On the eve of Israel's 65th Independence Day, the country's population has exceeded 8 million, the Central Bureau of Statistics reports. The population has increased ten-fold from 806,000 at independence to 8,018,000 today.
Israel's Jewish population is 6,042,000, 75.3% of the total (unchanged from a year ago), its Arab population is 1,658,000 (20.7%), and the number of people defined as "other" is 318,000 (4%). Most of the "other" classification are non-Arab Christians or of other religions, or whose religion the Ministry of Finance does not classify.
Israel's population grew by 137,000 since the country's 64th Independence Day. 163,000 children were born, 41,000 people died, and 19,500 new immigrants arrived.
In 1948, Israel had only one city with more than 100,000 residents - Tel Aviv. Today there are 14 cities with more than 100,000 residents, including eight cities with more than 200,000 residents: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Rishon LeZion, Ashdod, and Petah Tikva.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 14, 2013
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