The number of Israelis who left the country for three months or more in 2025 continues the trend of record numbers of emigrants. 90,922 Israelis left during last year, following a similar number in of 2024 - 91,499 - and a slightly lower number in 2023 - 86,509.
The numbers are from an analysis of Central Bureau of Statistics data by Prof. Itai Ater of the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University; Prof. Nittai Bergman of the Tel Aviv University School of Economics; and Doron Zamir, a PhD student at the Coller School of Management.
In previous years, the number of Israelis who left the country according to this criterion (three months or more) was 30% lower, and averaged just 60,000 annually in 2010-2019. In 2024-2025, Israel had a negative migration balance for the first time in decades, that is to say, more people left than arrived.
The new study from Tel Aviv University and the Central Bureau of Statistics does not cover net migration as there are not yet enough data to examine this statistic for 2025. Data on the number of Israelis who left for twelve months or more, as measured by the group in previous studies, are also lacking. Since the researchers did not wish to wait until 2027 when these figures would be available, they focused on the three-month-plus period.
Prof. Ater stressed that the data cover only Israelis who had lived in Israel for three years or more before leaving, such that they are not skewed by people who came to Israel from Ukraine and Russia because of the war there and left shortly after arriving.
Waiting to see what happens in the election
"The figures tell a gloomy story," Prof. Ater told "Globes". "I fear that more and more people, among them doctors, tech workers, and academics, no longer see Israel as their home or are in serious doubt about the matter. Many are waiting to see what happens in the election. My children serve in the army, I’m worried. So we’re ringing all the bells. There is still no danger to Israel’s strength, and I hope that we shall shortly start to see a more positive trend in the migration statistics."
Is measuring just three months perhaps not enough? And I presume that when your group presents these kinds of figures, people say that you’re politically biased.
"There are those who will return to Israel after three months, and even after a year. At the same time, we see a very high correlation with the twelve-month metric, up until 2024. At any rate, the numbers of people leaving are at record levels, and it’s important that we should recognize that.
"As for political bias: we are researchers at a university, and among us is the head of the School of Economics. We rely on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics and present them. So in my view there is no room to deny the figures and give them a different interpretation."
Culture of migration changing elsewhere too
Prof. Alex Weinreb of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel adds that the new study apparently faithfully reflects the new pattern of migration, which in recent years has been one of negative net migration: more people leaving than arriving.
"In 2023-2024, for the first time since the state was founded, we saw negative migration for two successive years. We have yet to see the 2025 figures for people coming into the country. It could also be that among the leavers there are people who came from Russia and Ukraine and stayed in Israel for three years, so that this time the decision to include in the processing those who were in Israel for three years or more before leaving will work less well."
Weinreb also points out that it is not just in Israel that there is an acceleration in emigration of people with higher education. The trend is noticeable in other Western countries, such as Britain, France, and the US. "We are in an age of migration. It is chiefly those with education and financial means who can do it. That is to say, there’s a change in the culture of migration that can be seen in other countries, not just in ours."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 3, 2026.
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