Israel's population nears 8 million on eve of 5773

Israel's population nears 8 million on eve of 5773
5,978,600 Israelis (75.4%) are Jews and one-fifth are Arabs. The population grew 1.8% in 2011.

Israel has 7,933,200 residents at Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) 5773, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported today in its "Selected Data from the New Statistical Abstract of Israel 2012". 5,978,600 are Jews (75.4% of the total population), 1,636,600 are Arabs (including Bedouin and Druze) (20.5%), and 318,000 are categorized as "others" (mostly non-Jews who have one Jewish grandparent, and are entitled to Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return).

The rate of growth was 1.8% in 2011, similar to the rate over the previous eight years and during the 1980s (during the massive immigration from Russia in the 1990s, the growth rate was 3% a year). The rate of growth among Jews was 1.8%, it was 2.5% among Muslims, 1.3% among Christians, and 1.7% among the Druze. The growth rate of Israel Arabs has slowed to 2.4% from 3.4% in 1996-2000.

In 2011, 16,892 immigrants arrived in Israel, 1.5% more than in 2010. The largest number of immigrants was from Russia (3,678 immigrants), Ethiopia (2,666), the US (2,363), Ukraine (2,051), and France (1,775).

The Israeli population is younger than the populations of Western countries. In 2011, 28.2% of Israelis were aged 0-14 compared with the OECD average of 18.5%, and 10.3% of Israelis were over the age of 65, compared with the OECD average of 15%.

Israel's population density has been rising, due to the increase in population, reaching 347 persons per square kilometer (excluding the Judea and Samaria) in 2011 from 288 persons per square kilometer in 2000.

Life expectancy continues to increase, reaching 80 years for men and 83.6 years for women. The leading causes of death are cancer and heart disease, accounting for 46% of all deaths. One sixth of Israelis needs social services as do one-third of the elderly. A quarter of social services recipients are children up to 14, as are one half of Ethiopians. The rate of applications among the Arab population is 1.5 times more than that of the Jewish population.

Belying conventional wisdom that a majority of Israelis have overdrafts, the Central Bureau of Statistics says that only 21% of Israelis have a permanent overdraft, and 48% have never had an overdraft. 90% of Israelis have never had their bank accounts blocked, and only 32% have received a warning from the bank that they exceeded their overdraft limit.

166,296 children were born in Israel in 2011, unchanged from 2010, and the average number of children per women declined to 3.0 from 3.03. The average number of children for Jewish women continued to rise, reaching 2.98 children per women in 2011 from 2.97 children per woman in 2010. The same trend is prevalent among Christian women, with the number of children per woman rising to 2.19 in 2011 from 2.14 in 2010. In contrast, average number of children for Moslem women continued to decline, reaching 3.51 children per woman in 2011 from 3.75 in 2010. The average number of children for Druze women declined to 2.33 children per woman in 2011 from 2.48 in 2010. The average age of women having their first child was 27.3: it was 28.2 years for Jewish women and 23.4 years for Muslim women.

93% of Israelis over the age of 20 have a bank account. 95% of employed persons have a bank account compared with 81% of unemployed persons, and 97% of employees earning more than NIS 10,000 a month have a bank account compared with 85% of persons who earn the minimum wage.

95% of Jews have a bank account, compared with 80% of Arabs and other minorities. 33% of Jews have applied for a mortgage compared with 13% of Arabs.