Demographic history of Jerusalem

Jerusalem's population size and composition has shifted many times over its 5,000 year history. Since medieval times, the Old City of Jerusalem has been divided into Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian quarters.

Most population data pre-1905 is based on estimates, often from foreign travellers or organisations, since previous census data usually covered wider areas such as the Jerusalem District.[1] These estimates suggest that since the end of the Crusades, Muslims formed the largest group in Jerusalem until the mid-nineteenth century. Between 1838 and 1876, a number of estimates exist which conflict as to whether Jews or Muslims were the largest group during this period, and between 1882 and 1922 estimates conflict as to exactly when Jews became a majority of the population.

In 2003, the total population of Jerusalem was 693,217 including 464,527 Jews and 228,690 "Arabs and others" (Choshen 1), that same year the population of the Old City was 3,965 Jews and 31,405 "Arabs and others" (Choshen 12).

Contents

Overview

Jerusalemites are of varied national, ethnic and religious denominations and include European, Middle Eastern and African Jews, Christian Armenians, and Muslim, Protestant, Greek Orthodox Arabs, Syrian Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox Arabs, among others.[2] Many of these groups were once immigrants or pilgrims that have over time become near-indigenous populations and claim the importance of Jerusalem to their faith as their reason for moving to and being in the city.[2]

Jerusalem's long history of conquests by competing and different powers has resulted in different groups living in the city many of whom have never fully identified or assimilated with a particular power, despite the length of their rule. Though they may have been citizens of that particular kingdom and empire and involved with civic activities and duties, these groups often saw themselves as distinct national groups (see for example, the Armenians).[2] The Ottoman millet system, whereby minorities in the Ottoman Empire were given the authority to govern themselves within the framework of the broader system, allowed these groups to retain autonomy and remain separate from other religious and national groups.

Since 1967, when Israel recaptured East Jerusalem, the Jewish population in Jerusalem has declined from 76% to 64% and is continuing to drop about 1% per year. The Arab population of Jerusalem has increased from 24% to 36%. The Arab population is burgeoning, outpacing Jewish growth in the city. While Jews remain a significant majority of the population, as they have been since as early as 1845, their numbers have grown just 114% in the thirty years since the city's unification in 1967. The Arab population, in contrast, has expanded by 163% in the same time period. At 36% of the total in 2006, Jerusalem is now far more Arab than it was in 1967 when East Jerusalem was recaptured.

Historical population by ethnicity

The tables below provide data on demographic change over time in Jerusalem, with an emphasis on the Jewish population. Readers should be aware that the boundaries of Jerusalem have changed many times over the years and that Jerusalem may also refer to a district or even a sub-district under Ottoman, British, or Israeli administration, see e.g. Jerusalem District. Thus, year-to-year comparisons may not be valid due to the varying geographic areas covered by the population censuses.

First Century Jerusalem

During the first Jewish-Roman war (66–73 CE) the population of Jerusalem was estimated at 600,000 persons by Roman historian Tacitus, while Josephus, estimated that there were as many as 1,100,000, inhabitants of Jerusalem of whom 97,000 were sold as slaves [4]According to Josephus("B. J." v. 13, § 7),after the Roman victory over the Jews, as many as 115,880 dead bodies were carried out through one gate between the months of Nisan and Tammuz.[5]

Middle Ages

Year Jews Muslims Christians Total Original Source As quoted in
c.1130 0 0 30,000 30,000  ? Runciman
1267 2*  ?  ?  ? Nachmanides, Jewish Scholar
1471 250*  ?  ?  ?  ? Baron
1488 76*  ?  ?  ?  ? Baron
1489 200*  ?  ?  ?  ? Yaari, 1943[3]

* Indicates families.

