On the threshold of Rosh-ha-Shana a Jewish Agency Sohnut published results of a well-known demographer, Jerusalem University professor Sergio Della Pergola on the number of Jews in Israel, in the expats communities and around the world. The research included not only data on halachic jews but also on those who consider themselves jewish but adheres to a different religious identity.
According to the message the number of jews around the world has reached 14.7 million people. For reference exactly one year ago the number equaled to 14.6 million. In the expat communities there still live 8.1 million jews, 5.7 of which live in the USA. In Israel jewish population has increased by 100 thousand people – 6.6 million as compared to 6.5 million before the previous Rosh-ha-Shana. In Israel there live 400 thousand people having the right of return. In the world there are 23.5 million people having the right for repatriation in accordance with the Law of Return.
Jewish communities in different countries: France – 453,000 people, Canada – 391,000, Great Britain – 290,000, Argentina – 180,000, Russia – 172,000, Germany – 116,000, Australia – 113,000, Brazil – 93,000, South Africa – 69,000, Ukraine – 50,000, Hungary – 47,000, Mexico – 40,000, Holland – 30,000, Belgium – 29,000, Italy – 28,000, Switzerland – 19,000, Chili – 18,000.
In Arabic and islamic countries there live 27,000 Jews, out of which 15,000 live in Turkey, 8,500 in Iran, 2,000 in Morocco, 1,000 in Tunisia.
Countries in which Jewish communities include less than 500 people are as follows: Bermudas, Bahamas, Cuba, the Dominican republic, Salvador, Jamaica, Bolivia, Surinam, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Macedonia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Congo, Botswana, Kenia, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Jemen, Syria, Egypt.
Marina Andreeva