Jewish population by country
The world's core Jewish population was estimated at 14.31 million (around 70% of the world's "enlarged" Jewish population) in early 2015.[1][2][3]
Demographer Sergio DellaPergola proposed an "extended" Jewish population, including people identifying as partly Jewish and non-Jews with Jewish parents, that numbered 17.3 million globally, and an "enlarged" Jewish population figure that also included non-Jewish members of Jewish households and totals 20.2 million. Additionally, the total number of people who hold or are eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return — defined as anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent, and who does not profess any other religion — is estimated at around 23 million, of which 6.6 million are living in Israel as of 2015. Figures for these expanded categories are less precise than for the core Jewish population.[3]
While dozens of countries host at least a small Jewish population, the community is concentrated in a handful: Israel and the United States account for 83% of the Jewish population, while a total of 98 countries host the other 17%.[3]
With just over 6 million Jews, Israel is the only Jewish majority and explicitly Jewish state. Jewish population figures for the United States are contested, ranging between 5.7 and 6.8 million.[4] (The core global total of Jews jumps above 15 million if the highest American estimates are assumed). Other countries with a significant Jewish population are, like Israel and the United States, typically well-developed Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development members with Jews concentrated in major urban centers.[3]
In 1939, the core Jewish population reached its historical peak of 17 million (0.8% of the global population). Due to the Holocaust, the number was reduced to 11 million in 1945.[5][6][7] The population grew to around 13 million by the 1970s, and then recorded near-zero growth until around 2005 due to low fertility rates and to assimilation.[8] Since 2005, the world's Jewish population grew modestly at an annual rate of around 0.78% (to 2013). This increase primarily reflected the rapid growth of Haredi and some Orthodox sectors, who are becoming a growing proportion of Jews.[9]
Recent trends
Recent Jewish population dynamics are characterized by continued steady increase in the Israeli Jewish population and flat or declining numbers in other countries (the diaspora). The Jewish population of Israel increased from the country's inception in 1948 to 6,135,000 in 2014[10] while the population of the diaspora has dropped from 10.5 to 8.1 million over the same period.[3] Current Israeli Jewish demographics are characterized by a relatively high fertility rate of 3 children per woman and a stable age distribution.[11] The overall growth rate of Jews in Israel is 1.7% annually.[12] The diaspora countries, by contrast, have low Jewish birth rates, an increasingly elderly age composition, and a negative balance of people leaving Judaism versus those joining.[3]
Immigration trends also favor Israel ahead of diaspora countries. The Jewish state has a positive immigration balance (called aliyah in Hebrew). Israel saw its Jewish numbers significantly buoyed by a million-strong wave of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s[13] and immigration growth has been steady in the low tens of thousands since then.[14] In the rest of the world, only the United States, Canada, Australia, and Germany have had a positive recent Jewish migration balance outside of Israel. In general, the English-speaking world has seen its share of the diaspora increase since the Holocaust and the foundation of Israel, while historic Jewish populations in Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East have significantly declined or disappeared.[15] France continues to be home to the world's third largest Jewish community, between 500,000 and 600,000 people,[16][17] but has shown an increasingly negative trend, including the largest emigration loss to Israel in 2014.[18]
Debate over American numbers
The number of Jews in the United States has been the subject of much debate because of questions over counting methodology. In 2012, Sheskin and Dashefsky put forward a figure of 6.72 million based on a mixture of local surveys, informed local estimates, and US census data. They qualified their estimate with a concern over double counting and suggested the real figure may lie between 6 and 6.4 million.[19] Drawing on their work, the Steinhardt Social Research Institute released their own estimate of 6.8 million Jews in the United States in 2013.[20] These figures are in contrast to Israeli demographer Sergio DellaPergola's number of 5,425,000, also in 2012.[4] He has called high estimates “implausible” and “unreliable” although he revised the American Jewish number upward to 5.7 million in 2014.[2][4] This controversy followed a similar debate in 2001 when the National Jewish Population Survey released a Jewish American estimate as low as 5.2 million only to have serious methodological errors suggested in their survey.[4] In sum, a confidence interval of a million or more people is likely to persist in reporting on the number of Jewish Americans.
