On the eve of Independence Day, Israeli population stands at 8,345,000

67 years ago, the population of Israel stood at approximately 806,000 residents.

By HAYAH GOLDLIST-EICHLER
Mount Herzl military cemetery (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Mount Herzl military cemetery
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
At the time of the state’s establishment 67 years ago, the population stood at some 806,000 residents; today, that number has grown to approximately 8,345,000.
Ahead of Independence Day, the Central Bureau of Statistics released its annual report with key facts and figures on Israeli demographics Tuesday.
The Jewish population stands at some 6,251,000 residents, representing 74.9 percent of the total population. The Arab population is approximately 1,730,000, or 20.7% of the total population. Comprising the remaining 364,000 residents (4.4% of the total population) are non-Arab Christians, members of other religions and those with no religion listed in the population registry.
The population growth rate over the past year was 2%, or some 364,000 residents.
During that time, around 176,000 babies were born in the country, and some 44,000 people passed away. Approximately 32,000 people moved to Israel over the past year.
In 2014, some 75% of the country’s Jews were native-born Sabras, compared to only 35% in 1948.
In 1948, only the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa had over 100,000 residents. Today, 14 cities across the country have over 100,000 residents, with six of them topping 200,000: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Haifa, Rishon Lezion, Ashdod and Petah Tikva.