Israel's population on the eve of the Jewish New Year 5770 is 7,465,500. This figure includes 5,634,300 Jews (75.5%), 1,513,200 Arabs (20.3%) and 318,000 "others" (4.2%), the Central Bureau of Statistics reported in its 2009 Statistical Abstract, unveiled today to market the bureau's 60th anniversary.
For the sixth consecutive year, the annual growth rate of the population was 1.8% with the Jewish population growing by 1.7% and the Arab population growing by 2.6%.
Israel's population is relatively young. Children aged 0-14 comprise 28.4% of the population compared with an average of 17% in other Western countries. Only 9.7% of Israelis are over 65, compared with 15% in other Western countries.
The ratio of males to females is nearly equal (979 men to every 1,000 women) until the age of 38, when the ratio of women to men starts increasing.
In the Jewish population, there is a clear trend of people marrying when they are older. Among Israeli Jews aged 25-29, 62% of men are still single and 42% of women. The median age for a first marriage is 27.3 for men and 24.3 for women. In 2008 the percentage of the population of Israel who were born in the country increased to 3.9 million (70.7% of the Jewish population).
About half of the Jewish population continues to live in the center of the country (28% in the central region and 21% in Tel Aviv). Less than 10% of the Jewish population lives in the northern region.
Once again 2008 saw negative migration from Jerusalem with 4,200 people leaving the city and for the first time since the end of the 1990s there was also negative migration in Greater Tel Aviv with 5,700 people moving away.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 16, 2009
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