Countries and territories
Below is a list of Jewish populations in the world by country or territory. Unless otherwise indicated, core and enlarged population numbers are taken from DellaPergola's chapter "World Jewish Population" of the American Jewish Year Book of 2014.[2] Where other credible sources present competing numbers, they are presented with a range and citation. DellaPergola's population figures are primarily based on national censuses combined with trend analysis. He has described the "core Jewish population" in the diaspora as "all persons who, when asked in a socio-demographic survey, identify themselves as Jews; or who are identified as Jews by a respondent in the same household, and do not have another monotheistic religion."[2] DellaPergola defined the "enlarged Jewish population" by adding those "persons who state they are partly Jewish", "non-Jews who have Jewish parents", and "non-Jewish members of Jewish households" to the "core Jewish population."[2]
The American Jewish Year Book numbers are reproduced with explanatory notes by country in the online Jewish Virtual Library.[21] The library is a comprehensive non-governmental website covering topics about U.S.-Israel relations and the Jewish people. A number of tiny countries whose Jewish populations are not listed in DellaPergola are provided here from the Virtual Library. For European countries, further information is provided by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, including an interactive map of core and enlarged Jewish population that generally corresponds to DellaPergola's figures.[22]
Country populations used to deduce the "Population per Jewish Person" column in the table are taken from the CIA World Factbook, with most estimates current as of July 2014.[23]
Table
Country or Territory | Core Jewish Population | Population per Jewish Person | Enlarged Jewish Population |
---|---|---|---|
World | 14,200,000 | 505 | 20,000,000 |
Israel[lower-alpha 1] | 6,399,000[24] | 1.32 | 6,451,000 |
United States | 5,300,000[20] - 7,039,000[25] | 53 | 7,282,000 |
France | 465,000 | 139 | 600,000 |
Canada | 385,000 | 90 | 550,000 |
United Kingdom | 269,568 | 220 | 370,000 |
Russia | 186,000 | 766 | 500,000 |
Argentina | 181,300 - 230,000[26] | 238 | 330,000 |
Germany | 99,695 | 832 | 250,000 |
Australia | 112,500 | 213 | 135,000 |
Brazil | 95,000 [27] | 2,133 | 150,000 |
South Africa | 70,000 | 691 | 80,000 - 92,000[28] |
Ukraine | 63,000 | 703 | 400,000 |
Hungary | 47,900 | 207 | 150,000 |
Mexico | 40,000 - 67,476[29] | 3,007 | 50,000 - 67,476 |
Spain | 30,000 | 900 | 50,000[30][31][32] |
Belgium | 30,000 | 348 | 40,000 |
Netherlands | 29,900 | 563 | 45,000 |
Italy | 28,000 | 2,171 | 45,000[33][34] [35] |
Poland[lower-alpha 2] | 8,000[39][40] | 4,750 | 12,000 - 100,000[38] |
Switzerland | 19,000 | 424 | 25,000 |
Chile | 18,500 | 939 | 25,000 |
Turkey | 17,200 | 4,801 | 21,000 |
Sweden | 15,000 | 648 | 20,000 |
Uruguay | 12,000[41] - 17,200 | 278 | 25,000 |
Belarus | 11,500 | 835 | 25,000 |
Panama | 10,000 | 361 | 11,000 |
Romania | 9,400 | 2,312 | 20,000 |
Austria | 9,000 | 914 | 20,000 |
Iran | 8,756[42] | 9,186 | 12,000 |
Azerbaijan | 9,100[43] | 1,113 | 16,000 |
Venezuela | 8,000 | 3,608 | 12,000 |
New Zealand | 6,867[44] | 655 | 10,000[45] |
Denmark | 6,400 | 870 | 8,500 |
Morocco | 6,000[46] | 13,745 | 6,500 |
Latvia | 5,600 | 387 | 12,000 |
Hong Kong | 5,000[47] | 1,422 | 5,000 |
India | 5,000 | 247,269 | 7,000 |
Greece | 4,500 | 2,398 | 6,000 |
Colombia | 4,500 | 10,277 | 5,200 |
Czech Republic | 3,900 | 2,725 | 15,000 |
Uzbekistan | 3,800 | 7,613 | 8,000 |
Moldova | 3,700 | 968 | 7,500 |
Kazakhstan | 3,100 | 5,790 | 6,500 |
Lithuania | 2,900 | 1,209 | 6,500 |
Georgia | 2,800 | 1,763 | 6,000 |
Slovakia | 2,600 | 2,093 | 4,500 |
Singapore | 2,500[48] | 18,557 | 500 |
Costa Rica | 2,500 | 1,902 | 3,000 |