Ottoman era

Year Jews Muslims Christians Total Original Source As quoted in
1525–6 1,194 3,704 714 5,612 Ottoman taxation registers* Cohen and Lewis[4]
1538–9 1,363 7,287 884 9,534 Ottoman taxation registers* Cohen and Lewis[4]
1553–4 1,958 12,154 1,956 16,068 Ottoman taxation registers* Cohen and Lewis[4]
1596–77  ? 8,740 252  ? Ottoman taxation registers* Cohen and Lewis[4]
1723 2,000  ?  ?  ? Van Egmont & Heyman, Christian Travellers [5]

Modern era

Muslim "relative majority"

Year Jews Muslims Christians Total Original Source As quoted in
1806 2,000 4,000 2,774 8,774 Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, Frisian explorer[6] Sharkansky, 1996[7][8]
1815 4 - 5,000  ?  ? 26,000 William Turner[9] Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]
1824 6,000 10,000 4,000 20,000 Fisk and King, Writers [10]
1832 4,000 13,000 3,560 20,560 Ferdinand de Géramb, French monk Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]

Muslim or Jewish "relative majority"

Between 1838 and 1876, conflicting estimates exist regarding whether Muslims or Jews consituted a "relative majority" (or plurality) in the city.

Writing in 1841, the biblical scholar Edward Robinson noted the conflicting demographic estimates regarding Jerusalem during the period, stating in reference to an 1839 estimate by Sir Moses Montefiore: "As to the Jews, the enumeration in question was made out by themselves, in the expectation of receiving a certain amount of alms for every name returned. It is therefore obvious that they here had as strong a motive to exaggerate their number, as they often have in other circumstances to underrate it."[11] Between 1856 and 1880, Jewish immigration to Palestine more than doubled, with the majority settling in Jerusalem.[12] The majority of these immigrants were Ashkenazim from Eastern Europe, who subsisted on Halukka.[12]

Year Jews Muslims Christians Total Original Source As quoted in
1838 3,000 4,500 3,500 11,500 Edward Robinson Edward Robinson, 1841[13]
1844 7,120 5,000 3,390 15,510 Ernst-Gustav Schultz, Prussian consul Harrel and Stendel, 1974
1846 7,515 6,100 3,558 17,173 Titus Tobler, Swiss explorer[14] Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]
1850 13,860  ?  ?  ? Dr. Ascher, Anglo-Jewish Association
1850 630* 1,025* 738* 2,393*  ? Alexander Scholch, 1985[15]
1851 5,580 12,286' 7,488 25,354 Official census[16] Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]
1856 5,700 10,300 3,000 18,000 Ludwig August von Frankl, Austrian writer Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]
1857 7,000  ?  ? 10-15,000 HaMaggid periodical Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]
1862 8,000 6,000 3,800 17,800 HaCarmel periodical Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]
1866 8,000 4,000 4,000 16,000 John Murray travel guidebook Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]
1867 4 - 5,000 6,000  ?  ? Ellen-Clare Miller, Missionary [17]
1869 3,200* n/a n/a n/a Rabbi H. J. Sneersohn New York Times[18]
1869 9,000 5,000 4,000 18,000 Hebrew Christian Mutual Aid Society [19][20]
1869 7,977 7,500 5,373 20,850 Liévin de Hamme, Franciscan missionary Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]
1871 4,000 13,000 7,000 20,560 Karl Baedeker travel guidebook Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]
1876 12,000 7,560 5,470 25,030 Liévin de Hamme, Franciscan missionary Harrel and Stendel, 1974
1876 4,000 13,000 3,560 20,560 Bernhard Neumann [21] Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]

Jews as a full or relative majority

Between 1882 and 1905, conflicting estimates exist regarding whether Jews were a full majority (i.e. more than half the total population) or a "relative majority" (plurality).

During the First Aliyah, which began in 1881, the population of Jerusalem began to increase from around 20,000 to around 60,000 by the time of the British mandate. The relative proportion of Jews began to increase during this period, likely constituting more than half the city's population by the turn of the century.

