Israel’s Population: What the Central Bureau of Statistics Counts, and How
Israel’s population reached 10.244 million in April 2026 on the Central Bureau of Statistics’ preliminary estimate. What each category counts.
Israel’s population reached 10.244 million in April 2026, on the Central Bureau of Statistics’ preliminary estimate for the eve of the 78th Independence Day, current to 22 April 2026. The Bureau splits that total three ways: 7.790 million Jews and Others, 2.157 million Arabs, and 296,000 foreigners. The third category is the one that trips most arithmetic done with these figures, because the Bureau counts foreigners inside the total and outside both named groups.
| Figure | What it counts | Who published it | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10.244 million | Total resident population, preliminary | Central Bureau of Statistics | Eve of the 78th Independence Day, current to 22 April 2026 |
| 7.790 million (76%) | Jews and Others, as the Bureau defines the group | Central Bureau of Statistics | Same preliminary estimate |
| 2.157 million (21.1%) | Arabs, meaning Moslems, Arab Christians and Druze | Central Bureau of Statistics | Same preliminary estimate |
| 296,000 (2.9%) | Foreigners, counted in the total and outside both named groups | Central Bureau of Statistics | End of 2025 |
| 146,000 (an increase of 1.4%) | Growth since the previous Independence Day, of which 110,000 Israeli and about 36,000 foreign | Central Bureau of Statistics | The 11.75 months to 22 April 2026 |
| 806,000 | Population at the establishment of the State | Central Bureau of Statistics | 1948 |
What do “Jews and Others” and “Arabs” mean here?
They are the Bureau’s own categories and they are not the categories most readers assume. The Central Bureau of Statistics states that “Others” covers non-Arab Christians, people of other religions, and people registered as not classified by religion, and that “Arabs” covers Moslems, Arab Christians and Druze together. So Arab Christians sit in the Arab group and non-Arab Christians sit in Jews and Others.
- Jews and Others: 7.790 million, 76% of the total, preliminary as at 22 April 2026.
- Arabs: 2.157 million, 21.1% of the total, same estimate.
- Foreigners: 296,000, 2.9% of the total, end of 2025.
Why do the published percentages not add up to the total?
Because the two named groups do not exhaust the population. In its Rosh Hashana 5786 release of September 2025 the Central Bureau of Statistics published shares of 78.5% and 21.5%, and those are shares of 9.888 million, the sum of the two named groups, rather than of the 10.148 million total in the same release. Against that total the same counts are 76.4% and 21.0%, and the Bureau counted the remaining 260,000 as foreign residents.
Pairing a published percentage with the total produces a discrepancy a reader finds in one division. The counts and the percentages belong to different bases, and this page states the counts.
How much did the population grow, and where did the growth come from?
The Central Bureau of Statistics recorded growth of 146,000, or 1.4%, over the 11.75 months to 22 April 2026, of which 110,000 was Israeli population and about 36,000 was foreign. The Bureau publishes the components of change separately, and it states plainly that the total increase does not equal the difference between them.
Can the yearly totals be compared with each other?
Not across 2023 without a break. From 2023 the Central Bureau of Statistics counts foreigners staying in Israel inside its estimates, including permit holders recorded as entering from 2008 with no record of exiting. Its Independence Day 2024 release rested on the 2008 census and excluded the foreign worker population, which the Bureau estimated at 222,500 at the end of 2022.
| Release | Total | Basis | Foreigners included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independence Day 2024 | 9.900 million | 2008 census | No |
| Independence Day 2025 | 10.094 million | 2022 census | Yes, 248,000 as at mid-2024 |
| Rosh Hashana 5786, September 2025 | 10.148 million | 2022 census | Yes, about 260,000 |
| Independence Day 2026 | 10.244 million | 2022 census | Yes, 296,000 as at end 2025 |
Source: Central Bureau of Statistics media releases 141/2024, 134/2025, 304/2025 and 117/2026. The 2024 figure is not continuous with the three below it.
How many people have immigrated to Israel since 1948?
More than 3.5 million. The Central Bureau of Statistics reported that cumulative total in April 2026, against a population of 806,000 it records for the establishment of the State in 1948. It counted about 1.68 million of those immigrants, 47.8%, as arriving from 1990 onward, and a further 158,000 immigrating citizens since 1970, meaning people born to an Israeli citizen abroad who enter Israel intending to settle.
What does the Bureau count as Israel’s territory?
