By TPS • 26 September, 2019
The Jewish population worldwide on the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, stands at 14.8 million, a slight increase of some 100,000 Jews over the past year.
Most of the Jews, about 8.1 million, live outside Israel, of which about 5.7 million are in the US. In Israel, the number of Jews is about 6.7 million, compared with about 6.6 million at the eve of the past Rosh Hashana.
These estimates are based on data compiled by Professor Sergio Della Pergola of the Hebrew University, published in the American Jewish journal AJYB 2019.
These figures include all those who define themselves as Jews and who do not hold a different religious identity.
The Jewish population in other countries:
France – 450,000 people
Canada – 392,000
United Kingdom – 292,000
Argentina – 180,000
Russia – 165,000
Germany – 118,000
Australia – 118,000
Brazil – 93,000
South Africa – 67,000
Ukraine – 48,000
Hungary – 47,000
Mexico – 40,000
Netherlands – 30,000
Belgium – 29,000
Italy – 27,000
Switzerland – 19,000
Chile – 18,000
Uruguay – 16,000
Sweden – 15,000
Spain – 12,000
About 26,000 Jews live in Arab and Muslim countries, of which about 15,000 are in Turkey, about 8,500 in Iran, about 2,000 in Morocco, and about 1,000 in Tunisia.
Countries in which the Jewish population numbers 500 or less include: Bermuda, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, Curacao, Virgin Islands, Bolivia, Suriname, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Bosnia, Northern Macedonia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Congo, Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Yemen, Syria, Egypt.
The community of people awaiting immigration from Ethiopia stands at about 8,000.
Ninety-eight countries in the world host a community of at least 100 Jews.
Jewish Agency Chairman Yitzhak Herzog issued his good wishes for the new year to the world’s Jewry.
“The Jewish Agency will continue to serve as a bridge between Israel and the Jewish communities and address the key challenges facing the Jewish people in Israel and in the Diaspora, most notably the fight against anti-Semitism that culminated last year, alongside continued efforts to connect young Jews from around the world to Israel in light of the boycott and legitimization movements,” he stated.
