December 27, 2006 / 6 Tevet 5767

Despite the War-a Continued Rise in Immigration from the West And the Arrival of Young People for Visits

According to Jewish Agency Statistics about 21,000 Jews Will Immigrate to Israel During the Year 2006. Record Aliyah from the West: the Highest Total from England in 22 Years and from North America in 23 Years

A Substantial Growth in the Number of Young People Who Come to Israel for a Short-term and Long-term Stay-a Total of49,000 Young People.

In 2006 about 21,000 new immigrants are expected to arrive in Israel. Continuing the trend of the previous year, the rise in immigration from Western countries continues. For North America the the increase is 7% - 3,200 for this year as opposed to 2,987 for the previous year. From France about 2,900 immigrants will make aliyah till the end of the year in comparison to 3,005 for the previous year, which sets a 34 year record. From England this year 720 olim will arrive which marks a 22 year record. From the FSU 7,300 new immigrants will come to Israel and we are dealing with a decline of 23% in comparison with the previous year. Immigrants from the former Soviet Union still constitute the largest contingent, and represent about 35% of all immigrants for this year.

1,450 olim will arrive from Latin America this year. 3,600 immigrants will arrive from Ethiopia, and for the first time in a special project 220 immigrants, members of the “Bnei Menashe Tribe”, immigrated from India.

On Wednesday, December 27 the last immigrant flight for this year arrived in Israel with 230 new immigrants from North America and England on board. A total of seven special immigrant flights including this one arrived from North America during the year 2006 in conjunction with “Nefesh b’Nefesh” and two special immigrant flights arrived from France in conjunction with the AMI organization. It is important to note that three such flights landed in Israel during the time of the Lebanon war.

Likewise an increase was recorded in the participation of young people worldwide in short-term and long-term educational programs in Israel. A total of about 49,000 young people will have arrived this year on such programs.

The number of young people and youths who participated this year in short-term programs: is about 42,000 (including “birthright” and the “Israel Experience” etc.) as opposed to 29,712 in the previous year. A substantial increase of about 17% was also recorded in the number of young people who participated in long-term educational programs: in the “Masa” program about 6,700 people participated as opposed to 5,583 the previous year (with reference to the academic year 2005-2006).

Population of Israel: 6,990,700 (September 21,2006)

On the eve of Rosh Hashana 5767, the Central Bureau of Statistics announced that the population of Israel stands at 6,990,700. Of them, 5,313,800 are Jewish and 1,377,100 Arabs.

The population growth rate in 2005 stood at 1.8 percent, roughly the same figure as the previous two years.

In 2005, the number of native Israelis continued to grow and reached approximately 3.7 million people. The largest country of origin continues to be the former Soviet Union, including its Asiatic republics, with a population numbering 1.177 million (242,000 of them born in Israel). The second-largest country of origin is Morocco, with a population numbering 492,000 (337,000 of them born in Israel).

A quarter of all the population lives in the major 5 cities:  Jerusalem-
718900, Tel-Aviv-Jaffa – 378800, Haifa – 267700, Rishon-Lezion – 219800,
Ashdod – 200800.