Israel Independence Day May 9 – Interesting Facts & Population Figures

We just arrived in Jerusalem last evening (Wednesday, May 8) and we pick up our sold-out group of excited pilgrims at the airport in Tel Aviv tomorrow which is Israel’s Independence Day. Celebrations have already begun. These are a tough bunch of people and I consider their existence and regaining of their land (Genesis 17) as a major argument for the existence of God (see my article Jews as Proof of God’s Existence and Faithfulness).

Here are some interesting facts and figures about the population of Israel:

The population of Jews around the world just topped 15 million. The population in Israel has topped 9 million for the first time. In 1948 when they proclaimed Israel as a nation there were only 806,000 people in Israel and the global population of Jews was only 11.5 million since so many had been slaughtered by the Nazis. In 1948 only 6% of the world’s Jews lived in Palestine  (as the name was at the time — which, by the way, comes from the word “Philistine.”)

Before the Holocaust, the world population of Jews was about 16.5 million. Today the total is just over 15 million. They have not yet regained their pre-slaughter numbers. Out of the total world population of 15 million Jews, 6,697,000 live in Israel which is 45% of the world Jewish population.

Out of Israel’s 9 million in population 74.2% are Jewish, 20.9% are Arabs and 343,000 are non-Arab Christians or members of other ethnic groups. 75% of the current Jewish population were born here in Israel.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-population-tops-9-million-including-45-of-world-jewry/