Year Jews Muslims Christians Total Original Source As quoted in
1882 9,000 7,000 5,000 21,000 Wilson Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]
1885 15,000 6,000 14,000 35,000 Goldmann Kark and Oren-Nordheim, 2001[8]
1893 >50%  ?  ? ~40,000 Albert Shaw, Writer Shaw, 1894 [22]
1896 28,112 8,560 8,748 45,420 Calendar of Palestine for the year 5656 Harrel and Stendel, 1974
1905 13,300 11,000 8,100 32,400 1905 Ottoman census U.O.Schmelz[23]

Jewish majority

Year Jews Muslims Christians Total Original Source As quoted in
1922 33,971 13,413 14,669 62,578 Census of Palestine (British) Harrel and Stendel, 1974
1931 51,200 19,900 19,300 90,053 Census of Palestine (British) Harrel and Stendel, 1974
1944 97,000 30,600 29,400 157,000  ?  ?
1947 100,000  ?  ? 205,000  ? United Nations (1983) includes
Bethlehem and surrounding Arab villages
1948 100,000 40,000 25,000 165,000  ? Harrel, 1974
1967 195,700 54,963 12,646 263,307  ? Harrel, 1974

* Indicates families.

After Jerusalem Law

Year Jews Muslims Christians Total Original Source As quoted in
1980 292,300  ?  ? 407,100 Jerusalem Municipality
1985 327,700  ?  ? 457,700 Jerusalem Municipality
1987 340,000 121,000 14,000 475,000 Jerusalem Municipality
1990 378,200 131,800 14,400 524,400 Jerusalem Municipality
1995 417,100 182,700 14,100 617,000 Jerusalem Municipality
1996 421,200  ?  ? 602,100 Jerusalem Municipality
2000 448,800  ?  ? 657,500 Jerusalem Municipality
2004 464,500  ?  ? 693,200 Jerusalem Municipality
2005 469,300  ?  ? 706,400 Jerusalem Municipality
2007 489,480  ?  ? 746,300 Jerusalem Municipality

As of May 24, 2006, Jerusalem's population is 724,000 (about 10% of the total population of Israel), of which 65.0% were Jews (approx. 40% of whom live in East Jerusalem), 32.0% Muslim (almost all of whom live in East Jerusalem) and 2% Christian. 35% of the city's population were children under age of 15. In 2005, the city had 18,600 newborns. (Source: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics)

These official Israeli statistics refer to the expanded Israel municipality of Jerusalem. This includes not only the area of the pre-1967 Israeli and Jordanian municipalities, but also outlying Palestinian villages and neighbourhoods east of the city, which were not part of Jordanian East Jerusalem prior to 1967.

