World Jewish popluation still below 1939 figures
The number of Jews worldwide is 1.4m less than it was in 1939.
The figures below come from the Central Bureau of Statistics in Israel.
Jews in Israel and throughout the world
- At the end of 2020, the world Jewish population was 15.2 million.
- In 1939, on the eve of World War II, the world Jewish population was 16.6 million, of whom 449,000 (3%) lived in Israel.
- In 1948, on the eve of the establishment of the State of Israel, the world Jewish population was 11.5 million, of whom 650,000 (6%) lived in Israel.
- At the end of 2021, the number of persons living in Israel recognized by the Holocaust Survivors’ Rights Authority was about 165,000 persons.
Of the world Jewish population of 15.2 million:
- 6.9 million Jews live in Israel
- 6.0 million Jews live in the United States
- 445,000 live in France
- 393,000 live in Canada
- 292,000 live in the United Kingdom
- 175,000 live in Argentina
- 150,000 live in Russia
- 118,000 live in Germany
- 118,000 live in Australia
Jews in Israel by Continent of Origin
The number of Jews living in Israel: 6.9 million (45% of the world’s Jewish population)
Of them: 5.4 million were born in Israel
1.5 million were born abroad
Of them: 1.0 million were born in Europe or in America
284,400 were born in Africa
153,700 were born in Asia
The definitions of the population in all countries, except for Israel, refer to a “core” Jewish population that includes people who define themselves as Jewish, or people who were born to Jewish parents who do not have a religious or ethnic self-definition.
Source: The Division of Jewish Demography and Statistics, the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