The Central Bureau of Statistics counts East Jerusalem residents and West Bank settlers inside Israel’s total. International monitors keep those series apart. Neither convention is a finding about anyone’s status, and a figure that does not say which one it uses cannot be placed. The figures on this page use the Bureau’s convention throughout.
The same convention shows in its Jerusalem figures. The Bureau reported the city passing one million residents at the end of 2023, and counted 60.5% of them as Jews and Others and 39.5% as Arabs, as a single municipal population.
Where these figures come from
Every figure on this page is the Central Bureau of Statistics’ own, from its dated media releases. The Independence Day figures are preliminary and rest on the 2022 census.
The percentages the Bureau publishes for its two named population groups are shares of the sum of those two groups, not of the resident total, so they may not be paired with the total in one sentence. The components of change may not be summed to the reported growth, because the Bureau states they do not reconcile. The 2024 total rests on a different census and a different treatment of foreigners, so it is not part of the same series as the three that follow it. Figures written as “about” or “more than” are the Bureau’s own approximations and floors, and are not restated here as exact numbers.
Questions
How current is the 10.244 million figure?
It is a preliminary estimate current to 22 April 2026, published for the eve of the 78th Independence Day and covering the 11.75 months since the previous one.
Does the total include foreign workers?
Yes, from 2023 onward. The Bureau counts 296,000 foreigners in the end-2025 figure, including permit holders recorded as entering from 2008 with no record of exiting.
Does it include people living in the West Bank?
Israeli residents of the West Bank and of East Jerusalem are counted inside Israel’s total by the Bureau. Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza are counted separately by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
What is the Jewish share of the population?
The Bureau does not publish a Jewish share on its own in these releases. It publishes “Jews and Others”, 7.790 million or 76% of the total in April 2026, a group that also contains non-Arab Christians and people of other or unclassified religion.
How many Arabs live in Israel?
2.157 million on the April 2026 preliminary estimate, 21.1% of the total, counting Moslems, Arab Christians and Druze together.
Why is 21.5% quoted for the Arab share elsewhere?
Because 21.5% is a share of the two named groups combined, 9.888 million in the September 2025 release, rather than of the 10.148 million total in the same release. Against that total the figure is 21.0%.
How fast is the population growing?
By 1.4% over the 11.75 months to 22 April 2026, and by 1.0% over the year to September 2025, on the Bureau’s own figures.
How many babies were born in the year?
About 177,000 in the 11.75 months to 22 April 2026. For calendar 2022 the Bureau recorded 181,193 live births and a total fertility rate of 2.89 children per woman.
How many people immigrated in the year?
About 21,000, against about 28,000 in the equivalent period a year earlier.
Are more Israelis leaving than returning?
The Bureau recorded a negative balance of 45,000 for Israelis staying abroad over the 11.75 months to 22 April 2026. It publishes that as one component of change and does not publish a separate emigration count.
How many Jews live in Israel compared with the rest of the world?
About 45%. The Central Bureau of Statistics put the world Jewish population at 15.7 million and the figure for Israel at 7.1 million at the end of 2023, in its Holocaust Day 2025 release. The Bureau takes its country figures outside Israel from an academic world Jewish population series on a “core” definition rather than collecting them; DellaPergola estimated a world core Jewish population of 15,736,800 at 1 January 2024, of which 7,153,000 in Israel.
What share of Jews in Israel were born there?
About 80%, on the Bureau’s Independence Day 2025 release. Of the 7.1 million Jews living in Israel at the beginning of 2024, it recorded 5.7 million born in Israel and 1.4 million born abroad.
Who publishes these figures?
Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, in numbered media releases carrying the date each estimate is current to. The releases are public at cbs.gov.il.
How often are they revised?
Independence Day and holiday releases are preliminary when issued. The Bureau also revises the basis: the series moved from the 2008 census to the 2022 census between the 2024 and 2025 releases, and began including foreigners from 2023.
Sources
- Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2024. Israel in Figures 2023: selected data from the Statistical Abstract of Israel. cbs.gov.il. Official record.
- Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2024. Israel’s Independence Day 2024. Media release 141/2024. cbs.gov.il. Official record.
- Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2024. Selected data on the occasion of Jerusalem Day, 2024. Media release 165/2024. cbs.gov.il. Official record.
- Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2025. Israel’s Independence Day 2025. Media release 134/2025. 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.
- Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2025. Population of Israel on the eve of Rosh Hashana 5786. Media release 304/2025. cbs.gov.il. Official record.
- Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2026. Israel’s Independence Day 2026. Media release 117/2026. 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.