How Many People Live in Jerusalem?

More than 1 million people lived in Jerusalem at the end of 2023, on the count the Central Bureau of Statistics published in its Jerusalem Day media release on 3 June 2024. The same release records 60.5% of the city’s residents as Jews and others and 39.5% as Arabs, and puts the growth during 2023 at 13,400 people. The figure covers the municipal population within the city’s boundary, which includes the East Jerusalem neighbourhoods annexed after 1967.

Figure	What it counts	Period
Over 1,000,000	Residents of the city of Jerusalem, municipal boundary	End of 2023
60.5%	Share of city residents classified as Jews and others	End of 2023
39.5%	Share of city residents classified as Arabs	End of 2023
13,400	Increase in the city’s residents over the year	During 2023
362,000	Moslem residents of the city of Jerusalem	End of 2021
37.5%	Moslem share of the city’s residents	End of 2021

Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, Jerusalem Day media release 165/2024 (3 June 2024) and the Moslem population media release 217/2022 (6 July 2022). The 2021 figures are the Bureau’s own count and the 2022 release states that its population data are preliminary.

The Bureau’s Jerusalem Day release counts about one million residents

The Central Bureau of Statistics recorded the city’s residents surpassing one million at the end of 2023, and issued that figure in Jerusalem on 3 June 2024 as media release 165/2024. It is a municipal count of residents on the Bureau’s own register, not a metropolitan or district figure.

• Residents of Jerusalem passed 1,000,000 at the end of 2023.
• The population grew by 13,400 people during 2023.
• The Central Bureau of Statistics published the figures on 3 June 2024, as selected data for Jerusalem Day.

The Bureau splits Jerusalem into Jews and others and Arabs

The Central Bureau of Statistics counts the city in two national categories, 60.5% Jews and others and 39.5% Arabs at the end of 2023, and the two shares are of the city’s residents and sum to the whole. “Jews and others” is the Bureau’s own category and is wider than Jews: at national level the Bureau states that its published group shares rest on a base of 9.888 million rather than on the 10.148 million total it recorded in September 2025, because roughly 260,000 foreign residents sit inside that total and outside both named groups.

The Eid al-Adha release counts Jerusalem’s Moslem population separately

The Central Bureau of Statistics counted 362,000 Moslem residents in the city of Jerusalem at the end of 2021, in its media release of 6 July 2022 on the Moslem population of Israel. That is a count by religion on a different reference date from the Jerusalem Day release, so it does not sit on the same year as the 39.5% Arab share, which is a national-category count.

Figure	What it counts	Period
362,000	Moslem residents of the city of Jerusalem	End of 2021
21.2%	Share of all Moslems in Israel who live in Jerusalem	End of 2021
37.5%	Moslem share of the city’s residents	End of 2021

Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, media release 217/2022. The release states that its population data are preliminary.

The Jerusalem Day count includes East Jerusalem residents

The Central Bureau of Statistics counts Jerusalem, including the neighbourhoods annexed after 1967, as one municipal population, so the 39.5% Arab share sits inside the city total and inside Israel’s national total. The same scope choice runs through the Bureau’s national series, where East Jerusalem residents and West Bank settlers are counted within Israel’s population total.

• The count is of residents within the municipal boundary as the Bureau applies it.
• It includes the East Jerusalem neighbourhoods annexed after 1967.
• A figure drawn on a pre-1967 municipal boundary is a different quantity, and the Bureau publishes the city total on the boundary above.

The Bureau publishes no Jerusalem breakdown by residency status

Neither release carries a figure for Jerusalem residents by legal status. The Central Bureau of Statistics reports the city total and its population-group shares, and publishes no separation of residents holding Israeli citizenship from residents holding permanent-residency status in either the Jerusalem Day release or the Moslem population release.

• No count of Jerusalem residents who are Israeli citizens appears in media release 165/2024.
• No count of Jerusalem residents holding permanent residency appears in media release 165/2024 or 217/2022.
• The releases classify residents by population group and by religion, and the record stops there.

Which Jerusalem figures may not be compared?

• The 39.5% Arab share is for the end of 2023 and the 37.5% Moslem share is for the end of 2021. They are different reference dates and different classifications, one a national-category count and one a count by religion, and they are not two readings of one series.
• The 13,400 is the increase during 2023, not an average of several years.
• The Jerusalem shares are of the city’s residents. The national shares the Central Bureau of Statistics publishes rest on a base of 9.888 million, not on the 10.148 million national total it recorded in September 2025.
• The Central Bureau of Statistics states that the population data in its 2022 Moslem population release are preliminary.

Questions readers ask about Jerusalem’s population

How many people live in Jerusalem?

The Central Bureau of Statistics recorded the city’s residents passing 1 million at the end of 2023.

When did Jerusalem pass one million residents?

The Central Bureau of Statistics records the milestone at the end of 2023 and published it on 3 June 2024.

How fast is Jerusalem growing?

The Central Bureau of Statistics put the increase at 13,400 residents during 2023.

What share of Jerusalem residents are Arabs?

The Central Bureau of Statistics recorded 39.5% of the city’s residents as Arabs at the end of 2023.

What does “Jews and others” mean in the Jerusalem figures?

It is the Central Bureau of Statistics’ own population category, wider than Jews alone, and it accounted for 60.5% of the city’s residents at the end of 2023.

How many Moslems live in Jerusalem?

The Central Bureau of Statistics counted 362,000 Moslem residents of the city at the end of 2021.

What share of Israel’s Moslems live in Jerusalem?

The Central Bureau of Statistics reported that 21.2% of all Moslems in Israel lived in Jerusalem at the end of 2021.

Does the count include East Jerusalem?

The Central Bureau of Statistics counts Jerusalem, including the neighbourhoods annexed after 1967, as a single municipal population.

Can the 39.5% and the 37.5% be read together?

No. The Central Bureau of Statistics published them for different years, end of 2023 and end of 2021, and on different classifications, national group and religion.

How many Jerusalem residents are Israeli citizens?

The Central Bureau of Statistics publishes no breakdown of Jerusalem residents by citizenship or residency status in either release.

Which release carries the city total?

The Central Bureau of Statistics published it as media release 165/2024, selected data on the occasion of Jerusalem Day, 2024.

Are these figures final?

The Central Bureau of Statistics states that the population data in its 2022 Moslem population release are preliminary.

Sources

• Central Bureau of Statistics, 2022. The Moslem Population in Israel: Data on the Occasion of Eid al-Adha (The Feast of the Sacrifice). Media Release 217/2022, 6 July 2022. https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2022/217/11_22_217e.pdf. Official or primary record.
• Central Bureau of Statistics, 2024. Selected Data on the Occasion of Jerusalem Day, 2024. Media Release 165/2024, 3 June 2024. https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2024/165/11_24_165e.pdf. Official or primary record.
• Central Bureau of Statistics, 2025. Population of Israel on the Eve of Rosh Hashana 5786. Media release, September 2025. https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2025/304/11_25_304e.pdf. Official or primary record.