War, the first two Coalition Wars, and the Wars of 1805 and 1809. If you look at some of my other databases (for instance, that of the 1st Line Infantry Regiment 'Kaiser'), you will find least as many Jews who served in the wars of 1813-15. I will cover these in due course. This said, using the filter option of the Excel sheet, you can already make some individual queries. For instance, did Jewish grenadiers meet the minimal height requirement to be eligible for transfer into the elite infantry? (Hint: they did not!) If you are interested in the historical study of nutritional standards, compare the height of the soldiers with their year and place of birth. In my other project, I made calculations of the average height of Habsburg soldiers and I can already reveal that Jewish conscripts were, on average, several centimetres smaller than their non-Jewish comrades drafted in the same annual intake. Whatever stereotypes said, most Jews in the Habsburg Monarchy around 1800 were very poor and the sad fact of malnutrition as a child is reflected in their height as adults.

I should stress that this is a cumulative database. ZENODO has an excellent feature allowing updated versions to supersede earlier files while retaining the same DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and metadata. As my research progresses, I plan to upload new versions of this database bi-annually. This includes not only adding new entries, but also expanding and correcting existing ones. It might well be that the service record of a soldier covered up to 1806 will be brought to a later date, possibly even to his discharge from the army. If you have not found whom you are looking for, or if you want to work with larger samples for your research, visit this page again in a few months’ time. And if you do use this database for scholarly research (by all means, please do), do not forget to cite it as you would cite any other item in your bibliography! If you are a museum professional and you want to employ material from your database to illustrate your exhibitions, you are welcome, but please cite this resource for others to learn. Links to this database will also be appreciated.

Kosher Meat Market Outlook

As per our latest research, the global kosher meat market size reached USD 31.2 billion in 2024, and the market is projected to grow at a notable CAGR of 4.7% over the forecast period. By 2033, the global kosher meat market is expected to attain a value of USD 47.1 billion. This robust growth trajectory is primarily driven by the rising demand for high-quality, ethically produced meat products, combined with the increasing awareness and adoption of kosher dietary standards among both Jewish and non-Jewish populations worldwide.

The growth of the kosher meat market is underpinned by several critical factors. Firstly, there is a significant surge in consumer preference for food safety, traceability, and ethical production practices. Kosher meat, which adheres to strict religious and hygienic guidelines, is perceived as a safer and more trustworthy option compared to conventional meat products. This perception is not limited to the Jewish community; rather, it has expanded to include health-conscious consumers globally who associate kosher certification with higher standards of quality and food safety. Additionally, the rising incidence of foodborne illnesses and contamination scandals in the broader meat industry have further accelerated the shift towards kosher-certified products, as consumers seek reassurance regarding the origins and handling of their food.

Another major driver for the kosher meat market is the globalization of food culture and the proliferation of specialty diets. As international travel, migration, and cultural exchange increase, so does the exposure to and acceptance of kosher dietary laws. This has led to a broader customer base for kosher meat, including Muslims who find kosher slaughter methods compatible with halal requirements, as well as vegetarians occasionally seeking ethically produced meat. Furthermore, the growing number of kosher restaurants, delis, and food service providers has created additional demand, particularly in urban centers and areas with large Jewish populations. This trend is further supported by the expansion of kosher certification agencies, which have made it easier for producers and retailers to access and serve these niche markets.

Technological advancements and innovation in supply chain management have also played a pivotal role in the expansion of the kosher meat market. Enhanced logistics, cold chain infrastructure, and digital traceability solutions have made it possible to maintain the integrity of kosher certification from slaughterhouse to consumer. This has enabled kosher meat producers to reach wider markets, including remote regions and countries with limited local production. The rise of e-commerce and online retail platforms has further facilitated access to kosher meat products, allowing consumers to conveniently purchase certified products regardless of their location. This combination of technological progress and evolving consumer preferences is expected to sustain the market’s momentum well into the next decade.

From a regional perspective, North America remains the dominant market for kosher meat, accounting for the largest share due to its sizable Jewish population, established regulatory frameworks, and high consumer awareness. However, Europe and the Asia Pacific region are rapidly emerging as significant growth areas, driven by increasing multiculturalism, rising disposable incomes, and the proliferation of specialty food retailers. The Middle East & Africa region, while comparatively smaller in terms of market size, is witnessing steady growth due to religious and cultural factors. Latin America is also showing promising potential, particularly in countries with expanding Jewish communities and growing demand for specialty meat products. Overall, the kosher meat market is poised for sustained growth, fueled by a combination of demographic, cultural, and technological trends.

