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Israeli population hits 10.244 million

As the country marks its 78th birthday, the population continued to grow at a steady pace, with a year-on-year increase of 1.4%, according to the data.

Israeli children play with Israeli flags ahead of Israel's 78th Independence Day
Israeli children play with Israeli flags ahead of Israel’s 78th Independence Day, at “Kobi kindergarden” in Moshav Yashresh, on April 16, 2026. Photo by Yossi Aloni/Flash90.

Israel’s population has reached 10.244 million as the country marks its 78th Independence Day, according to data released on Sunday by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Of the total population, 7.97 million are Jews and others (76%), 2.15 million are Arabs (21%) and 296,000 are foreign residents (2.9%), according to the figures.

Israel’s population has grown by 146,000 since its last Independence Day, registering an increase of 1.4%, the Bureau noted.

During this period, about 177,000 babies were born, some 21,000 immigrants arrived, roughly 48,000 people died and the net balance of Israelis staying abroad stands at approximately 45,000.

At the time of the state’s founding, Israel’s population was 806,000. Today, it is more than 12.5 times larger, according to the CBS data.

More than 3.5 million immigrants have arrived in Israel since the establishment of the state in 1948, about 1.68 million (47.8%) of them since 1990.

Israeli demographics remain young among Western countries, with about 27% of its population aged 0–14 and 13% aged 65 and older.

As of the end of 2024, about 45% of the world’s Jewish population lives in Israel, and about 81% of Jews in Israel are native-born (“sabras” in Hebrew), according to the Bureau.

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