Demographic key dates

References

  1. ^ Usiel Oskar Schmelz, in Ottoman Palestine, 1800-1914: studies in economic and social history, Gad G. Gilbar, Brill Archive, 1990 [1]
  2. ^ a b c Preserving Identity in the Holy City
  3. ^ Avraham Yaari, Igrot Eretz Yisrael, p. 98.(Tel Aviv, 1943)
  4. ^ a b c d Amnon Cohen and Bernard Lewis (1978). Population and Revenue in the Towns of Palestine in the Sixteenth Century. Princeton University Press. pp. 14–15, 94. ISBN 0-691-09375-X.  The registers give counts of tax-paying households, bachelors, religious men, and disabled men. We followed Cohen and Lewis on taking 6 as the average household size, even though they call it "conjectural" and note that other scholars have suggested averages between 5 and 7.
  5. ^ Christian travelers Johann Aegidius Van Egmont and John Heyman, Jewish history timeline; Turkish/Ottoman Rule, 1517—1917
  6. ^ A Brief Account of the Countries Adjoining the Lake of Tiberias, the Jordan, and the Dead Sea
  7. ^ Sharkansky, Ira (1996). Governing Jerusalem: again on the world's agenda. Wayne State University Press. p. 121. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jKdKSqe78DIC&dq=1876+7,560+jerusalem&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved 24 Dec 2010. 
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Kark, Ruth; Oren-Nordheim, Michal (2001). Jerusalem and its environs: quarters, neighborhoods, villages, 1800-1948. Wayne State University Press. p. 28. ISBN 0814329098. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KzOAxmHDzHUC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 14 July 2011. 
  9. ^ Journal of a Tour in the Levant, Published by J. Murray, Item notes: v.2
  10. ^ Fisk and King, 'Description of Jerusalem,' in The Christian Magazine, July 1824, page 220. Mendon Association, 1824. (The figures are preceded by the comment "the following estimate seems to us as probably correct as any one we have heard". The authors also note that, "some think the Jews more numerous than the Mussulmans.")
  11. ^ Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea ..., Volume 2 page 86
  12. ^ a b Perpetual dilemma: Jewish religion in the Jewish State By S. Zalman Abramov, page 27
  13. ^ Edward Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: a journal of travels in the year 1838, Volume 2, 1841, page 85
  14. ^ Bibliographia geographica Palaestinae: zunächst kritische Uebersicht gedruckter und ungedruckter Beschreibungen der Reisen ins Heilige Land 265 pages
  15. ^ Scholch, Alexander (1985). "The Demographic Development of Palestine". International Journal of Middle East Studies 17 (4): 485–505. JSTOR 163415. 
  16. ^ Wolff, Press, "The Jewish Yishuv", pp 427-433, as quotes in Kark and Oren-Nordheim
  17. ^ Ellen Clare Miller, Eastern Sketches – notes of scenery, schools and tent life in Syria and Palestine. Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Company. 1871. Page 126: 'It is difficult to obtain a correct estimate of the number of inhabitants of Jerusalem...'
  18. ^ New York Times, February 19, 1869 [2]; See also I. Harold Scharfman, The First Rabbi, Pangloss Press, 1988, page 524 which reports the figure as 3,100.
  19. ^ Burns, Jabez. Help-Book for Travelers to The East. 1870. Page 75
  20. ^ Hebrew Christian Mutual Aid Society. Almanack of 1869
  21. ^ Die heilige Stadt und deren Bewohner in ihren naturhistorischen, culturgeschichtlichen, socialen und medicinischen Verhältnissen Published by Der Verfasser, 512 pages
  22. ^ Review Of Reviews. Volume IX. Jan-Jun, 1894. Albert Shaw, Editor. Page 98. "The present population of Jerusalem is not far from forty thousand, and more than half are Jews."
  23. ^ Usiel Oskar Schmelz, in Ottoman Palestine, 1800-1914: studies in economic and social history, page 35, Gad G. Gilbar, Brill Archive, 1990 [3]
  24. ^ Chronology of the Israelite Tribes from The History Files (historyfiles.co.uk)
  25. ^ Schaff's Seven Ecumenical Councils: First Nicaea: Canon VII: "Since custom and ancient tradition have prevailed that the Bishop of Aelia [i.e., Jerusalem] should be honored, let him, saving its due dignity to the Metropolis, have the next place of honor."; "It is very hard to determine just what was the “precedence” granted to the Bishop of Aelia, nor is it clear which is the "metropolis" referred to in the last clause. Most writers, including Hefele, Balsamon, Aristenus and Beveridge consider it to be Cæsarea; while Zonaras thinks Jerusalem to be intended, a view recently adopted and defended by Fuchs; others again suppose it is Antioch that is referred to."
  26. ^ Hussey, J.M. 1961. The Byzantine World. New York, New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, p. 25.
  27. ^ Karen Armstrong. 1997. Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. New York, New York: Ballantine Books, p. 229. ISBN 0-345-39168-3
  28. ^ Heck, Gene W.. Charlemagne, Muhammad, and the Arab roots of capitalism. p. 172. http://books.google.com/books?id=5qNgiv-ZOEAC&pg=PA179. 
  29. ^ Bosworth, Clifford Edmund. 2007. "Historic Cities of the Islamic World
  30. ^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/geo/mishkenot.html
  31. ^ http://www.mishkenot.org.il/en/secmain.asp?secid=1
  32. ^ http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/A8138AD15B0FCAC385256B920059DEBF

Bibliography