Holocaust Survivors Living in Israel: What the Central Bureau of Statistics Counts
About 120,000 Holocaust survivors were living in Israel on the eve of Holocaust Day 2025, on the Central Bureau of Statistics’ estimate.
About 120,000 Holocaust survivors were living in Israel on the eve of Holocaust Day 2025, on the Central Bureau of Statistics’ estimate for the beginning of that year. That is down from about 133,000 a year earlier, on the same Bureau series. 62% are women and 38% are men, and about 20% are over 90.
| Figure | What it counts | Who published it | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| About 120,000 | Holocaust survivors living in Israel | Central Bureau of Statistics | Eve of Holocaust Day 2025, from estimates for the beginning of 2025 |
| About 133,000 | The same count a year earlier | Central Bureau of Statistics | Eve of Holocaust Day 2024 |
| 62% women, 38% men | Sex composition of the survivors | Central Bureau of Statistics | Beginning of 2025 |
| 43% | Survivors born during the war years, 1939 to 1945, and aged 79 to 84 | Central Bureau of Statistics | Beginning of 2025 |
| About 20% | Survivors aged over 90 | Central Bureau of Statistics | Beginning of 2025 |
| 60.7% | Survivors born in Europe, against 36.9% born in Asian and African countries | Central Bureau of Statistics | 2025 |
Who does this count include?
More people than the word usually suggests, and the Bureau says so. The Central Bureau of Statistics states in its 2024 release that the total also covers people recognised as victims of antisemitic persecution, and it names Iraqi residents who underwent the Farhud events of June 1941 and residents of Morocco and Algeria.
That is why more than a third of the people in this count were born outside Europe. The category is a recognition status under Israeli practice, not a description of where somebody spent the war.
Where were they born?
The Central Bureau of Statistics publishes country of birth as shares of the survivor population. It recorded 35.9% of survivors as born in the former USSR in 2025, the largest single group by a wide margin, and 16.8% in Morocco.
When did they arrive in Israel?
Across nearly a century, and the largest single share arrived most recently. The Central Bureau of Statistics recorded 33.6% of the survivors living in Israel as arriving since the 1990s, on its 2025 figures, against 30.3% in the wave that followed the establishment of the State in 1948 to 1951.
| Period of immigration | Share of survivors | Who published it |
|---|---|---|
| 1933 to 1947 | 6.1% | Central Bureau of Statistics |
| 1948 to 1951 | 30.3% | Central Bureau of Statistics |
| 1952 to 1989 | 30.0% | Central Bureau of Statistics |
| Since the 1990s | About one third, 33.6% | Central Bureau of Statistics |
Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, On the Occasion of Holocaust Day, 2025. Figures are for 2025.
How old are the survivors now?
The Central Bureau of Statistics publishes three age bands, and the youngest of them is the largest.
- 43% were born during the war years, 1939 to 1945, and are aged 79 to 84.
- Another 36% are aged 85 to 89.
- About 20% are over 90.
The Bureau states that data for people aged 100 and over may include reporting errors.
What does the same release say about the world Jewish population?
The Holocaust Day release carries a world Jewish population table alongside the survivor figures. The Central Bureau of Statistics put the world Jewish population at 15.7 million at the beginning of 2024, and it records 16.6 million on the eve of the Second World War in 1939 and 11.5 million on the eve of the establishment of the State in 1948.
| Year | World Jewish population | Living in Israel | Who published it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | 16.6 million | 449,000, 3% | Central Bureau of Statistics |
| 1948 | 11.5 million | 650,000, 6% | Central Bureau of Statistics |
| Beginning of 2024 | 15.7 million | 7.1 million, 45% | Central Bureau of Statistics |
The country figures outside Israel are not the Bureau’s own collection. The Bureau takes them from an academic world Jewish population series on a “core” Jewish population definition, narrower than the one it applies to Israel. DellaPergola estimated that core world Jewish population at 15,736,800 at 1 January 2024, of which 7,153,000 in Israel.
