With Israel’s 70th Independence Day being celebrated this week, its population stands at 8,842,000 of which 74.5 percent are Jewish, according to a report by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Independence Day festivities commence on Wednesday night, as the country switches from Memorial Day, 24 hours of remembrance for its fallen soldiers and terror victims.
In 1948 there were just 806,000 people in Israel, less than a tenth of the current number. At the time, the global Jewish population was 11.5 million, and just 6% were in Israel. There are now approximately 14.511 million Jewish people worldwide and 45% of them reside in Israel. Currently, there are 15 cities of at least that size, up from 12 a decade ago. At the establishment of the state there were only three cities that had populations greater than 100,000.
Today the Jewish population is estimated to be at 6.589 million, 1.849 million Arabs, making up 20.9% of the population. There are approximately 404,000 citizens, 4.6%, who are non-Arab Christians or members of other ethnic groups.
Overall, the population increased by 1.9%, and at the current rate, the population will hit 15.2 million by the time Israel celebrates its centennial in 2048.