China | 2,500 | 542,277 | 3,000 |
Bulgaria | 2,000 | 3,462 | 6,000 |
Estonia | 2,000 | 629 | 3,400 |
Peru | 1,900 | 15,867 | 3,000 |
Croatia | 1,700 | 2,629 | 3,000 |
Ireland | 1,600 | 3,020 | 2,400 |
Puerto Rico | 1,500 | 2,431 | 2,500 |
Uganda | 1,500 [49] | 23,089 | 2,500 |
Serbia | 1,400 | 5,149 | 2,800 |
Finland | 1,300 | 4,052 | 1,800 |
Norway | 1,300 | 3,960 | 2,000 |
Japan | 1,000 | 127,103 | 1,400 |
Paraguay | 900 - 1,000[50] | 7,448 | 1,500 |
Guatemala | 900 | 16,274 | 1,500 |
Tunisia | 900 | 12,153 | 1,100 |
Ecuador | 290 | 26,090 | 300 |
Luxembourg | 600 | 867 | 900 |
Portugal | 600 | 18,022 | 1,000 |
Gibraltar | 600 | 48 | 800 |
Cuba | 500 | 22,094 | 1,500 |
United States Virgin Islands | 500 | 208 | 700 |
Bolivia | 500 | 21,262 | 900 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 500 | 7,742 | 1,000 |
Kyrgyzstan | 500 | 11,208 | 1,000 |
Zimbabwe | 400 | 34,430 | 600 |
Armenia | 300 - 500[51] | 10,200 | 300 - 500 |
Bahamas | 300 | 1,070 | 400 |
Vietnam | 300[52] | 311,403 | 300 |
Kenya | 300 | 150,033 | 700 |
Pakistan | 200[53] - 1500[54] | 980,870 | 1500 |
Lebanon | 200[55][56] | 29,415 | 200 |
Jamaica | 200 | 14,650 | 400 |
Netherlands Antilles | 200 | 1,525 | 400 |
Suriname | 200 | 2,865 | 400 |
Turkmenistan | 200 | 25,860 | 400 |
Thailand | 200 | 338,705 | 300 |
French Polynesia | 120[57] | 1,533 | 120 |
Macedonia | 260 | 20,910 | 360 |
Philippines | 100 | 1,076,680 | 200 |
Dominican Republic | 260 | 103,497 | 200 |
El Salvador | 100 | 61,255 | 200 |
Cyprus | 100 | 11,724 | 200 |
Malta | 100 | 4,126 | 200 |
Slovenia | 100 | 19,882 | 200 |
South Korea | 100 | 490,400 | 200 |
Taiwan | 100 | 233,600 | 200 |
Ethiopia | 100 | 966,334 | 1,000 |
Botswana | 100 | 21,558 | 200 |
Democratic Republic of the Congo | 100 | 774,337 | 200 |
Namibia | 100 | 21,984 | 200 |
Nigeria | 100 | 1,771,558 | 200 |
United Arab Emirates | 100 | 91,570 | 500 |
Iceland | 100 | 3,325 | 100 |
Yemen | 40[58] - 50 | 289,467 | 300 |
Martinique | 90[59] | 4,289 | 90 |
Fiji | 60[60] | 15,050 | 60 |
New Caledonia | 50[61] | 5,340 | 50 |
Albania | 40 - 50[62] | 75,500 | 40 - 50 |
Egypt | 18[63] | 5,259,277 | 40 - 50 |
Bahrain | 36[64] | 36,500 | 36 |
Remnant and vanished populations
The above table represents Jews that number at least a few dozen per country. Reports exist of Jewish communities remaining in other territories in the low single digits that are on the verge of disappearing, particularly in the Muslim world, as their reaction to the birth of Israel in 1948 was the retaliatory persecution of Jews in nearly all Muslim lands; these are often of historical interest as they represent the remnant of much larger Jewish populations. For example, Egypt had a Jewish community of 80,000 in the early 20th century that numbered fewer than 40 as of 2014, mainly because of the forced expulsion movements to Israel and other countries at that time.[65] Afghanistan may have only one Jew left, Zablon Simintov, despite a 2,000 year history of Jewish presence.[66] In Syria, another ancient Jewish community saw mass exodus at the end of the 20th century and numbered fewer than 20 in the midst of the Syrian Civil War.[67] The size of the Jewish community in Indonesia has been variously given as 65, 100, or 18 at most over the last 50 years.[68][69]
Core Jewish population
According to the Jewish Data Bank (Table 4),[70] the 10 countries as of 2013 with the largest core Jewish populations were:
|
See also
- Historical Jewish population comparisons
- Jewish ethnic divisions
- Jewish population by urban areas
- Judaism
- Judaism by country
Notes
- ↑ Numbers in this list are the total for Israel proper as well as Israeli settlers in the disputed Palestinian territories. Broken down by area, the Jewish population numbers are:[2]
- Israel: 5,763,100 (core); 6,103,100 (enlarged)
- Palestinian territories: 340,100 (core); 348,000 (enlarged)
