Israel's population at 7,645,500 on eve of 5771

Foreign real estate buyers deterred by strong shekel

The population is growing at an annual rate of 1.8%.

Israel's population totals 7,645,500 on the eve of 5771, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported today. The population included 5,770,900 Jews, 1,559,100 Arabs and 315,500 others.

At the end of 2009, Israel's population was 7,552,000 including 5,704,000 Jews (75.5%), 1,536,000 Arabs (20.3%) and 313,000 others (4.1%).

Israel's population has been growing at an annual rate of 1.8% since 2003. During the 1990s when the country had a high level of immigration the population grew at an annual rate of 3%.

During 2009 the Jewish population grew by 1.7%, while the Arab population grew by 2.4%. The Muslim population grew by 2.8%, the Christian population grew by 1% and the Druze population grew by 1.7%.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 6, 2010