Product Type Analysis

The kosher meat market is segmented by product type into beef, poultry, lamb

This dataset contains the Arab West Report special reports published in the year 2003. The majority of the material in this dataset focuses on in depth analysis of Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt, however, Judaism is also the subject of a great deal of analysis in these reports. A number of the reports address relations between religious minorities such as 'dhimmi' status, and the complex relationship between national identity and religious identity. A number of reports are also media critique, a staple of AWR’s work.The AWR reports in this dataset also describe the early work of AWR, and introduce several of its early board members and affiliates. Authors include:- Cornelis Hulsman, Drs.- Sunni M. Khalid- Jeff Adams (Dr. Rev.)- Larry F. Levine (Dr.)- Victor M. Ordonez- Michael Reimer (Dr.)- Wolfram Reiss, (Rev. Dr.)- Johanna Pink (Dr.)- Nirmīn Fawzī- Hedda Klip- Munīr Hannā Anīs Armanius (Bishop)- Cassandra Chambliss- Adam Hannestad- David Weaver- Konrad Knolle (Rev.)- Usamah Wadi‘ al-Ahwani- Marjam Van Oort- Nawal al-Sa‘dawi- M.E. van Gent- Subhi ‘Uwaydah, (Rev. Dr.)- Andreas Van Agt, (Dr.)Institutional authors include AWR Editorial Board, AWR Board of Advisors, Center for the Study of Christianity in Islamic Lands (CSCIL), and EKD Presservice. All reports are written in English, though some reports feature Arabic text or cite Arabic sources.Team including job titles:Sparks, MA M.R. (Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT))Adams, Rev.Dr. J. (Religious News Service from the Arab-World (RNSAW))Levine, Dr. L.Khalid, S.Reimer, Dr. M. (American University in Cairo)Ordonez, Dr. V.Reiss, Rev. Dr. W.Pink, Dr. J.Fawzi, N. (Religious News Service from the Arab World (RNSAW))Klip, Rev. H. (Swiss Reformed Church)Hannā Anīs Armanius, Bishop M. (Episcopal Church)Chambliss, C. (Intern-Center for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU))Hannestad, A.Weaver, D. (Church World Service, USA)Knolle, Rev. K. (German Reformed Church in Cairo)Al-Ahwani, U. (Religious News Service from the Arab-World (RNSAW))Oort, M. Van (Roos Foundation)Al-Sa'adawi, N.Gent, M.E. VanUwaydah, Rev. Dr. S. (Coptic Evangelical Church Ismailia, Egypt)van Agt, Dr. A.EKD Press ServiceCenter for the Study of Christianity in Islamic Lands (CSCIL)AWR Editorial BoardAWR Board of AdvisorsHulsman, Drs. C. Mr. (Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation This Thematic Collection contains links to the datasets of the Stichting Arab-West Foundation (AWF), in The Netherlands in close cooperation with the Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT). These datasets cover the period 1994-2016. The data consists of the reporting of Dutch sociologist Cornelis Hulsman, reporting supervised by him, full-transcript interviews, audio recordings and summaries of these audio recordings.The Arab-West Foundation was established in 2005 to support the work of Cornelis Hulsman and his wife Eng. Sawsan Gabra Ayoub Hulsman-Khalil in Egypt. Cornelis Hulsman left The Netherlands for Egypt in October 1994. Sawsan Hulsman followed suit in 1995. They focused primarily on the study of Muslim-Christian relations and the role of religion in society in Egypt and neighboring countries, while obtaining their income from journalism.The purpose of this work was to foster greater understanding between Muslims and Christians in Egypt and to show non-Egyptians that relations between the two faiths in Egypt cannot be described in reductive black and white terms, rather they are diverse and complicated. Working towards mutual understanding of different cultures and beliefs helps to reduce tensions and conflicts. Too often, parties present themselves as the victim of the other which results in biased reporting. Sometimes this is done deliberately to gain support. What is lacking in cases like this, is an in-depth understanding of the wider context in which narratives of victimization occur. Hulsman found several patterns that are key to understanding Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt such as- the impact of a culture of honor and shame and- aversion in traditional areas for visible changes in public (which includes church buildings and making one’s conversion to another religion public).The datasets also include material on the place of Islamists in society, as well as wider information about Egyptian society since this is the context in which religious numerical minorities in Egypt live (the term minority is widely rejected in Egypt since all Egyptians, regardless of religion, are one. But in terms of numbers Christians are a minority).It was Hulsman’s ambition to obtain a PhD but the challenges of making a living in Egypt prevented him from accomplishing this goal. Up until the year 2001, Cornelis only had an income from traditional media reporting. After 2004 he became largely dependent upon working with Kerk in Actie (Netherlands), Missio and Misereor (Germany).Hulsman was dedicated towards non-partisan Muslim-Christian understanding. This began starting with a large number of recorded interviews, followed by research into why so many Christian girls convert to Islam (1995-1996). This work in turn led to the creation of an electronic newsletter called Religious News Service from the Arab World (RNSAW) and a growing number of investigative reports. In 2003 the RNSAW was renamed Arab-West Report. In 2004 they attempted to establish an Egyptian NGO but since no answer was obtained from authorities, the procedure was taken to the Council of State who ruled in 2006 that the request for NGO status was valid. This in turn resulted in a formal registration of the NGO with the Ministry of Social Solidarity in 2007. Because the outcome of this process was insecure in 2005 the Hulsmans established the Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT) . CIDT was established as a tawsiya basita (sole proprietorship) on the name of Sawsan Gabra Ayoub Khalil since it was extremely complicated to do this on the name of a non-Egyptian. In the same year friends of the Hulsman family established the Arab-West Foundation (AWF). CIDT tawsiya basita was closed in 2012. A new company was established under the same name but now as limited liability company and again it was not possible for Cornelis Hulsman to become a partner.As a consequence the Hulsmans have been working since 2005 with an Egyptian company and a Dutch support NGO. Since 2007 they have also been working with an Egyptian NGO. This was important, since Egyptian law prohibits companies from receiving donations and carrying out not-for-profit work. NGOs, on the other hand, need to request permissions from the Ministry of Social Solidarity for each donation they receive. Such permissions are hard to obtain.CIDT functions as a thinktank with funding from Kerk in Actie (Netherlands), Missio and Misereor (Germany) and at times projects with other organizations. CIDT produces the electronic newsletter Arab-West Report and has built the Arab West Report Database based on these data. Publication of this data is accomplished through the Arab-West Foundation since it turned out to be extremely hard to register Arab-West Report in Egypt. CAWU became the prime organization hosting student interns from Egypt and countries all over the world, which was possible since CAWU does not charge student interns for its services and neither pays them for any work carried out. Student interns have been contributing on a volunteer basis to the database of Arab-West Report, writing articles and papers and being engaged in social media under the supervision of Cornelis Hulsman. Other student interns contributed to summary translations of Arabic media, always supervised by a professional translator of CIDT.CAWU has been promoting intercultural dialogue through a variety of programs including meetings and forums with community members, religious leaders and politicians from Egypt and the West. CAWU's aim is to bridge the gap of misunderstanding between Arab and Western communities by exposing biased media reporting and informing the public and important persons on complicated issues.- Availability -AWF's datasets are available to researchers upon request. Please go to the dataset you wish to download and request permission via the button 'Request Permission' on the tab 'Datafiles'. AWF will respond to your request.

