• The number of Israeli Jewish births in 2021 (141,250) was 76% higher than 1995 (80,400), while the number of Israeli Arab births in 2020 (43,806) was 20% higher than 1995 (36,500), as reported by the March 2022
Monthly Bulletin of Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS).
• In 2021, Jewish births were 76% of total births, compared to 69% in 1995.
• The fertility rate (number of births per woman) of Israeli secular Jewish women has trended upward during the last 25 years, while ultra-Orthodox women have experienced a slight decline.
• Israeli Jewish women — who are second only to Iceland in joining the job market — are unique in experiencing a rise of fertility rate together with expanded urbanization, education, standard of living, integration into the job market and a rising marriage age. These phenomena have lowered the fertility rate in all other countries.
• In 1969, Israel’s Arab fertility rate was six births higher than the Jewish fertility rate. In 2015, both fertility rates were at 3.13 births per woman, reflecting the dramatic Westernization of Arab demography, triggered by the enhanced social status of women, higher marriage age, expanded participation of women in the job market and shorter reproductive window. In 2020, the Jewish
fertility rate was three (and 3.27 with an Israeli-born Jewish father), while the overall Arab fertility rate was 2.82 and the Muslim fertility rate was 2.99. The average OECD fertility rate is 1.61 births per woman.
• The unique growth in Israel’s Jewish fertility rate is attributed to optimism, patriotism, attachment to Jewish roots, communal solidarity, the positive Jewish attitude toward raising children, a frontier mentality and a declining number of abortions.
• In 2021, there were 43,879 Israeli Jewish deaths, compared to 31,575 in 1996, a 39% increase. In the same year there were 6,751 Arab deaths, compared to 3,089 in 1996, a 119% increase. Israel’s Arab life expectancy (78 per men and 82 per women) is similar to the U.S. life expectancy and higher than that of any Arab/Muslim country.
• In 2021, the number of Israeli Jewish deaths was 31% of Israeli Jewish births, compared to 40% in 1995 — a symptom of a society growing younger. In 2021, the number of Israeli Arab deaths was 15% of Arab births, compared to 8% in 1995 — a symptom of a society growing older.
• Since 1995, the demographic trend has expanded the younger segment of Israel’s Jewish population, which provides a solid foundation for an expanded Jewish majority in the next generation.
• The positive Jewish demographic trend is further bolstered by Israel’s net immigration, which consists of an annual aliyah reinforced by shrinking emigration: from 14,200 net emigration in 1990 to 6,000-7,000 net emigration in recent years.
• Moreover, at least 500,000 Jewish immigrants could immigrate to Israel in the next five years — awaiting the Israeli government to leverage this potential — when considering the Jewish communities in the Ukraine, other former Soviet Republics, France, Britain, Germany, Argentina, as well as the United States, Canada and Australia.
(full article online)
Haredi Jews at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Photo: Pixabay Contrary to conventional wisdom, in 2022 Israel is not facing …
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