- ↑ Poland shows the widest range of any entry in this table. Once the epicenter of the diaspora with millions of Jews, the population was decimated by the Holocaust and further subdued by communism; estimating current numbers has been difficult. DellaPergola presents conservative estimates of just 3,200 (core) and 7,500 (enlarged) because census numbers have been low. There is reason to suspect the number is higher with multiple sources suggesting a population in the range of 20,000 to 25,000.[36][37] One report notes that estimates have ranged anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000.[38]Around 8,000 people in Poland openly describe themselves as religious Jews and are active members of Jewish organizations in Poland today. Therefore the number can be taken as a realistic minimum of the number of Jews in today's Poland.
References
- ↑ Wisse, Ruth (2007). Jews and Power. Schocken Books. p. 188. ISBN 978-0805242249.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 DellaPergola, Sergio (2014). Dashefsky, Arnold; Sheskin, Ira, eds. "World Jewish Population, 2014". Current Jewish Population Reports. The American Jewish Year Book (Dordrecht: Springer). 113: 301–393. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 DellaPergola, Sergio (2015). Dashefsky, Arnold; Sheskin, Ira, eds. "World Jewish Population, 2015". Current Jewish Population Reports. The American Jewish Year Book (Dordrecht: Springer). 115: 273–364. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 "US Jewish Population is Anywhere Between 5.425 Million and 6.722 Million". Jewish Political News and Updates. 18 February 2013. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
- ↑ "World Jewish Population - Latest Statistics". Retrieved 14 February 2015.
- ↑ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/09/europes-jewish-population/
- ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/09/chart-the-decline-of-europes-jewish-population/
- ↑ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/09/europes-jewish-population/
- ↑ "Haredi Orthodox account for bulk of Jewish population growth in New York City - Nation". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
- ↑ Yaakov Levi. "Israel Population Now 8.3 Million - 75% Are Jewish". Israel National News. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
- ↑ "Fertility Rates, by Age and Religion". Statistical Abstract of Israel. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 11 September 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
- ↑ "Data: Arab Growth Slows, Still Higher than Jewish Rate". Israel National News. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
- ↑ Post-Soviet Aliyah and Jewish Demographic Transformation - Mark Tolts.
- ↑ "Immigration to Israel by Year". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
- ↑ "Demography". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
- ↑ RFI (7 September 2014). "Les juifs de France émigrent en masse vers Israël". RFI. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
- ↑ "La communauté juive de France compte 550.000 personnes, dont 25.000 à Toulouse". France info. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
- ↑ "France tops list for Jewish emigration to Israel". RFI. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
- ↑ Sheshkin, Ira; Dashefsky, Arnold (2 November 2012). Dashefsky, Arnold; Sheskin, Ira, eds. "Jewish Population in the United States, 2012" (PDF). Current Jewish Population Reports. Storrs, Connecticut: North American Jewish Data Bank. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
- 1 2 Tighe, Elizabeth; et al. (September 2013). "American Jewish Population Estimates: 2012" (PDF). Brandeis University: Steinhardt Social Research Institute. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
- ↑ 2012. Retrieved on 30 January 2014.
