Demographic & Statistical Data
Resources:
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Reflections on Israel’s Exceptional Fertility by Daniel Kane, Public Discourse, September 8, 2024
A Muslim Aliyah Paralleled the Jewish Aliyah by Daniel Pipes, Middle East Quarterly, Part I, to 1948, Summer 2024; Part II, Since 1948, Fall 2024
Israel will not disappear by Jacob Sivak, YNetNews.com, December 19, 2023
Amid conflict and global fertility decline, Israel’s high birth rate and steady influx of immigrants underscore its demographic resilience; Modern Zionism remains a survivalist imperative, with children representing survival and the nation’s future
Selected Data on the Occasion of Jerusalem Day, 2023 [Hebrew], Government of Israel – Central Bureau of Statistics, May 17, 2023
A letter to Israel’s demographically intoxicated by Elchanan Poupko, The Times of Israel, April 24, 2023
You’re right. You do have many children – more than anyone else in Israel. But guess who has even more children.
2023 Inflated Palestinian Demography by Yoram Ettinger, The Ettinger Report, March 27, 2023
How many Jews, ready and willing? by Sergio DellaPergola, eJewish Philanthropy, October 24, 2022
2022: A vastly inflated Palestinian demography by Yoram Ettinger, Jewish News Syndicate, May 5, 2022
Don’t believe the hype, the numbers are on the Jews’ side.
2022 Demographic Update: A Solid Jewish Majority West of the Jordan River by Yoram Ettinger, Jewish News Syndicate, March 27, 2022
Despite the conventional wisdom, that data proves there is no Arab demographic time bomb. There is, however, an unprecedented Jewish demographic tailwind.
Blinken is wrong on Israel’s demography by Yoram Ettinger, Jewish News Syndicate, April 18, 2021
How Israel’s Jewish Majority Will Grow by Yakov Faitelson, Middle East Quarterly Vol. 27 No. 4, Fall 2020
The ‘demographic time bomb’ is a dud by Ken Cohen, Jewish News Syndicate, June 18, 2019
There may be valid reasons for Israel to desire disengagement from the disputed territories, but the demographic threat of an Arab majority isn’t one of them.
No Arab Demographic Time Bomb by Yoram Ettinger, The Jewish Press, October 4, 2018
Jewish-Arab Demography Defies Conventional Wisdom by Yoram Ettinger, Jewish Policy Center, Spring 2018
In contrast to conventional demographic wisdom, the Jewish State is not facing a potential Arab demographic time bomb. In fact, Israel benefits from a robust Jewish demographic tailwind.
Israel’s Demographic Miracle by Ofir Haivry, Mosaic, May 7, 2018
Birthrates are falling across the world, especially in developed nations—except in one. How did mainstream, middle-class Israelis start having children again, and what does it mean?
The History of the Demographic Balance by Shaul Arieli, Israel Policy Forum, Matzav Review, March 28, 2018
Stats show Israel Has Highest Fertility Rate in the West by Amir Alon, Ynet News, March 13, 2018 (see also Statistics bureau also says that in 2016, Jewish and Arab women on average had almost the same number of children by Michael Bachner, The Times of Israel, March 14, 2018)
The documented Jewish-Arab demographic about-face by Yoram Ettinger, The Ettinger Report, March 9, 2018
The Myth of Israel’s Demographic Doomsday by Gregg Roman, The Hill, December 9, 2016
Jewish, Arab fertility rates in Israel on par for first time, The Times of Israel, November 15, 2016
Arab rate drops, Jewish rate rises, and women in both groups now give birth to an average of 3.13 children, highest in OECD
[Hebrew] צופן ורסאי, וצופן הגירת הערבים מיהודה ושומרון, שנחשף by Dr. Guy Bechor, Gplanet, August 13, 2016
On double-counting and other distortions in Palestinian reports on West Bank and Jerusalem population
The Palestinians Are Trying to Manipulate Demographics – Here’s How by Yoram Ettinger, The Algemeiner, July 31, 2016
Palestinian Demographic Manipulation by Yoram Ettinger, Israel Hayom, July 22, 2016
Jewish fertility surpasses Arab fertility in Jerusalem, data show by Nadav Shragai and Efrat Forsher, Israel Hayom, June 1, 2016
Jewish, Arab birthrates in Israel now almost the same by Stuart Winer, The Times of Israel, November 18, 2015
New figures show Jewish women have average of 3.11 children, up from 2.6 a decade ago; Arab women have 3.17 kids, down from 4.3
Reality-based demography by Yoram Ettinger, Israel Hayom, October 11, 2015
Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reported a Jewish fertility rate of 3.11 births per woman in 2015 and trending upward; the Arab fertility rate was 3.35 and is declining. The documented number of Arabs in the West Bank is 1.7 million, or 1.1 million less than the number claimed by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
How Many Qatari Nationals Are There? by Onn Winckler, Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2015
Making the most of Israel’s fertility edge by Evelyn Gordon, Jerusalem Post, June 24, 2014
The Myth of Ethnic Inequality in Israel by Steven Plaut, Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2014
Confronting the demographic demon by Evelyn Gordon, Jerusalem Post, May 30, 2014
Expert: Israel Does Not Face a Demographic Threat, Israel Hayom, April 29, 2014
The Politics of Demography by Jerold Auerbach, The Algemeiner, March 20, 2014
2013 sees record number of births in Israel by Zeev Klein, Israel Hayom, March 9, 2014
Central Bureau of Statistics reports that Jewish births are up both by numbers and percentages, while the birth rate in the Muslim Arab sector has reached an all-time low.