Islam is the major religion in many African countries, especially in the north of the continent. In Comoros, Libya, Western Sahara, at least 99 percent of the population was Muslim as of 202. These were the highest percentages on the continent. However, also in many other African nations, the majority of the population was Muslim. In Egypt, for instance, Islam was the religion of 79 percent of the people. Islam and other religions in Africa Africa accounts for an important share of the world’s Muslim population. As of 2019, 16 percent of the Muslims worldwide lived in Sub-Saharan Africa, while 20 percent of them lived in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Together with Christianity, Islam is the most common religious affiliation in Africa, followed by several traditional African religions. Although to a smaller extent, numerous other religions are practiced on the continent: these include Judaism, the Baha’i Faith, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Number of Muslims worldwide Islam is one of the most widespread religions in the world. There are approximately 1.9 billion Muslims globally, with the largest Muslim communities living in the Asia-Pacific region. Specifically, Indonesia hosts the highest number of Muslims worldwide, amounting to over 200 million, followed by India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Islam is also present in Europe and America. The largest Islamic communities in Europe are in France (5.72 million), Germany (4.95 million), and the United Kingdom (4.13 million). In the United States, there is an estimated number of around 3.45 million Muslims.

Anti-Jewish attacks were the most common form of anti-religious group hate crimes in the United States in 2023, with ***** cases. Anti-Islamic hate crimes were the second most common anti-religious hate crimes in that year, with *** incidents.

In 2020, the names "Oświęcim/Auschwitz" were associated primarily with the place of martyrdom of the Polish nation (43 percent), and slightly less frequently with the extermination of the Jews (38 percent). During the observed period, it can be seen that more people associated this place with the Holocaust of Jews. However, one percent of respondents did not have any knowledge about Auschwitz in 2020.