- ↑ "Jewish populations in Europe". Institute for Jewish Policy Research. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
- ↑ "Country Comparison: Population". CIA World Factbook. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
- ↑ "Latest Population Statistics for Israel | Jewish Virtual Library" (PDF). www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
- ↑ http://ajpp.brandeis.edu/
- ↑ Congreso Judío Latinoamericano. "Comunidades judías latinoamericanas: Argentina" (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 January 2015.
- ↑ 2010 Brazilian census Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Retrieved on 30 January 2014
- ↑ NSW Board of Jewish Education. "South African Jews". Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ↑ "Panorama de las religiones en México 2010" (PDF) (in Spanish). INEGI. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ↑ Los 50.000 judíos de España celebran desde hoy la fiesta de Janucá que culminará el día 4 con el encendido de luces
- ↑ http://www.larazon.es/historico/5466-unos-50-000-judios-residentes-en-espana-reciben-el-nuevo-ano-PLLA_RAZON_400908#.Ttt1QPYwLOQTp5K
- ↑ http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2014/06/06/actualidad/1402043523_305436.html
- ↑ Gli ebrei in Italia
- ↑ World Jewish Population, 2014
- ↑
- ↑ Pfeffer, Anshel (3 February 2015). "The killing fields of Auschwitz nearby, Polish Jewish life is being reborn in Krakow". Haaretz. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
- ↑ Easton, Adam (27 October 2014). "Polish museum celebrates 1,000 years of Jewish life". BBC. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
- 1 2 Timothy Garton Ash. "A small miracle in the tortured history of Polish-Jewish relations". Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ↑ A & K Woźniak (2010). "Żydzi dzisiaj. Tablica 23". Fundacja Stefana Batorego. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
- ↑ Gedeon (2011). "Żydzi w Polsce. Dzieje najnowsze (po 1945)". Serwis Izrael. Retrieved July 23, 2011. (in Polish)
- ↑ Congreso Judío Latinoamericano. "Comunidades judías latinoamericanas: Uruguay" (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 January 2015.
- ↑ "Jewish woman brutally murdered in Iran over property dispute". The Times of Israel. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 16 Aug 2014.
A government census published earlier this year indicated there were a mere 8,756 Jews left in Iran
- ↑ "Ethnic composition of Azerbaijan 2009".
- ↑ "Religious Affiliation (total response)". 2013 Census Data – QuickStats About Culture and Identity – Tables. 2013. Table 31.
- ↑ "Jewish professor receives New Zealand Order of Merit". The Jerusalem Post. June 10, 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
- ↑ "The World Factbook".
- ↑ Lyons, Erica (August 2011). "The Jewish Community of Hong Kong". Beit Hatfutsot Museum. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Singapore. Missing or empty
|title=
(help); - ↑ The lost Jews of Uganda
- ↑ Congreso Judío Latinoamericano. "Comunidades judías latinoamericanas: Paraguay" (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 January 2015.
- ↑ Freund, Michael. "Vandals deface Holocaust memorial in Armenia". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ "Economic Opportunities Lure Jews to Land of Ho Chi Minh". Jewish Telegraph Agency. 1 October 2007. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ "Pakistan". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ "Minorities’ votes may decide fate of 96 constituencies". Dawn. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ Rainey, Venetia. "Uncovering Lebanon's Jewish past". Al Jezeera. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ "Beirut's hidden Jewish community". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ "Tahiti". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ Root, Tik. "The historic end of aliyah from Yemen". Israel Foreign Ministry. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
- ↑ "Martinique". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ "Fiji". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ "New Caledonia". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ "Albania". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ "Egypt's last Jews aim to keep alive heritage". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
- ↑ Slackman, Michael (17 April 1999). "In a Landscape of Tension, Bahrain Embraces Its Jews. All 36 of Them.". NY Times. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ "Egypt's Jewish community buries deputy leader". Al Jazeera. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
- ↑ Donati, Jessica; Harooni, Mirwais (12 November 2013). "Last Jew in Afghanistan faces ruin as kebabs fail to sell". Reuters. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
- ↑ "Syria". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
- ↑ CIA World Fact Book
- ↑ Levenda 2007, pp. 188.
- ↑ "World Jewish Population 2013". jewishdatabank.org.
External links
- Israelbooks.com The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute Annual Assessment 2004–2005: Between Thriving and Decline. Gefen Publishing House.
- Publications on Jewish population at the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner
- Jewish Population and Migration, by YIVO Encyclopedia