Where these figures come from
Every survivor figure here is the Central Bureau of Statistics’ own estimate, published in its Holocaust Day media releases, and each is an estimate rather than an enumeration.
The 2025 and 2024 totals come from the same series and may be compared. The country-of-birth shares do not sum to 100% and may not be completed with an invented remainder; the Bureau publishes regional totals of 60.7% and 36.9% separately. The survivor category includes people recognised as victims of antisemitic persecution outside Europe, so it is not a count of people who were in Nazi-occupied Europe. Figures for persons aged 100 and over may include reporting errors, on the Bureau’s own warning. The world Jewish population figures for countries other than Israel are drawn from an academic series on a “core” definition and are not the Bureau’s own count.
Questions
How many Holocaust survivors are alive in Israel today?
About 120,000 on the eve of Holocaust Day 2025, the most recent figure the Central Bureau of Statistics has published, from estimates for the beginning of 2025.
How fast is the number falling?
The Bureau’s count fell from about 133,000 to about 120,000 between the eves of Holocaust Day 2024 and 2025.
Why are so many survivors from Morocco and Iraq?
Because the count includes people recognised as victims of antisemitic persecution outside Nazi-occupied Europe. The Bureau’s 2024 release names the Farhud events of June 1941 in Iraq, and residents of Morocco and Algeria.
What is the Farhud?
The Bureau identifies it in this series as events in Iraq in June 1941, and counts Iraqi-born residents who underwent them among Holocaust survivors. The release does not describe the events further.
How many survivors are women?
62%, against 38% men, on the Bureau’s figures for the beginning of 2025. The proportion was the same a year earlier.
What is the youngest a survivor can be?
The Bureau’s largest age band, 43% of survivors, is people born during the war years of 1939 to 1945, who were aged 79 to 84 at the beginning of 2025.
When did most survivors arrive in Israel?
No single period holds a majority. The two largest are the wave after the establishment of the State, 1948 to 1951, at 30.3%, and the period since the 1990s, at 33.6%.
Are these figures a count or an estimate?
An estimate. The Bureau publishes them as estimates for the beginning of the year, and they are not an enumeration.
How many Jews were killed in the Holocaust?
The Bureau does not publish a figure for that in this series. Yad Vashem, the state authority for Holocaust remembrance, reported 4,800,000 names in its Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names as at 2021, a cumulative total of names recorded rather than an estimate of the dead.
What else does Yad Vashem publish about its collection?
It reported 220 million pages of documentation in its archives as at 2021, 2.7 million of them added during that year, and 28,000 individuals recognised as Righteous Among the Nations cumulatively since the programme began, 296 of them during 2021. All are Yad Vashem’s self-reported counts of its own operations.
How many Jews live in Israel compared with 1948?
7.1 million at the beginning of 2024, against 650,000 in 1948 and 449,000 in 1939, on the Bureau’s figures.
What share of world Jewry lives in Israel?
45% at the beginning of 2024, against 3% in 1939 and 6% in 1948, on the Bureau’s Holocaust Day 2025 release.
Where do the country figures outside Israel come from?
An academic world Jewish population series, using a “core” Jewish population definition, which the Bureau cites rather than collects. The Bureau’s own collection covers Israel.
When are these figures published?
Each year for Holocaust Remembrance Day, in a numbered media release. The 2025 edition is release 124/2025.
Sources
- Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2024. On the occasion of Holocaust Day, 2024. Media release 132/2024. cbs.gov.il. Official record.
- Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2025. On the occasion of Holocaust Day, 2025. Media release 124/2025. cbs.gov.il. Official record.
- DellaPergola, S., 2025. World Jewish Population, 2024. American Jewish Year Book 2024, Springer; hosted by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Academic reference.
- Yad Vashem, 2021. Achievements and challenges: annual report 2021. yadvashem.org. Institutional annual report.