The Jewish Demographic Bomb: Judea and Samaria Up 4.3% in 2013, Jewish Press, February 25, 2014
Israel at a Point of No Return – In the Right Direction by David P. Goldman, PJ Media, February 12, 2014
Palestine’s Peace Bomb by Steven J. Rosen, Foreign Policy, January 31, 2014
A Jewish Majority in the Land of Israel: The Resilient Jewish State by Yakov Faitelson, Middle East Quarterly, Fall 2013
Livni’s Source of Desperation: Jewish Births Way Up, Arabs Way Down by Yori Yanover, JewishPress.com, August 23, 2013
“A new report shows that the demographic predictions Minister Tzipi Livni has been basing her decisions on are incorrect.”
Israel’s fast evolving demography by Paul Morland, Jerusalem Post, July 21, 2013
“The birth rates of Arabs and Jews in Israel are close to converging. [….] It is significant because it represents a dramatic drop in Arab fertility rates.”
The Myth of the Inevitable Jewish Minority in Israel by Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe, June 26, 2013
Peering into the crystal ball: How Israel will look, statistically, in 2035 by Tali Heruti-Sover, Haaretz, June 26, 2013
Women will live six years longer, Jewish women will have a higher birth rate than Arab women, 15 percent of the population will be over 65 and immigration will slow while more Israelis leave.
The demographic success of Israel’s settlement project by Neve Gordon and Yinon Cohen, Al Jazeera, December 6, 2012
The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version by Joel Perlmann, Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, November 2011–February 2012
In the summer of 1967, just after the Six-Day War brought the West Bank and Gaza Strip under Israeli control, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS) supervised a census in these territories. The census included an impressive array of questions about individuals, households, and the quality of residences—about age, sex, religion, place of residence, educational attainment, occupation, industrial sector, income, household structure, health, female fertility, and housing conditions. Moreover, it asked two crucial questions about refugee status: Had the individual lived prior to the 1948 War in the area that became the State of Israel? And, Was the individual living in or outside of a refugee camp at the time the census was taken?
Fertility Decline in the Muslim World: A Veritable Sea-Change, Still Curiously Unnoticed by Nicholas Eberstadt and Apoorva Shah, The American Enterprise Institute, Working Paper Series on Development Policy No. 7, December 2011 [pdf]
Time Out by David P. Goldman, Tablet, July 20, 2011
Conventional wisdom says Israel must reach a peace deal quickly, before population trends and diplomatic isolation overtake the Jewish state. Demographics and geopolitics tell a different story.
[Hebrew] 
Demographic Trends in the Land of Israel (1800–2007) by Yaakov Faitelson, The Institute for Zionist Strategies [2013 update]
Population statistics in Palestine (1914-1946), Israel (1949-2006), Jerusalem (1910-2005), West Bank & Gaza Strip (1950-2005), and projections (2020-2050) from ProCon.org
Population and area of Ottoman and British mandate Palestine and Israel, 1951-2000
The Population of Palestine Prior to 1948, MidEast Web
Major Conclusions:
- The nature of the data does not permit precise conclusions about the Arab population of Palestine in Ottoman and British times
- Palestine was not an empty land when Zionist immigration began.
- Zionist settlement between 1880 and 1948 did not displace or dispossess Palestinians.
- Historic population data in Palestine during Ottoman times and during Mandatory times show significant discrepancies.
- It is not possible to estimate illegal Arab immigration directly, but apparently there was some immigration.
- There are large discrepancies between official population figures and the number of Palestinian refugees
- There are serious discrepancies in reporting of the number of refugees.
- The city of Jerusalem has had a Jewish majority since about 1896
Palestine: Land ownership by sub-district (1945), United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine (UNISPAL), August 1, 1950
Estimated Population of Palestine as [of] 31st December 1946, in Problem of Palestine Refugees in Concrete Terms, United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP) Working Paper, March 17, 1949
The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the topography, orography, hydrography, and archaeology by C.R. Conder, and H.H. Kitchener; edited with additions by E.H. Palmer and Walter Besant. Published 1881 by Committee of the Palestine exploration fund in London. [full text of 1881 survey online]